How Are Glass and Plastic Welding Different From Metal Welding?

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Welding: An Introduction

Welding is commonly done to join two materials, usually metals. However, these days, the process of welding is used for joining plastic and glass items too. Metal welding process is fundamentally different from plastic welding or glass welding. Read on for more.

Difference in the Vibrations

In case of plastic welding, longitudinal vibrations are sent to the weld surfaces whereas parallel vibrations are responsible for successful metal welding. Also, in case of metal, friction does not lead to easy melting of the surface. In plastic welding, the material melts due to frictional action, and that too at a much lower temperature compared to that put in use during the metal joining process.

Welding Tools

Since the metal welding industry requires fusing of thicker materials, the apparatus used for the purpose are different than those in use for glass or plastic. Although both types of welding tools are manufactured on the basis of the common principle of acoustics, there are some differences in their shapes; which in turn sends out different kinds of vibrations to the weld surfaces.

Main Stages of Plastic Welding:

Plastic welding is primarily done to create a stronger molecular bond between two thermoplastics. The process consists of three main steps:

Pressure: Pressure helps in flattening the surfaces of the objects to be welded and has to be applied for keeping their different parts in proper orientation.

Heating: Intermolecular diffusion is allowed in the heating stage for better fusion.

Cooling: This stage is important for solidifying the newly created molecular bond and leads to proper weld strength.

Plastic soldering makes use of different types of processes such as spin, vibration, laser, ultrasonic, etc and each of these processes differ from each other in their individual methods.

Glass Welding Process

Glass welding is usually done at the time of manufacturing glassware, constructing neon signs, flash tube and scientific apparatus. Also, bottles and jars require glass welding to join the different glass molds. In glass welding, the glass is melted into a thick liquid mass, which in turn is heated under very high temperature. However, the temperature required in glass welding depends on the types of glass involved in the process. The melted glass is heated using a particular type of gas torch.

Conclusion:

Whether it is about welding metals or glass, the overall process is as simple as heating and joining with the use of technology. However, there exist certain differences, which need to be mastered for best results.

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Source by Nagender Singh Jatav