Читать книгу Welding For Dummies - Steven Robert Farnsworth - Страница 12

Welding is the process of using heat to join metals. When you’re looking to join metals, you can find no easier or more cost effective way to get the job done than welding — it allows you to join metals in a way that’s faster, more versatile, and more dependable than any other process (by a long shot). (And no, using duct tape doesn’t count because that’s not really fixing anything.) The availability and cost of so many of the items you depend on every day are kept within your reach because of the widespread use of welding processes. Just how prominent is welding? Well, it’s estimated that half of the U.S. gross national product is affected by welding. That’s about $7 or 8 trillion. How many other skills or trades can claim that much of an impact? Not many.

The uses of welding break down into two very broad categories: fabricating and repairing. The following sections offer a little more detail on both of those divisions.