A History of Welding

Top of Page

Welding Timeline

Years 1950 - 2000

1950s

• Electron Beam (EB) welding process developed in France by J. A. Stohr of the French Atomic Energy Commission. First Public disclosure was 1957.
• Wave soldering is introduced to keep up with the demand of Printed Wiring Boards used in the electronics age.
• Research on testing of brazed joint begins as serious endeavor for the next ten years.

 

1950

• Electroslag Welding (ESW) is developed at the E. O. Paton Welding Institute, Ukraine USSR.
• Third Edition of the Welding Handbook is printed by AWS.
• Flash Butt Welding is the standard for welding rail line construction.

 

1951

• Russia use Electroslag Welding (ESW) process in production.
• The Philip Roden Co. of Milwaukee Wisconsin announces the DryRod electrode oven. This oven is intended to provide a controlled moisture environment of 0.2% moisture standard set forth by the government. This oven provides adjustable temperature control of 200-550 F, vented and holding 350 pounds of electrodes.

 

1953

• Modifying the Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) process, Lyubavskii and Novoshilov used CO₂ with consumable electrodes. Resulted in hotter arc, uses higher current, and larger diameter electrodes.
• The Ohio State University established a Welding Engineering College curriculum out of the Industrial Engineering Department.

 

1954

• Bernard develops DualShield (Flux Cored Arc Welding (FCAW))- Shielding comes from Gas shielding outer and with gas generated from the arc welding.
• Lincoln Electric introduces a cored wire without the outer shielding gas (No-gas welding) but the shielding is provided by the flux within the core wire. Lincoln Electric refuses to participate with the Gas Welding industry.

 

1955

• Brazing Manual (First Edition) characterizes brazed joints as either good or bad.

 

1956

• Russia invents the Friction Welding process, a solid-state joining method.
• Dr. W. H. Chang publishes "A Dew Point-Temperature Diagram for Multi-Metal Oxide Equilibria in Hydrogen Atmospheres".
• Friction Welding is used to manufacture rotating bodies.

 

1957

• Flux Cored-Arc Welding (FCAW) patented and reintroduced by National Cylinder Gas Co.
• Plasma Arc Welding (PAW) Process developed by Robert M. Gage
• Russia, Britain, and USA independently develop a short-circuiting transfer for low-current low-voltage welding in a carbon dioxide atmosphere.
• Braze repair process for cracks in jet engine combustion chambers and transition ducts.

 

1958

• The Soviet Union introduced the Electroslag Welding (ESW) Process at the Brussels World Fair in Belgium. This welding process had been used since 1951 in the USSR which was based on the concept and work of an American, R. K. Hopkins. Perfected at the Paton Institute Laboratory in Kiev, Ukraine, USSR and the Welding Research Laboratory in Braitislava, Czechoslovakia.
• AWS Committee on Brazing and Soldering is formed to develop a test for evaluating strength of brazed joints. Robert Peaslee proposes a test in the Welding Journal.

 

1959

• Electroslag welding process was first used at the Electromotive Division of General Motors in Chicago and was called the "Electro-Molding Process".
• Development of Inside-Outside Electrode which did not require an external gas shielding - Innershield from Lincoln Electric Co.

 

1958-1959

• Short Arc (Micro-wire Short Arc) developed from refined power supplies and smaller diameter wires.

 

1960s

• Pulsed Arc Welding...(more to follow)
• Space Program is underway...(more to follow)
• Difficult to stabilize GTAW at below 15 amps, Microplasma is developed to overcome the limitation.

 

1960

• Development of a cold wall vacuum furnace.
• First laser beam produced using a ruby crystal for the Light Amplification Stimulated Emission Radiation (LASER).
• Explosive welding is developed in USA.
• Hughes Aircraft Company (Mainar) develops the first ruby laser (springtime).
• Bell Telephone Laboratories (Ali Javan) developed and presented the first gas laser using neon and helium (fall time)

 

1962

• The Mercury Space Capsule is formed using inner and outer titanium shell, seam welded together using a three-phase resistance welder by Sciaky.

 

1963

• U.S.S. Thresher sinks off the coast of New Hampshire and by December, the U.S. Navy charters the Submarine Safety Program (SUBSAFE) to control the fabrication, inspection and quality control of submarine construction. The presumed failure was with a silver-brazed piping joint, but after the investigation, the whole welding and brazing program was suspect. Included was the material properties of the welding and brazing filler metals.
• Weld testing now has a in-situ method for testing the weldability of welds. The Varestraint Test, involving a device that permits the evaluation of base metal weldability and determination of the influence of a particular welding process and associated welding variables.
• Weld testing now has a in-situ method for testing the weldability of welds. The Varestraint Test, involving a device that permits the evaluation of base metal weldability and determination of the influence of a particular welding process and associated welding variables.
• Fusewelder Torch (US Patent No 3172605) for sprayweld and surfacing is introduced by Wall-Colmonoy.
• Brazing Manual (Second Edition) re-characterizes brazed joints as either recommended or not recommended.

 

1965-1967

• CO₂ lasers are developed for cutting and welding.

 

1967

• H. J. Clarke makes the following Predictions during the AWS Plummer Lecture in Houston as he ties the current state of technology of welding to the future of progress:

1. World's Population would be greater than 5 Billion.
2. Large scale farming of the ocean and fabrication of synthetic protein.
3. Controlled thermonuclear power as a source of energy.
4. General immunization against bacteria and virile infections, perfected and available.
5. Primitive forms of life will be created in the lab.
6. Automation will have advance for performance of menial chores and complicated functions.
7. Housewives would be ordering groceries and everyday items from central stores linked to the home electronically. (!!!)
8. Children will be receiving education at home - "either by television or with personal teaching machines and programmed instructions"
9. Moon - mining and manufacture of propellant and on Mars, permanent unmanned research stations.
10. Weather manipulation by the military.
11. Effective anti-ballistic missile defense in the form of air-launched missiles and directed energy beams.
12. Libraries will be "computer-run"

• Gravity welding is introduced in Britain after its initial discovery by Japan.

 

1969

• The Russian Welding Program in Space began by producing Electron Beam welds on SOYUZ-6. Welding an AMG6 and DM-20 aluminum alloys with the Vulkan process. Sponsored by the E. O. Paton Welding Institute Academy of Science.

 

1970

• As miniaturization developed from the pressure to increase component densities, Surface Mount Technology is developed. This required new ways to make soldered joints, including the development of vapor phase, infrared, hot gas and other re-flow technologies.
• First AWS International Brazing Conference including 24 papers presented created much interest in the brazing process.
• BP discovers oil off the coast of Scotland.

 

1971

• British Welding Institute (Houldcroft) adds oxidizing gas jet around laser beam to develop laser cutting.

 

1973

• The American Astronauts used Electron Beam welding process in June 1973 welding Aluminum Alloy 2219-T87, Stainless 304 and Pure Tantalum.
• Welding equipment manufacturers concentrate on equipment refinement instead of new processes.
• Two Supertankers, Globtik Tokyo and Globtik London (476025 DWT) were built for carrying 153 million gallons (3 million barrels) of crude oil.

 

1976

• First automotive production application of lasers weld begins with General Motors Corporation, Dayton Ohio using two 1.25 kW CO₂ lasers. for welding valve assemblies for emission control systems.

 

1977

• The US Federal Highway Administration issues a moratorium of Electroslag Welding (ESW) when cracks are discovered during an inspection of a bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on an interstate highway. Failure analysis was conducted by Lehigh University on Interstate 79.

 

1980

• The Fort McHenry tunnel contract, for 750 Million Dollars, is awarded to begin construction, completing Intestate 95 through Baltimore, Maryland. This is the largest tunnel of its kind, 180 feet at the bottom with two separate four lane immersed tunnels removing 3.5 million cubic yards of dredge.

 

1983

• Homopolar pulse welding variation of the upset welding process research begins at the University of Texas at Austin at the Center for Electromechanics.

 

1987

• Laser research begins a unique method for depositing complex metal alloys (Laser Powder Fusion).

 

1991

• TWI of Cambridge England develops the Friction Stir Weld (FSW) process in its laboratory. This process differs from conventional rotary technology whereby a hard, non consumable, cylindrical tool causes friction, plasticizing two metals into a Solid-State Bond. No shielding gas or filler metal is required. Metals joined successfully include, the 2XXX, 6XXX and 7XXX series aluminum. NASA is the first US venture which welded the massive fuel tank for the Space Shuttle.
• Brazing Handbook (Fourth Edition) shows the data of the filler metal/base metal failure transitions between 1T and 2T overlap and is the key for the design data (factor of safety).

 

1996

• Over 7 Million brazements are produced for the aircraft industry in the US and Canada.
• Over 132 Million units of brazed automotive parts are produce.

 

1999

• The Edison Welding Institute develops a solution to obtaining deeper penetration of a GTA weld by introducing FLUX onto the surface of the weld. This FLUX helps drive the welding arc heat deeper into the weld joint and permits 300 percent more penetration.