Types of Electric Arc Welding: The Complete Guide to SMAW, MIG, TIG, FCAW & SAW

A fabrication shop once lost a bridge-girder contract because a welder ran short-circuit MIG wire on 3/8-inch steel in an outdoor yard — the welds looked clean but failed inspection on a cold, windy day. The machine wasn’t the problem, the process choice was. Understanding the real differences between arc welding types is what separates a welder who gets callbacks from one who gets hired back.

What Is Electric Arc Welding? A Quick Start for Anyone Picking Up a Stinger

A fabrication shop once lost a bridge-girder contract because a welder ran short-circuit MIG wire on 3/8-inch steel in an outdoor yard. The welds looked clean, the bead profiles were neat, and everyone assumed the job was done. Then inspection came back on a cold, windy day: cold-lap, poor fusion, failed ultrasonic checks. The machine worked fine. The wrong process had been chosen for the conditions. That single mistake is the difference between a welder who gets callbacks and one who gets hired back.

If you are here, you probably want the same clarity before you strike an arc. This guide answers the questions people actually search for: what electric arc welding is, what the main types are, how they differ, and when each one belongs in your hands.

Electric Arc Welding, Explained in Plain Language

Electric arc welding is a family of metal-joining processes that uses an electric arc — a sustained spark of electrical energy jumping from an electrode to the workpiece — to melt both metals at the joint so they fuse as they cool. That arc concentrates roughly 6,000 to 10,000°F (about 3,300–5,500°C) in a tiny area, hot enough to melt steel instantly while the surrounding plate stays manageable to touch near the edges.

Every process in this article shares that one principle. What changes is how the arc is shielded from the atmosphere, how filler metal is fed into the puddle, and how the operator controls heat. Atmospheric oxygen and nitrogen will embrittle and porify a molten puddle in milliseconds, so shielding — from a flux coating, a shielding gas, or a blanket of granular flux — is what separates a good weld from a cratered, brittle mess.

A Short History: From a Spark in 1801 to Modern Fabrication

The story starts earlier than most people expect. Humphry Davy demonstrated the electric arc around 1801–1808, and in 1802 Russian physicist Vasily Petrov built a working carbon-arc apparatus. Practical welding took decades to follow. In 1881–1887, Nikolai Benardos and Stanisław Olszewski patented carbon-arc welding, and in the 1890s Nikolai Slavyanov advanced welding with a metal electrode, which became the direct ancestor of today’s stick rod. Around the same era, C. L. Coffin pioneered welding in a shielding atmosphere in the United States, an idea that eventually grew into gas-shielded processes like MIG and TIG.

Arc welding won because nothing else scaled so cheaply: portable equipment, consumable electrodes, no brazing alloys or rivets, and full-strength joints in thick plate. Today the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics counts more than 400,000 welders, cutters, solderers and brazers employed nationwide, and arc processes remain the backbone of construction, energy, shipbuilding and manufacturing.

Quick Reference: The Major Arc Welding Types Covered Here

If you learn only one process first, the usual advice is to start with is stick welding hard — because understanding the stinger teaches arc control better than any automatic wire feeder. Then add how to set up a MIG welder for speed, and TIG welding sheet metal when finish quality matters. Along the way you will want to decode electrode numbering, dial in rod amperage such as 3/32 E7018 amperage settings, and learn flux-core technique through our flux core wire welding tips.

Not every hot-joining method is arc welding, either. Railroad thermite welding uses a chemical reaction, and spot welding uses electrical resistance rather than a visible arc. Knowing the boundary keeps your process choices honest.

What Comes Next

The sections ahead explain how the arc really works — polarity, amperage, shielding — then walk through each process with its settings, strengths, limitations and typical applications, before closing with a decision framework and the OSHA-backed safety rules that apply to all of them. Read it as a map, and you will never again pick the wrong process for the day you are facing.

How the Arc Actually Works: Voltage, Amperage, Polarity and Shielding

Before you pick between stick, MIG, TIG, flux-core and submerged arc, it helps to know what all of them are doing. Arc welding isn’t one machine or one trick. It is a family of processes built on one principle: draw an electrical arc between an electrode and the base metal, let that arc turn electricity into concentrated heat, and fuse the pieces into one. Everything else — how filler enters the joint, how the puddle is shielded — is a variation on that theme. As the American Welding Society’s goWelding resource puts it, the arc is the shared heart of the category.

What Actually Creates the Arc

Striking an arc means closing an electrical circuit across a gap. As the electrode approaches the workpiece, voltage jumps that gap and ionizes the gas in between into plasma — a superheated, highly conductive cloud that glows brilliantly and delivers heat in the range of several thousand degrees. That plasma column is why you cannot look at a live arc with the naked eye, and why proper lens shade is non-negotiable from day one. For gear and lens selection, start with our guide to welding PPE and protective gear.

Amperage vs. Voltage: Who Does What

Two numbers control that arc, and confusing them is the most common cause of bad beads.

• Amperage (current) controls heat. More amps means a bigger, deeper, hotter weld. Amperage is chosen mainly from electrode or wire diameter and plate thickness.
• Voltage controls arc characteristics. Higher voltage gives a longer, wider, wetter puddle; lower voltage tightens and concentrates the arc. You set voltage on most machines by adjusting arc length, or by a dial on a synergic MIG unit.

A typical stick machine sits at roughly 15–40 volts of arc voltage while welding and can pull about 30 to 550 amps, depending on electrode diameter and plate thickness. Before you strike an arc, the machine sits at open-circuit voltage (OCV), the idle voltage waiting at the terminals. It must be high enough to jump the gap and keep the arc lit, which is also why an electrode can shock you with the machine on and the trigger untouched. Cable runs matter too: bad joints create resistance, heat and voltage drop, which is why quality welding connectors are worth buying properly.

Polarity: DCEP, DCEN and AC

Polarity decides where the heat goes. It is a one-knob decision with real consequences for penetration, bead shape and how the electrode behaves.

Getting polarity wrong rarely looks like obvious failure. More often you get a weld that “looks okay” but sits on the surface with shallow fusion and an arc that wanders. Still decoding rod markings? What electrodes are in welding: types, numbers and polarity explains the digits, and our 3/32 E7018 amperage and polarity guide walks a real setup from cold start to cap pass.

Why Shielding Matters More Than Most Beginners Realize

Molten steel grabs oxygen and nitrogen from the surrounding air almost instantly. Without shielding, the puddle oxidizes and solidifies full of gas pockets — the classic porous, sponge-like weld that fails inspection and cracks in service. Every arc process therefore uses flux, shielding gas, or both. A flux coating on a stick rod builds its own slag blanket; MIG runs on a cylinder of argon/CO₂ (see our MIG welder setup guide for gas choices); flux-core wire packs flux inside the tube so it can fight wind; TIG surrounds a non-consumable tungsten with pure inert gas; and submerged arc buries the arc under granular flux.

Heat Input, Preheat and the Cooling Rate

Heat input is roughly voltage × amps ÷ travel speed, and it sets how quickly the weld cools. Weld a thick, constrained joint too fast on a cold day and you risk hydrogen cracking; weld thin sheet too slow and you burn through. Preheating heavy or high-carbon steel, and holding an interpass temperature, slows that cooling rate enough for hydrogen to escape. Thinner work runs the opposite direction — see stick welding thin metal settings and burn-through fixes.

So the family tree of arc welding is one shared arc principle, then two variables that separate every process: how filler is fed (rod, wire, or a rod in the other hand) and how the puddle is shielded (flux, gas, or both). Those two levers are what you weigh for the rest of this guide.

Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW / Stick Welding): The Old Reliable

Every welder’s story has a stick-welding chapter. Sometimes it’s the first chapter, sometimes the one they keep coming back to. SMAW — Shielded Metal Arc Welding, known in the trade simply as stick welding — is the process that built the modern skyline, joined the transcontinental pipelines, and still shows up wherever the power goes out, the wind blows, and the work has to get done anyway.

How a Stick Electrode Actually Works

A welding rod looks like a simple coated wire. It isn’t. The metal core carries the current and becomes filler metal. The flux coating around it is a carefully engineered chemical package doing three jobs at once: it burns to create a shielding gas cloud around the arc, it forms a slag blanket over the molten puddle, and it adds alloying elements to the weld pool.

Strike the arc and the flux decomposes. The gas pushes away oxygen and nitrogen while the slag floats on top of the molten bead and protects it as it cools. That dual protection — gas plus slag — is why SMAW tolerates rust, paint, moisture, and gusty wind better than any gas-shielded process. When the weld cools, you chip the slag off and reveal the bead underneath.

Decoding the Numbers: E6010, E6011, E6013, E7018

The AWS electrode classification system looks like secret code until someone explains it. Take E7018:

• E — it’s a welding electrode.
• 70 — 70,000 psi minimum tensile strength in the deposited weld metal.
• 1 — usable in all positions: flat, horizontal, vertical, and overhead.
• 18 — a low-hydrogen, iron-powder-rich coating type.

For a deeper breakdown of every digit and suffix, see our guide to what electrodes in welding are and how to choose them.

The four rods you’ll meet most often:

E6010 and E6011 are the pipeline world’s go-to rods for root passes, biting hard into the bevel and burning through contamination. E7018 is the low-hydrogen standard that AWS D1.1, the Structural Welding Code — Steel, and most other structural specifications expect on load-bearing work. Getting amperage right matters more than most beginners realize — our 3/32 E7018 amperage guide and 5/32 E7018 settings guide cover the numbers rod by rod.

Equipment: The Most Portable Rig in Welding

SMAW’s setup is almost absurdly simple: a power source, an electrode holder (the stinger), a ground clamp, cables, and a box of rods. That’s it. No gas bottle to drag up a hill, no wire spool to snag, no regulator to freeze. It will weld in a muddy ditch, on a rooftop, in a snowstorm, or inside a tank. For field work where the nearest outlet is a generator, stick is king — and our guide on welding connectors and cables covers the hardware that keeps that rig reliable.

Where Stick Welding Wins

• Construction and structural steel — beams, columns, and field connections where rigs get craned into place.
• Pipeline and pipe welding — the E6010 root, E7010 fill cap procedure is the backbone of pipeline work. Our pipe welding procedures guide details WPS requirements and positions.
• Maintenance and repair — rusty equipment, cast iron with nickel rods, farm machinery in the yard.
• All-position work — including overhead stick welding, where a properly chosen rod still performs.
• Shipbuilding and field erection — windy, awkward, dirty conditions that defeat gas-shielded processes.

It’s worth noting what stick isn’t: it isn’t the fastest process, and it isn’t the tidiest. For the rest of that comparison, check whether stick welding is hard to learn — honestly, the arc sense it builds is the best foundation in the trade.

Strengths and Limitations, Straight Up

Strengths: unmatched portability, tolerance for dirty and outdoor conditions, all-position capability, low equipment cost, and consumables you can buy at any supply house worldwide.

Limitations: lower deposition rates than MIG or flux-core, electrode change-outs that interrupt flow, slag inclusion and porosity when technique slips, and thin sheet that fights back — see stick welding sheet metal for the workarounds. Undercut is the defect inspectors catch most often on stick welds run too hot.

Beginner Tips That Save Months of Frustration

1. Set amps by rod diameter and position. Start mid-range on the rod manufacturer’s chart, then adjust by how the puddle behaves.
2. Watch the arc length. Roughly one electrode diameter. Long arcs wander, spatter, and lose shielding.
3. Learn push vs. drag — push or pull technique changes bead profile more than people expect.
4. Master vertical-up before overhead. It teaches puddle control that transfers everywhere.
5. Angle matters. 10–15 degrees of travel angle for most rods, steeper for vertical-up weave work.

Stick welding won’t make you the fastest welder in the shop, but it will make you the one who can fix anything, anywhere. That’s why, decades after MIG and TIG took over production floors, the stinger still hasn’t been retired — and why the Bureau of Labor Statistics still counts stick proficiency among the core skills employers list most.

Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW / MIG): The Fast, Beginner-Friendly Workhorse

If stick welding is the old pickup every apprentice learns on, GMAW is the process that keeps modern fabrication shops running. Called MIG (Metal Inert Gas) in shop talk, it feeds continuous wire from a spool through a handheld gun. That one design change alters everything: no swapping electrodes mid-job, no slag to chip, and a deposition rate stick welding cannot match.

Practical GMAW machines arrived in 1948, and the process took over fast because it is quick, forgiving, and the most easily automated arc process there is. That is why robotic MIG cells dominate automotive assembly plants: a robot holds the same arc length and stick-out on every cycle. For the bigger picture, this arc welding overview puts MIG in context with the rest of the family.

How Wire-Feed Mechanics Work

Drive rolls grip the wire off the spool, push it through a liner in the gun cable, and out a copper contact tip that transfers current into the wire. The power supply holds steady voltage while wire feed speed sets the heat: feed faster and the arc draws more amps. Stick-out, the contact-tip-to-work distance, usually 3/8 to 1/2 inch, changes resistance and penetration too. When feeding acts up, the culprits are almost always a kinked liner, wrong roll tension, a bad ground, or damp wire. See How to Set Up a MIG Welder for the full sequence.

The Four Transfer Modes

Transfer mode describes how molten metal crosses the arc gap:

Short-circuit transfer runs at lower amps and is favored for thin sheet metal, while spray transfer starts above roughly 200 amps on 75% argon / 25% CO2 and lays down metal fast on thicker steel. Pulsed spray costs extra because the power source must support it, but it buys you spray-like transfer on material too thin for straight spray.

Shielding Gas Choices

• C25 (75% argon / 25% CO2): the standard shielding gas recommendation for short-circuit MIG on mild steel, giving a smooth arc, low spatter and a good-looking bead.
• 100% CO2: cheaper, deeper penetration, but more spatter and a rougher profile; it tolerates drafts a little better.
• Argon-rich blends (98/2, 90/8/2): used for spray transfer on steel.
• 100% argon for aluminum, and a tri-mix (argon, CO2 and oxygen or helium) for stainless.

Wire Types: Decoding ER70S-6

ER70S-6 is the most common mild-steel MIG wire in American shops. Read it this way: ER means electrode or rod, 70 means 70,000 psi tensile strength, S means solid, and the 6 indicates extra deoxidizers that tolerate rusty or dirty base metal. ER70S-2, with less deoxidizer, suits cleaner mill-scale-free steel. Beyond mild steel there is ER308L stainless, 4043 and 5356 aluminum filler, silicon bronze for brazing, and tubular wires when you need heavy buildup, as covered in Flux Core Wire Welding Tips.

Settings by Material Thickness

Treat those as starting points, then tune by ear and by reading the bead. Machine charts vary, and for code work the written procedure always wins.

Where MIG Wins

Automotive work, from body panels and frame repairs to assembly-line spot welding; sheet-metal duct, guard rails, maintenance fixes, manufacturing fabrication, and fast tack welding to hold an assembly together. GMAW is also the friendliest first process for a beginner, which is why most schools start people here before they try stick welding. If you are shopping, a MIG/TIG combo machine is a sensible entry point.

Classic Beginner Mistakes

• Wrong stick-out. Too long and the arc wanders with weak penetration; too short and you burn back into the contact tip.
• Wet or greasy wire. Oil and moisture on the wire or liner show up as porosity; keep spools indoors and the liner clean.
• Heat too high for thin metal. Blown holes. Drop the voltage and feed, step down to thinner wire, and stitch the joint with short tacks.
• Reversed polarity. GMAW runs on DCEP, electrode positive. Flipped, you get a lazy arc and shallow penetration.
• Over-voltage. Too much heat also leaves undercut along the weld toes.

• Pros: fast deposition, minimal cleanup, easy to learn, works on steel, stainless and aluminum, and automates better than any other manual arc process.
• Cons: higher upfront equipment and gas cost, consumable wire and liners, and a gun that is sensitive to wind, which pushes outdoor work toward flux-core or stick.

Flux-Cored Arc Welding (FCAW): MIG’s Heavy-Duty Sibling

If MIG welding is the clean, factory-trained workhorse of the shop, flux-cored arc welding is its field-ready counterpart. It runs on the same basic wire-feed hardware, but a single change to the consumable allows it to thrive outdoors, in high winds, and on jobs where raw productivity matters most.

What Makes Flux-Cored Wire Different

Solid MIG wire is exactly that: a continuous spool of bare metal alloy. Flux-cored wire, on the other hand, is a tubular electrode. Its thin outer sheath of mild steel is rolled into a tube and packed with powdered flux compounds, minerals, deoxidizers, and arc-stabilizers. When the arc melts the wire, that internal flux creates both shielding gas and slag right at the point of fusion.

This takes the shielding concept from stick welding’s flux coating and moves it inside the consumable. Instead of relying on gas drifting from a nozzle, protection is generated at the arc itself, allowing the weld pool to stay covered in conditions that would blow a MIG envelope away. For a more in-depth walkthrough of the setup and technique, check out our flux core wire welding tips guide.

FCAW-S vs. FCAW-G: Know Which One You’re Running

The American Welding Society splits flux-cored welding into two distinct processes, and knowing the difference is crucial for picking the right one for the job:

• FCAW-S (self-shielded): The tubular wire’s own flux generates all of its shielding gas, so no bottle, regulator, or gas line is needed. This is what makes it the go-to for outdoor construction, bridge work, and field erection. Many self-shielded wires tolerate 30+ mph winds while still producing sound welds.
• FCAW-G (gas-shielded, or “dual shield”): An external shielding gas (typically 100% CO₂ or a CO₂/argon mix) is added on top of the internal flux. This combination delivers the cleaner look and flat bead profile of gas shielding, while still retaining the deep penetration and high deposition of flux-cored wire. It’s a staple for heavy plate fabrication in the shop.

Why Fabricators Love the Deposition Rate

The biggest advantage of FCAW is its speed. Tubular wires routinely deposit two to three times the metal per hour of comparable stick electrodes on thick plate. That means less arc time lost to electrode changes and slag chipping, all while laying down far more filler metal. This productivity is what drives its use across heavy industry.

From shipbuilding and high-rise structural steel to field erection, FCAW is built for large joints. It’s also frequently qualified for pressure vessels and heavy plate work, areas that are covered in our pipe welding procedures guide. Beyond structural work, it even shines in hardfacing and high-build overlays for crusher rolls, bucket teeth, and farm equipment, stacking wear-resistant alloys far faster than stick rods.

The Trade-Offs: Smoke, Spatter, and Cleanup

With that power comes a few trade-offs. For one, flux core produces far more smoke and fume than many other arc processes. OSHA explicitly warns of heavier fume and gas loads, making local exhaust ventilation essential. This is outlined in OSHA’s welding hazards guidance (OSHA welding, cutting and brazing hazards) and its ventilation requirements under 29 CFR 1926.353.

Both FCAW-S and FCAW-G generate spatter and leave behind a slag coating that must be chipped or brushed before inspection or painting. Its high deposition and aggressive penetration also make it a poor fit for thin sheet metal. For those jobs, precision TIG welding is a much better option, as covered in our TIG sheet metal guide. Additionally, its polarity is almost always locked to DCEP, limiting its flexibility compared to solid MIG wire.

Practical Tips for Cleaner Flux-Core Welds

A few small adjustments go a long way with FCAW:

• Travel direction: Most FCAW-S wires are designed to be dragged, while gas-shielded dual-shield wires usually push. With thick dual-shield in the flat position, either can work, but always check your wire manufacturer’s data sheet.
• Stick-out: Flux core wants a longer electrical stick-out than MIG, typically 3/4 to 1 inch for self-shielded wire. Going too short can lead to excessive penetration and spatter.
• Angle: For FCAW-S, a 10–15 degree trailing angle lets the slag stay behind the arc, much like stick welding.
• Drive rolls: Tubular wire is softer than solid wire, so U-groove or knurled drive rolls are needed to prevent crushing the tube and jamming the liner.

Master flux core, and you can walk onto almost any construction site, pipeline spread, or heavy fab shop and produce production-quality welds in the wind, in position, and on schedule. It’s the process that proves you’re ready for real structural work.

Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW / TIG): The Precision Surgeon of Welding

If stick welding is the hammer of the arc welding world, GTAW is the scalpel. It uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode to strike and hold the arc, while filler metal is fed separately by hand from a rod. An inert gas, usually pure argon or an argon-helium mix, flows from a ceramic cup around the tungsten and shields the pool. Nothing about the arc is accidental: heat stays where you put it, penetration stays shallow and controlled, and the bead comes out cleaner than any other arc process.

That control is why GTAW shows up wherever a weld is inspected critically, not just structurally. Welders also call it TIG (tungsten inert gas), and if you have seen the phrase “wig welding” online, that is simply a common typo — our guide to what wig welding actually is clears up the confusion.

How the Torch, Filler and Gas Work Together

Because the tungsten does not melt, the welder controls two things at once: the arc, held at roughly 1 to 3 millimetres, and the filler rod, dabbed into the leading edge of the puddle in a rhythmic dip-dip-pause motion. A foot pedal works like a car’s accelerator: press for more amperage, ease off to cut heat without breaking the arc. No stick or MIG machine gives you that real-time control, which is why a TIG welder can run a bead on 20-gauge sheet without blowing holes, then step up to heavy plate.

The shielding gas matters as much as the arc. Pure argon is the default for most metals, flowing at 15 to 25 cubic feet per hour; helium or an argon-helium blend gives a hotter arc and faster travel on thicker sections. Because the shielding is inert and there is no flux, there is no slag to chip — what you see is the weld.

AC Versus DC: Why Aluminum Forces the Switch

Polarity decides how deep the arc digs and how the tungsten behaves. On steel and stainless, GTAW runs on direct current electrode negative (DCEN), which puts about 70 percent of the heat on the workpiece, gives deep penetration and keeps the tungsten cool. On aluminum and magnesium you must switch to alternating current (AC), and the reason is chemistry. Aluminum grows an instant oxide skin: aluminum oxide melts at roughly 3,700°F, while the base metal beneath it melts near 1,220°F. Weld aluminum on DCEN and you melt an alloy through a layer that will not melt until the part is ruined. The positive half of the AC cycle blasts that oxide away; the negative half penetrates the metal underneath. Square-wave and inverter machines let you dial the balance between cleaning and penetration so you stop grinding away more aluminum than you join.

Cleanliness Is Not Optional

This is where TIG punishes bad habits. Oil, paint, oxide, marker ink or fingerprint left on the joint ends up as porosity or inclusions. Parts are degreased, stainless gets a dedicated wire brush, aluminum is chemically cleaned and brushed with a separate brush kept only for aluminum, and filler rods are wiped. On critical tubing the joint is purged with argon too — standard in gas line welding and purge-controlled work, because the back side oxidizes (“sugars”) the moment hot metal meets oxygen.

GTAW carries the same electric shock and welding PPE obligations as every other process, plus unusually high ultraviolet output that will sunburn skin and flash-b

Submerged Arc Welding and the High-Production Arc Processes

Most arc processes reward finesse. Submerged arc welding rewards throughput. Once a shop graduates from one-off repairs to welding 40-foot seams on tank shells and bridge girders, manual techniques stop being practical, and SAW takes over. Understanding it, along with the handful of specialist arc processes you’ll eventually run into, rounds out your map of the electric arc welding family.

Submerged Arc Welding (SAW): The Arc You Can’t See

In SAW, the arc is completely buried under a blanket of granular fusible flux. There is no visible arc, no spatter, and almost no smoke plume — just a moving mound of grey granules with a finished bead trailing behind it. The flux melts into a protective slag that shields the molten pool from atmosphere, and unused granules are vacuumed up and reclaimed for the next pass.

That hidden arc is the whole trick. Because nothing is exposed, SAW can run far higher currents than open-air processes without blowing the puddle apart. Deposition rates on multi-wire setups can exceed 10–20 lb/h, compared with roughly 2–5 lb/h for manual stick welding — a difference you feel in delivery schedules, not just spreadsheets. The process also self-corrects: the flux chemistry cleans the metal and adds alloying elements, producing smooth, uniform beads with excellent penetration and very low hydrogen.

The trade-off is geometry. SAW is essentially a flat and horizontal-position process, it needs precisely machined joint prep, and the operator can’t see the puddle, so travel speed, voltage, flux depth and wire stick-out are set by machine rather than by eye. That makes it a shop process first: tank shells, ship hulls, heavy plate, I-beams, pressure vessel seams, laminated wear plate and large-diameter pipe. Field crews follow a different playbook — see pipe welding procedures for how multi-pass field joints are qualified and inspected.

Electroslag Welding (ESW): One Pass Through Very Thick Steel

ESW doesn’t really use an arc in the conventional sense. Two water-cooled copper shoes form a mold around the joint, a consumable wire or strip feeds in, and once a conductive molten slag pool establishes, resistance heating through the slag melts both the filler and the plate edges. The result is a vertical-up, single-pass weld through sections that would otherwise take dozens of passes — commonly 1 inch and up, sometimes several inches thick.

You’ll find ESW in heavy equipment, bridge members, rolling-mill stands and pressure vessel fabrication. Its limitations are real: the process only works in vertical position, the coarse as-cast grain structure usually requires normalizing heat treatment, and it isn’t suitable for anything thin.

Plasma Arc Welding (PAW): TIG’s Focused Cousin

PAW constricts the arc through a small nozzle orifice, producing a narrower, hotter, more stable jet than an open tungsten arc. In keyhole mode it can punch full-penetration welds in thick material at speed while remaining controllable enough for thin work. It sits in aerospace, medical device and turbine repair — the same cleanliness-minded world as TIG welding sheet metal, but with more penetration per amp.

Carbon Arc Gouging: Removing Metal, Not Adding It

Gouging isn’t a joining process, but it belongs in every arc welder’s toolkit. A carbon-graphite electrode plus a jet of compressed air blasts molten metal out of a groove. It remains the standard method for removing rejected weld metal, back-gouging a root pass to sound metal before the final cover, and cutting bevels fast. It’s loud, bright and dirty work — the arc and UV output are intense, so proper welding PPE plus a respirator or fume extraction is non-negotiable. Compressed air hoses and ground clamps should be inspected before every shift, along with everything else in your kit, including your cable connectors.

Atomic Hydrogen Welding and Stud Welding

Atomic hydrogen welding feeds hydrogen through an arc between two tungsten rods, recombining on the work to release intense heat. It predates modern TIG and survives only in a few specialty toolroom applications; think of it as a historical footnote that explains why argon-shielded GTAW took over. Stud welding is far more alive: a metal stud is drawn into a molten pool on plate via capacitive discharge or drawn arc, giving full-strength fasteners in seconds without drilling. It’s everywhere in ship decks, composite flooring, refractory anchors and electrical grounding.

Two related points worth keeping straight. First, each of these processes carries its own fume and UV profile, and OSHA’s welding, cutting and brazing hazard guidance applies whichever one you’re running. Second, if your job calls for a faster, cleaner cut on thin sheet, resistance-based methods may fit better than any arc process — our spot welder guide explains where that line falls.

Arc Welding Process Comparison: How to Choose the Right Type Every Time

Choosing an arc welding process is less about loyalty to a machine and more about reading the job in front of you. The same fabricator who lays beautiful spray-transfer MIG beads indoors will get humbled by a windy field joint, and the stick welder who thrives on a job site may fight for hours trying to match a TIG welder’s finish on stainless tube. The right process is the one that survives the conditions, meets the code, and makes economic sense — in that order.

The Side-by-Side Comparison

Here is the quick-reference comparison every welder keeps in the back of their head:

The Eight Questions That Decide the Process

1. What metal is it? Carbon steel structural work routes to SMAW, FCAW, or GMAW. Stainless and aluminum almost always go to GTAW, or GMAW with the correct gas and technique.
2. How thick is it? Thin sheet punishes high heat input — see our stick welding thin metal guide for how easily 16-gauge burns through. Thick plate wants deposition rate: FCAW or SAW.
3. Indoors or outdoors? Windy field work generally points to SMAW or self-shielded FCAW. Indoor shop production favors GMAW or gas-shielded FCAW for speed.
4. What position? Stick and short-circuit MIG handle all positions. SAW is flat-only, which is why it lives in fabrication shops and prefit pipe spools.
5. How much metal per hour? SAW and FCAW win on deposition; GTAW is the slowest process in the family by a wide margin.
6. What finish is required? Sanitary tubing and visible architectural work demand GTAW. Structural members hidden in a building do not.
7. What does the job cost? Stick gear is cheapest to own; TIG setups plus gas are the most expensive per hour of capability.
8. What code applies? ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Section IX and AWS D1.1 are the two most common qualification frameworks in U.S. industry, and they dictate process, position, and filler for every weld you will be paid to make.

Three Real Scenarios, Three Right Answers

Scenario 1: Repairing a farm trailer. Bent tongue, cracked crossmember, 3/8-inch mild steel, outdoors, dirt floor. This is a stick job. A 1/8-inch 6011 root pass burn-cuts through rust and paint, and an E7018 cap finishes it — dial your amperage with our 5/32 E7018 settings guide. Self-shielded FCAW is the runner-up if you own a wire feeder and want higher deposition.

Scenario 2: Building a stainless handrail. Indoors, 304 stainless tube, visible welds, architectural finish. This is GTAW without debate: DCEN on argon, filler matched to the alloy, foot-pedal control to avoid burn-through on thin tube. If you are new to thin stainless, start with our TIG sheet metal guide before striking an arc on a $400 tube.

Scenario 3: Welding pressure vessel seams. Thick carbon steel plate, flat and horizontal, heavy inspection, ASME Section IX paperwork. Shop-prepped seams belong to SAW: submerged flux, automatic travel, enormous deposition, minimal distortion. Field tie-ins on the same vessel switch to SMAW or FCAW-G with qualified procedures and documented WPS records.

The Common Mistakes and the Fixes

• Chasing weather with the wrong gas. Short-circuit MIG with C25 gas in an open yard fails on a windy day. Switch to stick or self-shielded FCAW.
• Over-welding for the job. TIG-ing a structural base plate is wasted money; stick-welding sanitary tubing is a rejection waiting to happen.
• Ignoring consumable cost. TIG filler rod and argon add up fast on production work. If speed matters, a MIG setup from our MIG setup guide will usually pay for itself.
• Skipping qualification. Running an unqualified process on a code job voids insurance and passes the problem to the inspector.
• Underestimating overhead work. Position changes everything. Read our overhead stick welding guide before assuming your flat settings will hold overhead.
• Fixing defects instead of causes. Persistent undercut usually means too much amperage or a wrong work angle, not a technique flaw.

The bottom line: match the process to the metal, the environment, and the paperwork — then let skill, not equipment, decide the quality. For ongoing safety practices while switching between processes, review MIG welding safety precautions, since each process carries its own fume, gas, and arc-flash profile. OSHA’s 29 CFR 1910.252 applies regardless of which electrode you choose.

Arc Welding Safety, Health and the OSHA Rules Behind Every Weld

Every process in this guide — stick, MIG, TIG, flux-core, submerged arc — shares one thing: an electric arc hot enough to melt steel. That means the safety rules stay the same regardless of which torch you’re holding. Before you dial in your next setting, whether it’s 3/32 E7018 amperage or a pulsed-spray MIG recipe, it pays to know what the arc is actually throwing at you.

The OSHA Framework: Two Standards Every Welder Lives Under

In the United States, welding safety is governed primarily by two regulations. 29 CFR 1910.252 covers general industry — fabrication shops, manufacturing plants, and repair facilities — while 29 CFR 1926.353 applies to construction, including field erection and pipeline jobs. You can read the general industry standard on OSHA’s website, and the construction rule is posted here. Both address the same three pillars: ventilation, eye and face protection, and fire prevention.

OSHA’s welding hazards and solutions page boils the core dangers down to burns, eye damage, electric shock, cuts, and crushed extremities. Notice what’s missing from that list: exotic, unpreventable hazards. Nearly every welding injury traces back to one of those five categories, and almost all of them are stoppable with proper PPE and procedure.

Eye Protection: Why Shade Numbers Matter More Than You Think

An open arc emits intense ultraviolet and infrared radiation along with visible light. Unprotected corneas can burn in minutes of exposure — the welding equivalent of a severe sunburn on the surface of your eye, a painful condition called photokeratitis. That’s why helmet shade selection isn’t a preference; it’s a requirement.

A general rule of thumb from AWS guidance: shade 10 works for lower-amperage MIG and TIG work, while stick, flux-core, and high-amperage processes typically demand shades 11 through 13. Auto-darkening helmets are rated on the same scale, so check that your helmet’s range covers the processes you run. And don’t forget the people near you: bystanders need protection too, which is why screens and curtains aren’t optional in shared shops.

Electric Shock and Equipment Hazards

Open-circuit voltage on a stick machine can reach 80 volts or more, and wet conditions dramatically lower the body’s resistance. OSHA treats electric shock as one of the most serious welding hazards. Practical defenses include dry gloves and boots, inspecting cable connectors for damage, never welding in standing water, and grounding the workpiece properly. When welding in damp or confined spaces, a hot-work monitor outside the space is standard practice on most jobsites.

Welding Fume and Gas: The Long-Term Risk

Short-term injuries get the drama, but fume exposure is the hazard that follows welders for decades. Coated metals, stainless steel, galvanized sheet, and painted scrap all generate harmful fumes. Hexavalent chromium from stainless welding and manganese from carbon steel are the two that get the most regulatory attention. NIOSH’s welding fume criteria document, DHHS Publication No. 88-110, remains a foundational reference for exposure limits and controls that safety professionals still cite today.

Which processes produce the most smoke? Flux-core (FCAW) and stick welding top the list, especially self-shielded flux-core running on thick structural steel. MIG with solid wire is comparatively clean, and TIG produces the least fume of all — one reason it dominates nuclear, food-processing, and pharmaceutical work. That said, no process makes fumes harmless. Ventilation matters everywhere: local exhaust at the source, or at minimum enough fresh-air flow to keep fumes out of the welder’s breathing zone. OSHA’s permissible exposure limits, such as the 5,000 ppm limit for carbon dioxide under 1926.352–1926.354, are enforceable numbers, not suggestions. For process-specific fume behavior, our MIG welding safety guide covers the details.

Fire Prevention and Hot Work Permits

Welding and cutting start more structure fires than most people realize. Sparks travel farther than instinct says they do — often 35 feet or more. Standard practice: clear a 35-foot radius of combustibles, cover what can’t be moved with fire-rated blankets, keep a charged extinguisher within arm’s reach, and post a fire watch for at least 30 minutes after work stops on any job involving flammable materials. In occupied buildings, refineries, and shipyards, a formal hot-work permit with gas testing is mandatory before the arc is struck.

PPE: The Last Line of Defense

The full PPE picture includes a welding helmet with the correct shade, safety glasses worn under the helmet, flame-resistant jacket and gloves, ear protection, steel-toe boots, and no cuffs or pockets that catch sparks. For a complete gear breakdown, see our guides on welding PPE essentials and what a welder actually wears on the job.

Here’s the honest truth that ties this section together: the type of arc welding you choose changes your exposure profile — more fume with flux-core, more UV with stick, cleaner air with TIG — but it never changes the obligation. Every process demands the same respect, the same ventilation, the same eye protection, and the same fire discipline. Master those, and the arc becomes a tool instead of a hazard.

Careers, Trends and Final Tips: Where Arc Welding Is Headed

The best welder I ever worked with walked out of the shop on a Friday at 63 and never came back. He could run an open-root 6G pass on a pipeline in a ditch in January, but he never touched a computer, and the shop spent two years trying to replace him. That is roughly what is happening across the entire trade right now, and it is the single biggest reason arc welding remains a safe career bet in an era of robots and automation.

The Retirement Wave and the Numbers Behind It

The American Welding Society reports more than 157,000 welders nearing retirement and projects roughly 320,500 new welders will be needed by 2029 to meet demand, a figure the industry tracks closely through welding workforce data and covers in depth in Where Are the Welders? in the Welding Digest.

The federal outlook is more measured but still positive. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment for welders, cutters, solderers and brazers to grow about 2% from 2025 to 2035, with roughly 10,300 additional openings expected over the decade. Growth is modest because technology absorbs some work, but retirements and job changes create far more openings than the headline growth rate suggests. Median pay sits around $48,000–$49,000 a year nationally, while specialized TIG, pipeline and underwater welders earn substantially more.

Automation, Energy and Infrastructure

Routine flat-position production work is steadily moving to robotic cells, especially in automotive and appliance manufacturing. That does not eliminate welders; it shifts them toward setup, programming, fixturing, inspection and repair, which is why many shops now want people who can read a drawing and troubleshoot a wire feeder as much as they can lay a bead.

Meanwhile the work that robots cannot reach is booming: pipeline and energy construction, field erection, shipbuilding, and infrastructure repair funded by bridge and water-system projects. All of it leans heavily on the processes covered in this guide, plus niche trades like railroad thermite welding. If you can position-weld outdoors in bad weather and pass a visual and radiographic inspection, you will not be unemployed.

What Employers Actually Look For

Certification beats charisma. Hiring welders typically want, in order: a current welding certificate or test on the process and position they need, the ability to read basic weld symbols, reliability and attendance, and a realistic sense of safety awareness. AWS D1.1 structural and ASME Section IX pressure-vessel qualification are the two you will meet most often, and pipe work adds procedures documented in a welding procedure specification. Employers also quietly check whether you take care of your gear and your body, which is why a solid grasp of welding PPE matters as much as your bead appearance.

Which Process to Learn First

If you are starting from zero, learn short-circuit GMAW first. It is forgiving, deposits metal quickly, and lets you focus on travel speed and gun angle without fighting a stick electrode. Our MIG welder setup guide walks through the settings. Then learn SMAW, because it builds genuine arc control and works almost anywhere, power-wise and weather-wise. Be honest about the challenge first: stick welding is harder than it looks, but the fundamentals transfer to every other process. Add TIG once you want precision and clean cosmetics, especially on thin material, and pick up flux-core for heavy outdoor work with flux-core technique tips. A MIG/TIG combo machine is a sensible first purchase for home and light fabrication.

Mistakes to Avoid as You Build Your Career

• Chasing a specialty before you can pass a basic 3F or 3G test on mild steel.
• Skipping certification because you “already know how to weld.” Shops hire paper and proof.
• Learning one process only. Most job postings want at least MIG plus stick.
• Ignoring settings discipline, such as guessing amperage instead of running a test plate with proper E7018 amperage references.
• Skipping ventilation, respirators and eye protection. Fume and arc-flash exposure compounds over a career; OSHA’s welding hazards guidance and NIOSH research on fume exposure are not optional reading, and your gear checklist starts at what a welder wears.
• Overbuilding settings on thin material. Most blown holes come from heat, not lack of talent, so review thin-metal stick settings before blaming the rod.

Conclusion: The Whole Picture in One Pass

Arc welding is one principle, an arc between an electrode and base metal, expressed in many ways. SMAW is the portable all-rounder for repair, construction and pipeline. GMAW is the fast, clean, indoor production workhorse that is easiest to learn. FCAW is its heavier, wind-tolerant sibling for structural and ship work, at the cost of more smoke. GTAW is the precision process for aerospace, food-grade tubing, nuclear work and anything that has to look flawless, and SAW is the high-deposition automated giant for plate and pipe. Everything else in the trade, from plasma arc to carbon arc gouging to stud welding, fills a specific niche around those five. Choose your first process by the work you want, prove it with a certificate, protect yourself, and keep learning. The demand side of this trade is not going anywhere.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the main types of electric arc welding?

The primary types are Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW/stick), Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW/MIG), Flux-Cored Arc Welding (FCAW), Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW/TIG) and Submerged Arc Welding (SAW). Plasma arc, electroslag, carbon arc and stud welding round out the family for specialized industrial uses.

What is the difference between MIG and TIG welding?

MIG (GMAW) feeds a consumable wire electrode automatically through a torch, making it fast and beginner-friendly. TIG (GTAW) uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode and a separate filler rod, giving far more control and cleaner welds but requiring much more skill.

Which type of arc welding is best for beginners?

Most instructors start beginners on short-circuit MIG (GMAW) because the settings are easier to dial in and the wire feeds automatically. Learning stick (SMAW) next builds genuine arc control and opens up outdoor and repair jobs that MIG cannot handle well.

Can I weld outdoors with any arc welding process?

Wind is the enemy of gas-shielded processes like MIG and gas-shielded flux core, which need still air to protect the weld pool. Stick welding and self-shielded flux-cored welding are the best choices for windy outdoor and field work.

Is arc welding dangerous?

Arc welding involves electric shock, intense UV/IR radiation, burns, fire risk and inhalation of fumes and gases. Following OSHA standards 1910.252 and 1926.353, wearing proper PPE, using ventilation and observing hot-work procedures control nearly all of these hazards.

What does an electrode like E7018 mean?

In AWS stick electrode codes, ‘E’ stands for electrode, ’70’ means a minimum 70,000 psi tensile strength, ‘1’ means the rod can be used in all welding positions, and ’18’ identifies a low-hydrogen iron-powder coating. It is the structural-steel workhorse rod.

Which arc welding process is strongest?

Strength depends more on joint design, filler matching, penetration and procedure qualification than on the process name. That said, deep-penetration processes like stick, flux core and submerged arc are preferred for heavy structural and pressure work governed by AWS D1.1 and ASME Section IX.

Do I need a different certification for each welding process?

Yes. Welding performance qualifications are process-specific, so passing a stick test does not qualify you for MIG or TIG without additional testing. Employers and codes such as AWS D1.1 require separate qualification for each process you will perform.