What is Butt Welding? – Process, Advantages, Disadvantages and Applications


What is Butt Welding?

Butt welding is one of the simplest and versatile resistance welding process. In the butt welding process, heat is produced by the contact resistance between two metal workpieces. The faces of the workpieces should be machined or edge prepared.

The circuit diagram for butt welding process is shown in the figure.

  • In butt welding, the two workpieces are brought together and mechanical pressure is applied along the axial direction by a spring.

  • A welding transformer is used that is having larger number of turns in the primary winding and smaller number of turns in secondary winding.

  • A heavy current is passed from the welding transformer, which creates the required heat at the joint due to comparatively high resistance of the contact area.

  • This heat melts the metal at the joint and the two workpieces fuse together producing a weld joint.

Advantages of Butt Welding

The primary advantages of the butt welding process are given as follows −

  • Butt welding process is easy to machine.

  • It provides distortion control

  • It produces welds of high strength with complete fusion.

Disadvantages of Butt Welding

There are some disadvantages of butt welding such as −

  • For butt welding, the welding geometry can limit its applications.

  • Welds made by butt welding are sensitive to faying surface conditions.

  • Butt welding process may require fixturing or backing.

Applications of Butt Welding

The main applications of butt welding are as follows −

  • Butt welding is used, where the metal pieces are joined end to end or edge to edge.

  • Butt welding is used for welding such articles whose cross-sectional area is as much as 6.25 cm2 such as steel rails.

  • Butt welding is also used for welding pipes, wires and rods, etc.

Updated on: 05-Apr-2022

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