This article describes the process, advantages, limitations, applications, and equipment used for shielded metal arc welding (SMAW). It provides information on the types of electrodes, weld schedules, and welding procedures. The article explains the electrodes used in the SMAW process that have different compositions of core wire and a variety of flux-covering types and weights. It includes information on gravity and firecracker welding and discusses dry and wet types of underwater welding. Finally, the article reviews the safety considerations to be followed during SMAW.

Shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), commonly called stick or covered electrode welding, is a manual welding process whereby an arc is generated between a flux-covered consumable electrode and a workpiece. This article discusses the advantages and limitations and applications of the SMAW process and describes the equipment used. It provides information on various coated electrodes used in the SMAW process, including mild and low-alloy steel-covered electrodes, stainless steel covered electrodes, and nickel and copper alloys covered electrodes. It reviews weld schedules and procedures, as well as the variations of the SMAW process. The article concludes with information on the special applications of the SMAW process and safety considerations.

Arc welding methods can be classified into shielded metal arc welding, flux-cored arc welding, submerged arc welding, gas metal arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding, plasma arc welding, plasma-metal inert gas (MIG) welding, and electroslag and electrogas welding. This article provides information on process capabilities, principles of operation, power sources, electrodes, shielding gases, flux, process variables, and advantages and disadvantages of these arc welding methods. It presents information about the arc welding procedures of hardenable carbon and alloy steels, cast irons, stainless steels, heat-resistant alloys, aluminum alloys, copper and copper alloys, magnesium alloys, nickel alloys, and titanium and titanium alloys.

Copper and copper alloys offer a unique combination of material properties that makes them advantageous for many manufacturing environments. This article begins with a discussion on common metals that are alloyed with copper to produce the various copper alloys. It then reviews the factors that affect the weldability of copper alloys, including thermal conductivity of the alloy being welded, shielding gas, type of current used during welding, joint design, welding position, and surface condition. The article provides information on arc welding processes such as gas-metal arc welding, shielded metal arc welding, submerged arc welding, plasma arc welding, and gas-tungsten arc welding. It concludes with a discussion on safe welding practices.

This article discusses the susceptibility of carbon steels to hydrogen-induced cracking, solidification cracking, lamellar tearing, weld metal porosity, and heat-affected zone (HAZ) mechanical property variations. The composition and mechanical properties of selected carbon steels used in arc welding applications are listed in a table. The article presents process selection guidelines for arc welding carbon steels. It provides information on the shielded metal arc welding, gas-metal arc welding, and flux-cored arc welding, gas-tungsten arc and plasma arc welding, submerged arc welding, electrogas welding, electroslag welding, and stud arc welding.

This article addresses consumable selection and procedure development for the welding of stainless steels. The WRC-1992 diagram and the Schaeffier diagram, are used to illustrate the rationale behind many filler-metal choices. The article discusses the basic metallurgy and base metals of five major families of stainless steels: martensitic stainless steels, ferritic stainless steels, austenitic stainless steels, precipitation-hardening (PH) stainless steels, and duplex ferritic-austenitic stainless steels. Stainless steels of all types are weldable by virtually all welding processes. The article describes the common arc welding processes with regard to procedure and technique errors that can lead to loss of ferrite control with the common austenitic stainless steel weld metals that are designed to contain a small amount of ferrite for protection from hot cracking. The arc welding processes include shielded-metal arc welding, gas-tungsten arc welding, and gas-metal arc welding.

Hardfacing refers to the deposition of a specially selected material onto a component in order to reduce wear in service as a preventative measure or return a worn component to its original dimensions as a repair procedure. This article provides information on various hardfacing materials, namely, iron-base overlays, chromium carbide-based overlays, nickel- and cobalt-base alloys, and tungsten carbide-based metal-matrix composite overlays. It discusses the types of hardfacing processes, such as arc welding processes, and laser cladded, oxyacetylene brazing and vacuum brazing processes. The arc welding processes include shielding metal arc welding, gas metal arc welding/flux cored arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding, submerged arc welding, and plasma transferred arc welding. The article also reviews various factors influencing the selection of the appropriate hardfacing for specific applications.

Nickel alloys can be joined reliably by all types of welding processes or methods, with the exception of forge welding and oxyacetylene welding. This article discusses the heat treatment of nickel alloys and tabulates nominal compositions of selected weldable wrought nickel and nickel alloys. It provides information on gas-tungsten arc welding, gas-metal arc welding, plasma arc welding, shielded metal arc welding, and submerged arc welding for welding nickel alloys. The article reviews the defects encountered in the arc welding of nickel alloys, including porosity, cracking, and stress-corrosion cracking. It provides information on the factors that influence the choice of filler metal and welding process of nickel alloys.