Welding in the Eighties

There are now at least a dozen distinctly different fusion welding processes, each well developed and having its own appropriate applications, and this number is substantially supplemented by those processes involving solid phase bonding. No attempt at looking forward would be complete without an appraisal of these and their possible future roles. They are the means with which to face challenges; changing sources of energy will provide the toughest of these, such as the large-scale production of hydrocarbons from coal, but welding is also bound up with the electronic revolution, microprocessors and robotics.