The gases used in different types of welding would includea)oxygen and...
oxygen acetylene for steel work with the oxytorch. propane/butane/methane and occasionally even petrol for oxy cutting or brazing. as long as the fuel burns, it can be used.
pure argon or helium, or a mixture of both for TIG welding operations.
wire feeds or MIG/MAG… pure argon for aluminium and “brazing” (most panelbeaters now use brass wire with a lower melting point and less heat damage to the steel), or a mixture 0f oxygen, argon and CO2 for most other operations. a very very small proportion of oxygen, around 2%, promotes easy “striking of the arc”.
argon oxygen mixture is good for very thin steel work, where you need easy arcing, and also, for the liquid metal to retain “surface tension”. this is the MIG or Mild(steel) Inert Gas process.
addition of CO2 assists penetration, to the point where pure CO2 is used for extremely heavy welding. the liquid metal is extremely “fluid” under CO2, and this gas is definitely not suitable for overhead or vertical welding! this is the MAG or Mild Active Gas process.
then theres other types of welding that dont use gas as such…arc/stick welding uses a flux coating (except for manganese/hadfield steel rods?) that turns to gas under the heat of the arc, and also supply alloying elements for the weld metal itself. there are almost as many types of flux coatings as there are rods, and they all have their particular uses.
submerged arc welding is an extremely high current welding process, for deep penetration and usually is automated…. this lays a pile of flux down just in front of the wire feed.
similar to flux core wire on the wirefeed/mig welder, except its added separately rather than being in the wire itself.
friction welding doesnt need any type of shielding gas unless its magnesium or certain other rarely used metals.
induction welding is usually done in an inert atmosphere that may consist of anything from argon or helium to CO2 and even nitrogen.
forge welding…we heat steel up til its white hot and hammer it together… no gas required. if flux is used, its generally just sand. silicon.
vacuum welding…no gas required or it isnt a vacuum…
oh. and there is also “monatomic welding”. this uses a torch that blows hydrogen through an electric arc. the hydrogen splits into separate atoms, and recombines to produce heat…its rather strange, something like a cross between the TIG and the oxytorch. the TIG process basically superseded it. it still finds uses in certain applications.