When joining plastic parts, different applications require different methods.
When welding thermoplastic parts, there are a number of different technologies to choose from, including ultrasonic, hot-plate, vibration, laser and spin. Hot-gas welding, in which heated air or nitrogen is used to melt a plastic welding rod, and induction welding, in which a ferromagnetic insert is placed between two parts and energized with an electromagnetic field in order to melt the material, are two other options. However, the former is slow and dependent on operator skill, and thus largely relegated to field work and repairs. The latter is expensive and complicated thanks to the ferromagnetic insert.