Abstract: The invention has as an object thereof to provide a welding method which is capable of forming an oxide passivated film, which is corrosion resistant, non-catalytic, and has an extremely small amount of released gasses, chiefly on the welded portion or in the vicinity thereof during the welding process. During the welding process, a gas in which 800 ppm.about.2.5% of moisture is contained in an inert gas is caused to flow, and a passivated film having chromium oxide as a chief component thereof is formed on the surface of the welded portion. The welding method comprises a welding process and a passivation process; in the passivation process, a gas in which 1000 ppm.about.2.5% of moisture is contained in an inert gas is employed.

Abstract: A process for separating enriched oxygen and argon from air through pressure swing adorption by using an adsorbent which is capable of selectively adsorbing nitrogen. Product gas is recovered from one adsorption column in which the adsorption step has already been completed by moving the gas to another adsorption column in which regeneration of the adsorbent by pressurization with the product gas has already been completed on the basis of pressure equalization. In this case, at the same time as the gas is being moved from the feed end of one column to the feed end of another, the gas may also be moved from the effluent end of the former to the effluent end of the latter. In this way, it is possible to stably and readily obtain an enriched oxygen gas having a lowered nitrogen content at an increased specific product and a lowered specific power consumption.