9 Required Components of Welding Procedure Specifications
Regardless what position you hold, if you work in the welding industry you have heard of welding procedures specifications (WPSs). To some, a welding procedure simply means the selection of a few variables such as amps and volts. To others, these are the documents that govern all welding done in their facility. A […]
5 Building Blocks of a Weld Quality Control System
Controlling weld quality is not always an easy task. Many fabricators struggle to manage the amount of rework, the discrepancies from one batch of product to the next, and the varying levels of productivity and workmanship amongst their welders. This inability to control weld consistency is not surprising. Welding has more than 20 variables that […]
Rule of Thumb for Fillet Weld Sizes
Many fabricators can lower their welding costs significantly if they paid close attention to weld sizes. If a print calls for a ¼” fillet weld and in production you make a 5/16” fillet weld, you are overwelding by 56%! If the print calls for a 3/16” fillet, the 5/16” fillet weld you deposit would be […]
Steps to determine if welding preheat can be eliminated?
As discussed in our previous article, and many times in the last 50 or so, preheat is necessary in steel welding to control the cooling rate. More specifically, preheat is used to slow the cooling rate down in order to prevent excessive hardness in the heat affected zone (HAZ) which can lead to cracking. Before […]
Factors Affecting Cooling Rates of Welds and Heat Affected Zones
Our next article will discuss a question we are asked quite often: Can we eliminate preheating before welding? Preheating is necessary to slow the cooling rate down after welding which in turn avoids excessive hardening of the weld and heat affected zone. Eliminating preheat can lead to hydrogen induced cracking and catastrophic failure. A […]
Why More Customers are Requiring Qualified Welding procedures
If you own or work at a job shop you may have noticed an increase in the number of customers that require the use of qualified welding procedures to build their products. Some fabricators are even getting this request from long time customers who never required them in the past. So why is this? The […]
Which Arc Welding Process is the Most Efficient?
This question can be answered very quickly. Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) and Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) can have 98-99% deposition efficiency. However, the question is a bit more complicated since when we talk about efficiency we don’t just care about deposition efficiency (how much of the electrode becomes weld metal). What we care about […]
Causes of Porosity in Submerged Arc Welds
Submerged arc welding is typically done automatically, meaning it is not done by hand, but rather set up as hard automation. The operator simply controls the welding machine and torch position to obtain the desired results. Typically,the system is run by an operator, not a welder. So when problems come up, the operator may not […]
Effects of Voltage on Weld Quality
Voltage is one of the most important variables in a welding procedure. It is also one that is sometimes misunderstood. You may ask five welders what effect voltage has on a weld and you may get five different answers. This is because voltage can do a lot of things, some good and some bad. Understanding […]
Welding Engineering Topics for Non-Welding Engineers
Today we are faced with a tremendous shortage of welding professionals. This includes welders, fitters, cutters, inspectors, supervisors, robotic technicians and welding engineers to name a few. Although every fabricator can benefit from having a welding engineer on staff, most welding engineers tend to work in specific industries such as Oil & Gas, Aerospace, Automotive […]