Common Mistakes That Lead to Hydrogen Induced Cracking
Hydrogen Induced Cracking (HIC), also called hydrogen assisted cracking (HAC) and cold cracking, is a common welding defect when welding heavy steel sections and steels with high carbon content. If you would like to learn more about the causes of HIC read Factors Influencing Hydrogen Induced Cracking. In the above mentioned article we explained that […]
How to Determine the Shear Strength of a Fillet Weld
In our previous post we explained how to determine the strength of a transverse fillet weld. A transverse fillet weld is one that is perpendicular to an applied load. We will now look at how to determine the strength of a fillet weld under shear stress. If the load applied is not perfectly perpendicular to […]
How to Determine the Strength of a Transverse Fillet Weld
Unless you are a design engineer you typically don’t have to worry about determining the strength of a weld. The strength of a weld refers to its load carrying capacity, or how much load it can handle before it fails. However, it is very important for all of us involved in the welding process, from […]
How to Qualify Welders for Internal Purposes
Whenever we think about qualifying welders we typically think about welding codes such as one of the AWS structural welding codes, API 1104 or ASME Section IX. In most cases qualifications are carried out to comply with a customer requirement. But what if you simply want to qualify your welders as part of your own […]
Non-Value Added Activities Affecting Welding Costs
Many fabricators struggle to get a grip on their welding costs. The best they can do is try to find suppliers that will sell them their consumables, gas and other raw materials at a lower price. Those who try to reduce costs by being more efficient soon realize that simply speeding up welding is not […]
How Hard is the CWI Exam?
Are you planning on becoming a certified welding inspector (CWI) in the near future? Or do you need one of your employees to get this certification? If so, you have probably heard that the exam is pretty tough. Although the American Welding Society (AWS) does not publish information on passing rates, it is estimated that […]
Who Can Qualify My Welders?
There is a misconception in our industry that the qualification of welders, and welding procedures for that matter, needs to be done by a certified welding inspector (CWI) or a welding engineer. Or that it has to be done by a third party. Although this may be the case if specified in contract documents, more […]
Common Tests for Welder Performance Qualification
The purpose of welder performance qualifications is to ensure that the welder can deposit sound welds. There are several tests, both destructive and nondestructive, that are used to evaluate a welder’s ability to deposit good welds. Below are four of the most common test applied for these qualifications: Visual Inspection (VT) Visual inspection is […]
Welding Cost Reduction Revisited
Many of our customers realize that there is a great potential for reducing costs in welding operations. Yet, not many are willing to attack this area of manufacturing. The reason for this is that welding is a very complicated industrial process. It has many variables that come into play which determine quality and productivity. So […]
Fillet Weld Leg Sizes Are Meaningless!
Measuring fillet weld legs is meaningless, well… not really. Fillet weld leg sizes are very important, but simply measuring the leg of a fillet weld does not tell us if we actually achieved the desired throat dimension. The strength of a fillet weld is determined by its effective throat. As you can see in the […]