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 […]

6 Levels of Welding Quality Standards

Which one do you fall under?

  We received a large number of email responses and comments to our article from two weeks ago pertaining to weld quality standards. The main question was how to do you determine the minimum level of quality for your products, but also how do you verify you are reaching or exceeding that quality level. Responses […]

How to Determine Acceptable Weld Quality

Certain industries that involve welding of their products have very strict quality standards to ensure the production of sound welds.  Many others however, do not.  They simply weld and unless one of their products fails they don’t pay special attention to welding procedures, detailed inspection of welds or testing the skill (performance) of their welders. […]

How to Become a Certified Welding Inspector

A career as a Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) can be very rewarding.  This certification, which is awarded by the American Welding Society, carries a lot of weight both nationally and internationally.  The main responsibilities of a CWI is to make sure that welding operations are manufacturing products that comply with specified welding codes and standards. CWIs essentially are expected […]

The AWS D1.1 1G Welder Qualification Test

The AWS D1.1 Structural Welding Code (Steel) welder qualification plate tests consists of a groove weld with a 45-degree included angle. The plates are prepared to a knife’s edge and a ¼ in [6 mm] backing strip is used.  The test for unlimited thickness will use plates that are 1 in [25 mm] thick.  Anything […]

Danger of Using the Wrong Shielding Gas for GMAW

In our previous article we mentioned that a customer was inquiring about running their 98% argon / 2% carbon dioxide (98/2) shielding gas on mild steel.  This gas is used on stainless as it maintains the amount of reactive gas (in this case CO2) under 3%.   Our quick answer was “yes, you can weld carbon […]

Etching Solutions for Steel, Stainless, Aluminum and Other Metals

For high-quality macro-etches

The qualification of welders and welding procedures often involves macro-examination of welds.  Performing macro-etches is a relatively simple procedure, but strict guidelines must be followed to ensure safety.  Most chemicals used in etching solutions are hazardous and must be handled accordingly.  Any person etching with these chemicals must  familiarize him or herself with the corresponding […]

Importance of Implementing a Specification for Weld Quality

Understanding the basic components

If you have been reading our articles for some time you know how strongly we feel about having documented welding procedure specifications which have been qualified by testing or prequalified in conformance with code requirements. Yet when we recommend that these very important documents be developed and used in production we get a lot of […]

Weld Toughness vs Weld Strength

If you have ever been tasked with selecting the right specification and grade of steel for a particular application you know there are hundreds of choices.  Typically these are based on the materials tensile strength and yield strength.  There are many factors that go into selecting the right base metal for a given application.  In […]

Dangers of not Maintaining Proper Interpass Temperature

Last week we had the pleasure of working with a fabricator of pressure vessels in order to help them reduce manufacturing costs.   As mandated by the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code this fabricator had welding procedure specifications (WPSs) and procedure qualification records (PQRs) in place.  These were properly written, tested and documented. The WPS […]