When a weld fails in the field, the consequences can be catastrophic. Our experience as welding engineering consultants has shown us that such failures often expose deeper issues within a company’s welding operations. These situations can lead to fears of additional failures in other products or structures, potential harm or fatalities, litigation, and even bankruptcy. […]
Rework is extremely costly, especially in welding. If you consider what happens when a weld is rejected it is essentially triples the amount of work. You weld, you remove the weld, you reweld. On top of this it may require additional inspection. So, reducing rework can save considerable amounts of time and money.
It is not a secret that increasing our deposition rates, measured in pounds per hour (kg per hour in metric units), can result in increased productivity. Deposition rate is the rate at which we are depositing weld metal. It is different from the melt-off rate. Melt-off rate is the rate at which we consume our […]
Developing welding procedures requires an understanding of all the different essential variables as well as the process of qualifying or prequalifying such procedures.
When writing a welding procedure one of the most critical steps is selecting our welding parameters. This means determining the appropriate amperage and voltage as well as other critical aspects that the welder must adhere to such as travel speed and travel and work (transverse) angles. What follows is an explanation as to the importance […]
Selecting the filler metal should not be a trivial matter. The easy way out is to select a filler metal that has matching strength, meaning that the minimum specified tensile strength of the filler metal matches that of the base metal. However, this is not always the best option. In some cases it may be beneficial to use undermatching filler metals. There are many factors to consider when selecting the right filler metal. Understanding requirements in the areas of strength, ductility, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, in-service demands, cost and productivity is essential.
Developing a welding procedure is the responsibility of the welding engineer. Most fabricators don’t have a welding engineer on staff and require that those with the most welding knowledge develop the WPS. Many times this falls in the hands of the certified welding inspector (CWI).
One of the most common questions we get around the topic of welding procedure qualification is regarding the differences between qualified and prequalified welding procedures. The main question is typically: is one better than the other? Before we answer this question, let’s first discuss the need for qualified, or prequalified, welding procedures. If you have […]
If you work with AWS D1.1 you are probably familiar with the use of prequalified welding procedures. The use of prequalified WPSs provides many benefits to the fabricator, one of which is costs savings due being exempt from having to perform costly testing to qualify the welding procedure. However, if you are looking to save […]
Whenever you hear that a welding procedure needs to be qualified it simply means that its suitability for use in a welded structure needs to be proven by testing. This means that the welding procedure must be capable of producing sound welds. But what are sound welds? Sound welds are welds that will perform in […]
