(CHAPTER 5--WELDING PROCEDURE AND WELDER QUALIFICATION Chapter 9—Welding Procedure and Welder Qualification Introduction ‘A welding procedure details the steps by which the ‘welding of a specific joint or weldment is to be accom- plished. It gives the prescribed values or ranges of values {or all the controllable variables inthe process and speci fies all materials to be used. A welding procedure deter- riines the mechanical properties of a weided joint Almost every welding job needs a welding procedure. ‘Commonly, the contract or the specifications require that writen procedure be prepared. The requirements often are those of a general specification or standard, which the fabricator may he following as a quality control standard. When the governing specifications or standards com- prise a code that has been adopted by a goveming agency such as a city, state, or province, then the welding proce- are becomes a legal entity under that eode. ‘The purpose of this section is as follows: + Todefine the welding procedure specification, includ~ ing its types, content, documentation, and app ication. ‘+ Tocexplain the qualification of the welding procedure specification, + To define circumstances when certain parts of the specification may require requalification, + Todefine the welding inspector's responsibilities dur- ing the qualification process and later during the fabsi- cation inspection process, Welding Procedure Specification ‘The purpose of a welding procedure specification is to define and document the details that are to be carried out in welding specific materials or parts. ‘Many companies prepare a quality assurance manual that establishes the responsibilities for preparation, re- view, and approval ofthe welding procedures to be used, although the procedures themselves will not ordinarily be included in the quality assurance manual. ‘Contents ‘The written welding procedure specification should be arranged in accordance with the contract or purchase requirements, The information should be sufficiently de~ tailed to ensure that the welding will meet all require- ments of the applicable code, standard or specification, ‘The topics that follow in this section are the most common and generally the most essential in welding pro- cedure specifications. Every item will not apply to every process or application, and some items that are familiar {0 you may not be listed at all, The lst is given to guide the welding inspector in reviewing welding procedure specifications or in determining whether or not produc~ tion welding is being performed in accordance with ‘welding provedure specifications, It must be emphasized that the welding inspector is not responsible for produc ing the welding procedure specification, The following, can serve as.a checklist for the welding inspector when reviewing a welding procedure specification produced by ‘welding engineer or other responsible individual 162 (1) Scope, Have the types of welding, the materials, andthe governing specifications been clearly stated? @) Base Metals and Applicable Specifications. Are suitable base metals specified? They should be identified by their chemical composition and applicable specifica- tions. The procedure should indicate what condition the ‘base mete! shouldbe in before welding (hat is, normal- Jzed, annealed, quenched and tempered, solution weated, ete) There may also be a requirement thatthe fabricator know the identity of all materi. Full plates or sections(HAPTER 9-WWELDING PROCEDURE AND WELDER QUALIFICATION can be identified by the mill numbers; small portions cut from full plates or sections should be marked with the same numbers. The rolling direction of the plate should also be identified. G) Welding Process. What welding process is 10 be sed? (4) Type, Classification, and Composition of Filer Metals. The welding process should be clearly named, and the composition, identifying type, or classification ‘designation of the filler metal should alway’ be spelied ‘out {0 ensure proper use. In addition, the sizes of filer metals or electrodes that can be used when welding dif= ferent thicknesses of material in different positions must be designated. Some types of filler metals are even iden- tified on each individuat pass or ayer. Identification of filler metals may be lost when original containers are dis carded, Electrode marking, moreover, does not guarantee ‘that the electrode is in satisfactory condition. For exam- ple, low-hydrogen electrodes thet ftave been exposed to the atmosphere must be baked in an oven to restore their Jow moisture content, Such baking requirements should be included in the welding procedure, following the man- tufacturer's specification, (5) Type of Current and Current Ranges. What type of current isto be used? Some electrtes work well on either ac or de. If de is needed, the proper polarity should be specified (DCEP or DEN). In addition, cur- rent ranges for different electrode sizes, different pro- cedure positions, and various thicknesses of materials should be listed. (6) Welder Qualification Requirements. The prove- dure specification may designate the requirements for ‘welder or welding operator qualification. Applicable ‘welder qualification specifications or paragraphs of the governing specifications may be referenced in the weld- ing procedure specification, The latter portion of this Chapter is devoted to the topic of welder qualification, ) Joint Designs and Tolerances. Permissible joint design details and the designated welding sequence should be identified. Use of cross-sections sketches that show the thickness of material, details ofthe joint, or ref= ferences to standard drawings or specifications are suit- able ways of expressing this information, Tolerances for all dimensions must be listed (see Figure 9.1). (8) Joint Preparation and Cleaning of Surfaces to he Welded. What methods may be used to prepare the Joints? How are the surfaces to be cleaned? Joint prepa- tation methods such as oxyfuel cutting, air carbon are cutting, and plasma are cutting (with or without after- cleaning) should be specified. Any required machining ‘or grinding, and any special cleaning such as vapor, trasonie, dip, or lint-free cloth cleaning must be speci- fied. There may also be mention of whether weld anti- spatter compounds may be used. Be sure that methods or 163 GROOVE ANGLE CET nox, | ROOT DIMENSION Figure 9.1—Joint Design and Toleranc practices specified for production work are also specified for qualifying the welding procedure (se Figure 9.2), (9) Tack Welding, What tack welding practices are to be followed? The applicable code should be referenced to determine whether tack welders must be qualified. (10) Joint Welding Detalls. Deusils of electrode sizes {or the different portions of each welding positon, the ar- rangement of weld passes for filling the joims, the thick- ness of each pass, pass width or electrode weave limitations, ampemge ranges and whatever other details ae important for each particular joint must be specified. (1) Positions of Welding. In which postions may welding be done? (see Figures 9.3 and 9.4), (12) Preheat and Interpass Temperatures. What are the temperature limits for any preheat or interpass temperature? (13) Peening: Peening is « mechanical reatment uti- lized to reduce the effects of welding heat cycles that could prosiuce excessive residual stresses, distortion and even cracking. Indiseriminate use of peening should not be permite; however, its sometimes applied 10 highly restrained or thick welds to avoid warpage or eracking of Yo JOINT TO BE CLEANED Figure 9.2—Joint Preparation and Cleaning of Surfaces for Welding(CHAPTER WELDING PROCEDURE AND WELDER QUALIFICATION Jaion of Pestions of Groove Wels Position ___—_—_—‘Dingramfoterence _—_—_—ineination of Axis __—=—=Rctaton of Face Herat 3 oro ae oie Overhead ° ‘oar nn 8, we g See Fees AXIS LIMITS FOR / so0s its FORD nes always taken toi below the weld under consideration. Sued from the Rerizortal reference plane toward ths vertical reference plane. 2. The ndraton of ai “The angle of flan ofthe face Is determined bys line porpensiculr tothe theoretical face of the weld which passes through t ho weld. Tho roforence poston (0°) of otaton of tho tee invariably points inthe dracon opposte to that in hin tho as sng oman, Wn lkig a pat Fe argh of clon of Be ae of he weld meme aoc dhcton fromthe reference postion (") ns of Groove Welds Figure 9.3—Pos 166