The

Issue

06
Welding
Institute

2015

www.welding-and-cutting.info Technical journal for welding and allied processes

Open Day sparks the start of a Brazing: When, where and Shock welding – Process variants
new era of research for TWI how did it begin? – and measuring procedures for
Part 2: The brazing processes assessing the welding quality
used in antiquity
 THE PERFECT
JOINT IS POSSIBLE.
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REVOLUTION IS COMPLETE
WITH TPS/i ROBOTICS.
Completing the Intelligent Revolution: TPS/i Robotics
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 EDITORIAL

The universe of welding:

A big bang or a constellation
of bright sparks?
As my thoughts on our universe of welding were about to go to
press, I received the very sad news that one of its stars had departed
the constellation. Eur Ing Dr David Shackleton CEng FWeldI passed
away on Sunday 22 November 2015, aged 78. David was an engi-
neer, a quality professional, an enthusiastic supporter of The Welding Institute, and a friend. David’s
extensive experience, thoughtful nature and calm manner have enabled many of us to benefit from his
advice and guidance over the years; David will be sorely missed and fondly remembered.

Read more in the Welding Institute News section, starting on page 343.

Eur Ing Chris Eady

BSc(Hons) MSc CEng MRAeS FWeldI
Associate Director Professional Affairs
The Welding Institute

Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6 307

 CONTENTS WELDING AND CUTTING 06/2015

News 310 “Futureweld“ project bridges the worlds

of education and training with businesses
311 Open Day sparks the start of a new era of
research for TWI
312 “Healthy Workplaces Summit“ shows
how to manage psychosocial risks at work
successfully
313 Asia exhibition industry continues a
strong growth momentum
313 Latest edition of quality management
systems standard ISO 9001 published
314 “JOIN’EM“ project addresses increasing
requirements to weld dissimilar materials

310 Ferrari’s new assembly line is highly

automated (Photo: Ferrari) 315 Safety warning issued to offshore sector
following catastrophic clamp failure

From Companies 316 Flexible hone plays role in raising the

Costa Concordia
317 Tests on “TIGer“ technology
321 TWI lands NDA innovation award for cut-
ting-edge approach to decommissioning
of nuclear skips
322 Short Messages
324 Products

Angela Angulo demonstrates

a new guided wave inspection
tool for oil pipelines.
311
Welding Practice 326 Information about practical welding

Reports 328 Acoustic emission solution for structural

health monitoring of wind turbine blades
330 Trends in development in gas shielded
arc welding equipment in Japan
338 Brazing: When, where and how did it
begin? – Part 2: The brazing processes
used in antiquity

312 Panel discussion at the

“Healthy Workplaces Summit“: putting
research evidence into practice
(Photo: EU-OSHA)

308 Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6

 The
Issue

06
Welding
Institute

2015

www.welding-and-cutting.info Technical journal for welding and allied processes

Technical journal for welding and allied processes of

the DVS – German Welding Society, Düsseldorf,
the Professional Division of The Welding Institute, Cambridge,
and the Institut de Soudure, Paris

Produced in Collaboration between

316 The endeavour to raise Costa Concor-
dia involved a series of complex steps,
several of which had not been
attempted in decades.

Specialist Articles 350 Metallurgy and strength behaviour of

coats surface-welded with pulsed Nd:YAG
lasers and welding fillers in wire form
Jan Neubert, Steffen Keitel
356 Shock welding  Process variants and
measuring procedures for assessing the
welding quality
Alexander Ziefle, Eckart Uhlmann

361 Editorial Preview

Application of the “TIGer“
technology for cladding.
317
362 Books
362 Imprint/Ad Index

National Pages 336 Information from the DVS – German

Welding Society
343 The Welding Institute News

328 Testing a 45.7 m

long turbine blade.

Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6 309

 NEWS
“Futureweld“ project bridges the worlds of education
and training with businesses
Ferrari’s new assembly line is highly automated (Photo: Ferrari)
As businesses aim to evolve and thrive,
while leveraging the most up-to-date tech-
nologies in all areas of the industrial process
value chain, including welding, there is a
strong need to improve competences and
skills in order to meet those requirements.
The “Futureweld Erasmus+“ project engages
all relevant stakeholders, to lay the ground-
work for the qualifications of the future
welding workforce.
Match industry’s future trends to
the most suitable skills
To effectively address this challenge, one
needs to identify industry’s future trends and
usage scenarios, and match them to the
The new low-cost welding table series.
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310
most suitable competences and skills. In
turn, this will ensure that the workforce of
today can have its skill set updated to future
industrial welding scenarios and that the
next professionals to come out into the work-
force are better suited to the future industrial
workplace.
As one key component of that integrat-
ed vision, the European Employment Strat-
egy has as its main focus to support the cre-
ation of more and better jobs throughout
the EU. It now constitutes part of the “Eu-
rope 2020“ growth strategy, promoted in
close policy coordination among EU Mem-
ber States and EU Institutions. One out-
standing issue is that the industry requires
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qualified personnel but current national
qualifications are not always recognised by
other countries, hindering mobility and
slowing economic growth and trade. More-
over, professional associations are keenly
aware that vocational education and train-
ing (VET) plays a pivotal role in the indus-
try’s development.
By leveraging technologies and the har-
monisation of qualifications at a transna-
tional level, these improvements can be
made more international-ready from the
start, ensuring a more competitive business
environment and a more adaptable work-
force in the field of the welding and allied
processes, able to move within international
boundaries and work efficiently and effec-
tively in any given location. In further detail,
the goals of the “Futureweld“ project can be
seen as follows:
• Improve the quality of training and
qualification of personnel, based on
EWF Guideline for Training of Mecha-
nized, Orbital and Robot Welding Per-
sonnel and on the consortium experi-
ence on VET, resulting in the increase
of the labour market relevance of these
qualifications by introducing an inno-
vative system (educational materials +
interactive software + videos);
• Improve the qualification and teaching
methods of trainers who are active in
VET, by developing training processes
in order to enable the application of an
innovative system of training and quali-
fication in the fields of mechanisation,
automation and robotisation of the
welding processes. Throughout the
project, trainers will be able to make
the transition to a higher level of teach-
ing dedicated to formal education.
International partnership ensures
holistic approach to qualification
The “Futureweld“ project encompasses
education and training institutions, lever-
aging innovative practices, some of which
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
have been developed within the implemen-
tation of specific activities. Furthermore,
during the implementation of the project
activities, experience, expertise and know-
how will be transferred from partner to part-
ner inside the consortium.
The project target is aimed at three
main focus areas: mechanised, orbital and
robotised welding processes, highlighting
the broad scope of qualifications ad-
dressed by the project. To achieve these
targets, the project consortium is based on
a strategic partnership between education,
training and research organisations. The
consortium is formed by five partners from
five EU countries, chosen based on their
expertise in welding technology, expertise
in EU-funded projects, especially in LLP
(Lifelong Learning Program) projects, ex-
pertise in VET, expertise in development
of training guidelines and educational ma-
terials and on the previous successful co-
operation between the partners. The proj-
ect partners are from Portugal, Romania,
Italy, Poland and Belgium, the project be-
ing coordinated by ASR – Asociatia de
Sudura din Romania.
Nowadays, the welding field grows at
around 15% per year in Poland and Roma-
nia, clearly indicating the need of a com-
mon harmonised qualification system ef-
fectively implemented to support the work-
force growth necessary to match that
growth in the field. This harmonisation, in
turn, will create a standard level for quali-
fied personnel in these areas, valid in EWF
member countries. “Futureweld“ will be
tested in the national conditions of Poland,
Italy and Romania, in order to address the
most recent industry requirements. During
the project implementation, pilot seminars
will be organised in these three participant
countries.
The educational materials to be devel-
oped will contain the latest innovative ele-
ments from the welding technology. There
will be English, Italian, Portuguese, Polish
and Romanian versions of those materials,
at first for the participating countries. A
book, containing the course support, will
be edited in English and freely distributed
to the main VET organisations from the
participating countries, which by that
process will receive the most recent infor-
mation regarding mechanised, orbital and
robotic welding. More information is avail-
able from the project website at www.fu-
tureweld.eu. (According to press informa-
tion from EWF)
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
Open Day sparks the start of a new
era of research for TWI
Over 90 Industrial Members and tech-
nical experts visited TWI – The Welding In-
stitute, Cambridge/UK, for the company’s
first open day in over eight years. It was a
day to showcase the breadth of new and ex-
isting expertise, capabilities and services at
the culmination of a £ 60 m build project to
establish technical facilities for a new era of
research and education in materials joining
and engineering.
3D printing (laser additive manufac-
ture), linear friction welding, and X-ray mi-
croscopy were among the eye-catching tech-
nical demonstrations presented by TWI staff
along the route at the organisation’s recent
open day at its new buildings in Cambridge.
Chief Executive Christoph Wiesner wel-
comed visitors with a background to the
build project and introduced short presen-
tations on the National Structural Integrity
Research Centre for postgraduate education,
and a look at highlights from TWI’s 70-year
knowledge base. Invention and innovation
in welding and joining at TWI have shaped
the path of progress for
many industrial sectors.
Visitors then took
part in a tour covering 11
technology stations and
more than 10 exhibition
Bertrand Flipo discusses
linear friction welding
in the new engineering
laboratory.
Angela Angulo
demonstrates a new
guided wave inspec-
tion tool for oil
pipelines.
areas across five
connected build-
ings and engineer-
ing laboratories.
Demonstrations
and displays re-
presented all areas of TWI business includ-
ing the world renowned Library, Training
and Examinations, The Welding Institute
and group company Pi Ltd. During the af-
ternoon, industry guests took part in a series
of sector specific briefings and workshops
focused on current needs and technical ad-
vances.
The open day took place against the ex-
citing backdrop of the live final of the Euro-
pean Welding Federation’s “WeldCup“ com-
petition, which saw teams of bright young
welders from seven countries competing for
the skills award. Winning team Romania
beat off the competition from runner-up
Germany, with the UK in bronze medal po-
sition. Guest team China also scored highly
(see article about the “WeldCup“ competi-
tion in the “Welding Institute News“ section
in this issue).
TWI’s new buildings were officially
opened by Her Royal Highness The Princess
Royal in September 2015. (According to
press information from TWI)
311
 NEWS
“Healthy Workplaces Summit“ shows how to manage
psychosocial risks at work successfully
The European Agency for Safety and
Health at Work (EU-OSHA) brought its two-
year “Manage Stress“ campaign to a close on
3 November at the “Healthy Workplaces
Summit 2015“ in Bilbao, Spain. Over 300 dele-
gates from across Europe reflect on the efforts
made to raise awareness of and manage
work-related stress and psychosocial risks
since the campaign launch in April 2014.
Stress at work accounts for almost
half of all lost working days
Stress at work is the second most fre-
quently reported work-related health prob-
lem in Europe. It accounts for almost half of
all lost working days, which costs the Euro-
pean economy 136 billion euros every year
due to lost productivity, including sick leave
absenteeism. In the context of the EU’s cur-
rent mandate to boost jobs and growth, the
summit brought together leading occupa-
tional safety and health (OSH) professionals
to discuss, network and exchange good prac-
tices in managing workplace stress gathered
over the course of the campaign.
A key message throughout the campaign
has been that stress and psychosocial risks
can be assessed and managed in the same
systematic way as other workplace risks.
“This is what the partners to the two-year
‘Healthy Workplaces Manages Stress’ cam-
paign have studied, experimented with and
implemented in their workplaces – taking
the pulse of their workers through polls and
for some, initiating psychosocial risk assess-
Panel discussion at the “Healthy Workplaces Summit“: putting research evidence into practice
(Photo: EU-OSHA)
312
ments“, underlines Dr Christa Sedlatschek,
Director of EU-OSHA. “They were con-
vinced that the benefits to the business out-
weigh the costs of implementation and we
are proud of the awareness we managed to
generate with business leaders.“
Data from the recently released “ESEN-
ER-2“ study showed that 53% of employers
reported having insufficient information on
how to include psychosocial risks into their
risk assessments, confirming that those risk
factors are perceived as more challenging to
address than traditional OSH risks. EU-OS-
HA’s e-guide to managing psychosocial risks
(www.healthy-workplaces.eu/en/tools- and-
resources/a-guide-to-psychosocial-risks)
pro vides guidance to small enterprises
who are starting to address the issue. The
guide is available online in 30 national ver-
sions.
Other fundamental topics of the cam-
paign include specific psychosocial risks
such as harassment, third party violence and
bullying at work, which highly contribute to
stress in the workplace and can also lead to
stress-related health problems as well as
negative effects on a company’s perform-
ance and business results.
Summit participants included official
campaign partners, media partners and na-
tional focal points – all of whom have carried
out considerable work on the campaign.
Summit highlights included political state-
ments, parallel sessions on good practices
for managing stress and psychosocial risks,
strategies and programmes and innovative
ways for communicating on OSH. The sec-
ond day presented a panel discussion about
how to put research on stress and psychoso-
cial risks into practice.
“We stand by the fact that addressing
OSH risk factors in workplaces, including
psychosocial risks, stands to benefit the Eu-
ropean economy in concrete terms through
reduced absenteeism and accident and in-
jury rates and retaining skilled workers, lead-
ing to a healthy and productive workforce,“
added Nicolas Schmit, Minister of Labour,
Employment and the Social and Solidarity
Economy, representing the Luxembourg EU
Presidency.
Previewing the upcoming
“Healthy Workplaces for All Ages“
campaign
Summit delegates also had a chance to
preview the upcoming 2016-2017 “Healthy
Workplaces for All Ages“ campaign devoted
to promoting a sustainable working life and
to raising awareness of the importance of
good OSH management at any age and of
tailoring work to individual abilities. The
Agency and the OSH community also used
the summit as an occasion to commemorate
Dr Eusebio Rial González, Head of EU-OS-
HA’s Prevention and Research Unit, who
passed away in 2014, and pay tribute to his
work on psychosocial risks.
More on the summit can be found on-
line at www.healthy-workplaces.eu/en/get-
involved/summit-2015. The Healthy Work-
places campaign website is available at
www.healthy-workplaces.eu/en. (According
to press information from EU-OSHA)
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
Asia exhibition industry continues a strong
growth momentum
UFI – The Global Association of the Ex-
hibition Industry, headquartered in Leval-
lois-Perret close to Paris/France, has re-
leased the 11th edition of “The Trade Fair
Industry in Asia“, which shows that Asia ex-
hibition industry continues to grow fast in
China and Asia. This research was once
again undertaken for UFI by Business Strate-
gies Group (BSG).
The research shows that 18.6 million m2
of space was sold by exhibition organisers
to their clients in Asia in 2014. This repre-
sents growth of total net space sold in 2014
of 6.8% – rising from 17,453,000 m2 in 2013
to 18,641,750 m2. The growth is similar to
the 6.6% recorded in 2013. Of that total, more
than 56% was sold in China and 11% in
Latest edition of quality management systems
standard ISO 9001 published
The latest edition of ISO 9001, ISO’s (The
International Organization for Standardiza-
tion) flagship quality management systems
standard, has just been published. This con-
cludes over three years of revision work by
experts from nearly 95 participating and ob-
serving countries to bring the standard up
to date with modern needs.
With over 1.1 million certificates issued
worldwide, ISO 9001 helps organisations
demonstrate to customers that they can offer
products and services of consistently good
quality. It also acts as a tool to streamline
their processes and make them more effi-
cient at what they do.
The 2015 edition features important
changes, which Nigel Croft, Chair of the ISO
subcommittee that developed and revised
the standard, refers to as an “evolutionary
rather than a revolutionary” process. “We
are just bringing ISO 9001 firmly into the
21st century. The earlier versions of ISO 9001
were quite prescriptive, with many require-
ments for documented procedures and
records. In the 2000 and 2008 editions, we
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
Japan. Among the more than 2,100 trade
fairs included in the study, over 600 were
held in mainland China compared with 338
in Japan, the second largest market.
Southeast Asia markets performed well
once again in 2014. Space sold in Indonesia
increased by 9.2%, the Philippines by 8.8%
and Thailand by 8.6%. One of the region‘s
smallest exhibition markets, Macau, was the
top performer in 2014 as net space sold there
increased from 143,000 m2 to 197,500 m2.
Several of the larger markets also posted
above average growth. Space sold in China
was up 7.4%, India by 7.6%, Taiwan by 8.8%
and Korea by 8.2%.
In 2015, BSG is forecasting regional
growth in the Asian trade fair industry of 5.2%
focused more on managing processes, and
less on documentation.
“We have now gone a step further, and
ISO 9001:2015 is even less prescriptive than
its predecessor, focusing instead on perform-
ance. We have achieved this by combining
the process approach with risk-based think-
ing, and employing the Plan-Do-Check-Act
cycle at all levels in the organisation.
“Knowing that today’s organisations will
have several management standards in
place, we have designed the 2015 version to
be easily integrated with other management
systems. The new version also provides a
solid base for sector-quality standards (au-
tomotive, aerospace, medical industries
etc.), and takes into account the needs of
regulators.”
As the much anticipated standard comes
into being, ISO Secretary-General Kevin
McKinley concludes, “The world has
changed, and this revision was needed to
reflect this. Technology is driving increased
expectations from customers and business-
es. Barriers to trade have dropped due to
year-on-year measured in terms of net space
sales. Strong performance will be seen in
trade fair markets in Southeast Asia and the
relative resilience of the industry in China.
UFI Managing Director, Paul Woodward,
said: „Asia remains a critical region for those
developing international trade fair business-
es and many people in our industry will be
encouraged to see the results of this impor-
tant survey. It is an important collaboration
between UFI and its partner in Asia, BSG,
and a critical component of UFI‘s annual re-
search programme.“ UFI members are en-
titled to receive a four page executive sum-
mary of the research and to purchase the
full report at a substantial discount. (Accord-
ing to press information from UFI)
lower tariffs, but also because of strategic
instruments like International Standards.
We are seeing a trend towards more complex
global supply chains that demand integrated
action. So organisations need to perform in
new ways, and our quality management
standards need to keep up with these ex-
pectations. I am confident that the 2015 edi-
tion of ISO 9001 can help them achieve this.”
The standard was developed by ISO/TC
176/SC 2, whose secretariat is held by BSI,
ISO member for the UK. “This is a very im-
portant committee for ISO,” says Kevin, “one
that has led the way in terms of global rele-
vance, impact and utilisation. I thank the
experts for their hard effort.”
ISO 9001:2015 replaces previous editions
and certification bodies will have up to three
years to migrate certificates to the new ver-
sion. ISO 9000, which lays down the con-
cepts and language used throughout the
ISO 9000 family of standards, has also been
revised and a new edition is available. More
information: www.iso.org. (According to
press information from ISO)
313
 NEWS
“JOIN’EM“ project addresses increasing requirements
to weld dissimilar materials
The manufacturing sector is faced with
new challenges to remain ahead of the com-
petition and abreast of regulatory require-
ments. This comes with the need to seek in-
novative approaches including the develop-
ment of new materials and the ability to use
different materials together in one compo-
nent or structure. These challenges are part
of a trend to manufacture lighter, safer, more
environmentally-friendly, high-perform-
ance and cheaper products. Scientific re-
search as well as successful industrial case
studies have shown that the performance
requirements of innovative products can
only be met if the material properties are
ideally adapted to the requirements, the load
profile and the function of each individual
component.
Create a cost-effective way of join-
ing aluminium and copper
The “JOIN‘EM“ project addresses cur-
rent shortcomings of more traditional weld-
ing technologies when joining dissimilar
metal combinations and it aims to create a
cost-effective and practical way of joining
aluminium and copper. Joining by electro-
magnetic forming (EMF), also called elec-
tromagnetic pulse welding, is a promising
innovative technology which can be used
for welding of similar and dissimilar material
combinations, including multiple combina-
tions, which are difficult or impossible to
join using conventional processes. The joint
is formed without heat, but due to the im-
pact of the joining parts. This process needs
Interface of a copper-brass electromagnetic
pulse weld – Welding of a tube with a diameter
and wall thickness of 25 and 2 mm to a solid
internal brass workpiece (Photo: BWI)
314
no fluxes or shielding gases and produces
no harmful smoke, fumes or slag, thus re-
ducing the overall negative impact on envir-
onment while improving working conditions
for factory staff.
The implementation of electromagnetic
pulse welding will allow designers to com-
bine metals or to integrate new metals.
This, in turn, will allow a steep increase in
production performance and will pave the
way for several new application areas in the
fields of electric devices, heating and cool-
ing, automotive and transport, white goods,
air-conditioning and more recent fields
such as high power electronics and energy
storage, enabling these industries to follow
new trends in product design and manu-
facture components and products at a top
level.
The new joining solutions will also help
to implement improved lightweight designs
with further weight reduction and better per-
formance. This will decrease energy con-
sumption and greenhouse gas emissions, an
increasingly significant requirement for in-
dustries such as car manufacturing, where
a weight reduction of 100 kg can result in
fuel savings of about 300 to 800 l over the
vehicle lifetime, as well as reducing CO2
emissions by 9 g/km.
Optimise usage of a finite re-
source for industry‘s benefits
Due to its excellent thermal and elec-
trical properties, copper is the third most
frequently used raw material in the world.
“JOIN‘EM“ directly aims at decreasing the
consumption of this high-cost material by
partially substituting it with aluminium. At
the current level of known reserves and ex-
pected consumption, it is expected that
copper will become ever more expensive
and difficult to obtain, creating an addi-
tional cost issue for manufacturers. So,
even if the replacement of copper with alu-
minium can only happen partially, it will
have a lasting impact on the targeted in-
dustries.
“JOIN‘EM“ will:
• Develop innovative methods for joining
dissimilar metals, which will allow im-
proved manufacturing of new products.
These innovations will also deliver in-
creased product reliability, longer life-
time of the components and welds,
combined with a reduction of mainten-
ance costs;
• Facilitate an increased use of dissimilar
metal combinations;
• Increase productivity and reduce costs
for realising hybrid components using
electromagnetic pulse welding: joining
operations are performed faster, more
efficiently and robustly, with a less ex-
pensive production process and better-
quality final products;
• Achieve lower product life cycle costs;
• Enable the use of the environmentally-
friendly electromagnetic pulse welding
process. This process needs no fluxes
or shielding gases and produces no
harmful smoke, fumes or slag, thus re-
ducing the overall environmental im-
pact.
• Investigate joint performance with con-
ventional as well as novel testing
methods.
Looking ahead: The future of elec-
tromagnetic welding
Beyond this application, project partners
will also look into the transferability of pro-
ject results to other material combinations
of relevance for industrial sectors that deal
with multi-material joints. “JOIN‘EM“ will
develop and demonstrate flexible and cost-
effective joining processes for dissimilar
metal combinations, for which currently
available conventional welding technologies
have proved inadequate.
Project partners include Fraunhofer-
Gesellschaft für angewandte Forschung, Bel-
gian Welding Institute, PFT Innovaltech,
Armines/Mines Douai, Research Center for
Non Destructive Testing GmbH, Phimeca
Engineering S.A., Vertech Group SARL, EWF
– European Federation for Welding, Joining
and Cutting, Whirlpool Europe SRL, Calyos
SA, Cegasa Portable Energy, Alke SRL, Refco
nv, Institut Catholique d’Arts et Métiers.
More information is available online at
www.join-em.eu. (According to press infor-
mation from EWF)
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
Safety warning issued to offshore sector following
catastrophic clamp failure
The UK Health and Safety Executive Cracking caused by poor
(HSE) has issued a warning to offshore and heat treatment during
chemical processing companies following manufacturing process
the catastrophic failure of a pipework clamp (Photo: HSE)
connector. Operators are being advised to
check whether they have any Vector
‚Techlok‘ or Destec ‚G‘ clamp connectors
sized two inches or below in diameter, sup-
plied before 2010, either currently in use or
in storage. A one-inch Vector Techlok clamp
catastrophically failed on an offshore pro-
duction platform in December 2014, leading
to a gas leak, and subsequent investigation
uncovered a number of similar failures be-
lieved to be related.
The failures are caused by poor heat treat-
ment during the manufacturing process, entering service. Any TWI Members requiring earlier this year, concerning chloride stress
leading to excessive hardness and increased hardness testing of any clamps identified as corrosion cracking of Lokring pipe con-
susceptibility to cracking. Before 2010 the susceptible by the HSE should contact TWI nectors. For full details of both alerts visit
clamps were not thoroughly subjected to via www.twi-global.com to arrange testing. the HSE website at www.hse.gov.uk/safe-
hardness testing during manufacture, and so Another alert affecting the offshore and tybulletins. (According to press informa-
defective clamps were not prevented from chemical processing sectors was issued tion from TWI)

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 FROM COMPANIES
Flexible hone plays role in raising the Costa Concordia
The endeavour to raise Costa Concordia involved a series of complex steps,
several of which had not been attempted in decades.
The “Flex-Hone“ tool, characterised by
the small, abrasive globules that are perma-
nently mounted to flexible filaments, has
long been used for everything from automat-
ed metal finishing to maintenance and repair
operations. Now the “Flex-Hone“ can add
one more claim to its resume: playing a
small, but important, role in one of the largest
engineering feats in marine history – the rais-
ing of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia.
The 952 foot long, 17 deck high cruise
ship the Costa Concordia was wrecked off
the coast of Isola del Giglio in Italy on 13
January 2012. It was declared a total loss and
32 people lost their lives. The ship eventually
settled on its starboard side in shallow wa-
ters with half the boat still submerged.
Concerned about a potential environ-
mental disaster that could result from the
large quantity of fuel and oil remaining in
the ship’s tanks, not to mention a large quan-
tity of rotting food and other health con-
cerns, a salvage effort to move the ship to a
suitable port where it could be properly dis-
mantled was commissioned. The effort,
awarded to the American salvaging firm Ti-
tan Salvage and Italian underwater con-
struction firm Micoperi, ultimately cost an
estimated two billion dollars and took sev-
eral years.
The endeavor to raise the Costa Concor-
dia enough to move it, involved a series of
complex steps, several of which had not
been attempted in decades.
The first step was to secure the hull to
the land using steel cables to prevent the
ship from slipping into deeper water. A hor-
316
The plan to raise the Costa Concordia was to weld sponsons, seen here, to
the hull of the ship and join them together to form “one single, robust,
stable body“, similar to one integral floating chamber.
izontal underwater platform was then built
just below the ship’s position to hold the
ship once it was raised.
Hollow, watertight tanks, called spon-
sons, were then attached to the exposed port
side of the ship. When sponsons are flooded
with seawater, they exert a downward pull
on that side of the ship. With the assistance
of winches attached to the platform, a
process called parbuckling, the ship was
pulled into an upright position on top of the
underwater platform.
Once the ship was vertical, water-filled
sponsons were attached to the starboard
side as well. Then, both sponsons were emp-
tied of water to create the required buoyancy
to raise the ship enough so it could be towed
to port.
The challenge for Micoperi, a leading
offshore contractor that provides subsea so-
lutions for the offshore oil and gas industry
worldwide, was to find a way to attach 15
massive steel sponsons to each side of the
ship. The 30 sponsons weighed 11,500 tons,
combined.
The plan was to weld the steel sponsons
to the hull of the ship, but also to join them
together to form “one single, robust, stable
body,” similar to one integral floating cham-
ber. For this, male and female “joints” were
attached to each container so they could be
connected to each other. A tubular frame
would then be run through each of these
joints to attach all the containers together.
Hydraulic pistons within the tubes would
pressurise the system to further hold the
tanks together as one unit.
Since it was not possible to introduce a
single tube more than 100 m in length, the en-
gineers decided the best solution was to start
with a small section of tube approximately
2 m long and push it through the first male/
female joint. Then another section of tube
would be welded to the first, which would be
pushed through the joints a little further, and
another section welded, and so on.
This operation would be repeated for
the port side, once the ship was raised
enough vertically from the initial parbuck-
ling procedure.
To remove the excess material from the
welds as they were created – both on the in-
terior and exterior of the tubing – Micoperi
required a tool that could remove the excess
material and worked on an industrial hand-
held drill.
For assistance, Micoperi contacted Vo-
gel, an Italian distributor of machine tools,
industrial equipment and metals. Among its
offerings is the “Flex-Hone“ from Los Ange-
les-based Brush Research Manufacturing.
The “Flex-Hone“ is available in many
sizes, 11 abrasive types and 8 grits. It works
well when hand-held because the design is
automatically self-centering. Using the tool,
parts such as carbide bushings, bore sleeves,
hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders, and oth-
er cylindrical cavities can be surface finished
on the production line or resurfaced in the
field using a relatively inexpensive tool that
requires little set-up time.
“Micoperi called us and we discussed
whether the ‘Flex-Hone’ tool could be a so-
lution for its problems,” says Sven Pilling of
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
Vogel. “During the discussion, we deter-
mined that only the Flex-Hone was suitable.
Other tools, like abrasive nylon brushes,
would not guarantee enough stock removal.”
Micoperi ultimately purchased Brush
Research Manufacturing’s BC 3” SC 60 and
BC 3” SC 80 “Flex-Hone“ tools.
The “Flex-Hone“ served another impor-
tant function by smoothing the way for the
hydraulic pistons that were introduced into
the tubes.
No stranger to the hydraulics industry,
the “Flex-Hone“ tool is already widely used
Tests on “TIGer“ technology
Introduction
Tests on the new “TIG er“ technology
have been conducted by the Italian Welding
Institute. Developed, manufactured and
provided by Polysoude, specialist in orbital
welding and in the construction of automat-
ed and robotic welding and cladding equip-
ment from Nantes/France, “TIGer“ (Fig. 1)
has been developed from HW TIG/GMAW
technology.
Hot wire technology is already used ex-
tensively in the cladding field. It consists of
the preheating of a filler material, usually
wire, by Joule effect due to the current. This
condition reduces the quantity energy taken
from the electrical arc, which is required to
melt the wire, consequently the efficiency
of the thermal source is improved by assur-
ing increased productivity in terms of weld-
ing speed and deposit rate, so that a better
joint of the welding seam is achieved.
“TIGer“ technology is an evolution in hot
wire technology, because in addition to the
pre-heated filler wire, “TIGer“ incorporates a
unique system of two tungsten electrodes in
Fig. 1 • Application of the “TIGer“ technology for
cladding.
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
to manufacture all manner of hydraulic
cylinders, pumps, jacks and valves. Hy-
draulic toolmakers often used the tool to ob-
tain the proper finish in the cylinder bore. If
the hydraulic cylinder finish is too rough, U-
cups and seals can wear out. If the cylinder
surface is too smooth, hydraulic seals may
leak.
“In order to allow a smooth movement
of the pistons and in order to avoid leakages,
the internal tube walls were cleaned and
polished successfully with the Flex-Hone,”
says Pilling.
tandem configuration, with each electrode
being separately fed. Contrary to the most
common tandem configurations on the mar-
ket, in the “TIGer“ process, the two thermal
sources join, in order to create a single arc,
Fig. 2. In this special configuration, the two
conductors are placed parallel to each other,
a current is passed through them, flowing in
the same direction. There is an attraction be-
tween the two electrical arcs from the con-
ductors to reach the same point of interpen-
etration. Thus, a single arc is formed, which
even though generated from two different
electrodes, means lower arc pressure than
in classic tandem configurations. For this
reason, with the “TIGer“ technology, higher
current intensities can be used by assuring
higher speeds and higher deposit rates,
whilst at the same time achieving lower di-
lution rates. These features make the process
highly suitable for cladding, Fig. 3.
The requirements of this field are not
easily met. The challenge is to achieve en-
hanced productivity, by increasing deposit
rate and cladding speed, whilst keeping the
Although the Costa Concordia project is
now complete, the “Flex-Hone“ remains a
go-to tool for overhaul and repair for marine
applications. The tool is used for cylinder
refinishing of big bore (up to 40-inch dia-
meter) diesel main engines of large vessels
as well as smaller diesel generators. The tool
can also be used for cleaning pipe bores for
pipes or other cylindrical bores such as
valves on some pump designs. (According
to press information from Brush Research
Manufacturing)
lowest possible dilution, in order to reduce
the number of layers and thereby optimise
production times and costs of consumables.
From an economical point of view, the
benefits are evident. As a result of its char-
acteristics, the “TIGer“ process is suited to
both horizontal and vertical cladding. Ob-
viously, there are new parameters to be con-
sidered during the development of the
process, in particular with regard to the ori-
entation of the electrodes and to the config-
uration of the consumables. Regarding the
first parameter, in order to reduce the pen-
etration depth and consequently the deposit
dilution, Polysoude stipulates that the tung-
sten electrodes must be aligned, otherwise,
if they are side by side, the penetration depth
increases. Fig. 4 shows a comparison of the
effects of the different configurations.
With regard to the configuration be-
tween electrodes and wire, the company rec-
ommends keeping an angle of 65° between
the electrodes and the base material and of
about 20° between wire and base material,
Fig. 5. The manfacturer confirms that such
Fig. 2 • Detail of a
working “TIGer“ torch.
317
 FROM COMPANIES

Table 1 • Chemical analysis of the base material ASTM A5 16 Gr. 60.

C Si Mn P S Cr Ni V Al Cu Nb N Fe

0.15 0.23 1.21 0.01 0.006 0.02 0.01 0.019 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.005 98.20

Table 2 • Chemical analysis of the consumable UTP A6222 Mo-3.

C Si Mn P S Cr Mo Ni Cu Ti Al Nb Fe Ta

< 0.01 0.05 < 0.01 0.005 <0.001 22.51 8.94 64.2 0.01 0.19 0.10 3.62 0.25 0.004

Table 3 • Chemical analysis of the specimen realised with the “TIGer“ technology.

Cladded
C Mn Fe P S Si Cu Ni Ti Cr Nb Mo
layer
First 0.029 0.135 12.16 0.0046 0.0063 0.018 0.0278 57.04 0.1309 19.25 3.279 7.74

Second 0.004 0.0218 1.04 0.0050 0.0066 0.001 0.0178 63.97 0.1568 21.93 3.701 8.93

a configuration allows the capacity to
achieve clads, which are characterised by
extremely reduced dilution rates (about 11%
for the first pass and 1.5% for the second
pass), together with well-cladded seams, re-
alised using cladding speed values, which
can reach 950 mm/min and deposit rates
up to 6 kg/h. Such values are very close to
the usual deposit rates of continuous wire
cladding under gas protection.
Realisation of a cladded specimen
using the “TIGer“ process
As previously stated, the deposit quality,
good dilution rates and deposit rates higher
than those reached by the traditional TIG
process, make the “TIGer“ process ideally
suited to cladding. For this reason, the con-
sumable was tested by realising a cladded
specimen, with 2 passes on carbon-man-
ganese steel (ASTM A516 Gr.60) based ma-
terial, thickness 60 mm. Tables 1 and 2 re-
port respectively the chemical analysis of
the base material and the filler material
(UTP A6222 Mo-3 wire). A phase of imple-
mentation of the specimen carried out at
Polysoude premises in Nantes is illustrated
in Fig. 6. As seen in Fig. 6, the cladded spec-
imen has a regular aspect – typical of the
TIG process – characterised by the absence
of oxides and/or discoloration. On comple-
tion of the second layer, the welded speci-
men was shipped to the Laboratory of IIS
Progress srl, to run the usual tests on the
characterisation of the overlay.
Characterisation of the overlay
realised with the “TIGer“ process
The aim of the tests carried out on the
specimen was to evaluate the quality of the
cladded joint for a typical application, such
as the weld overlay of nickel alloy on a sub-
strate in ferritic steel. The main properties
required of a component like this are:
• correct adherence between cladded
layer and substrate,
• control of the dilution rate and, conse-
quently, of the chemical analysis of the
surface of the cladded layer,
• corrosion resistance for given types of
corrosive agents,
• optimised heat cycle in order to avoid
the presence of particularly fragile
structures inside the heat affected zone
(ferritic side).
Such features were evaluated after the com-
pletion of non-destructive surface tests such
as visual tests and dye penetration inspec-
tion, which were carried out on the speci-
men by:
• checking adherence by means of ultra-
sonic testing according to ASME code,
sec. V, art. 4,
• side bend tests according to ASME
code, sec. IX, art. II,
• chemical analysis of the first and sec-
ond layers,
• macrographic and micrographic analy-
sis of the specimen,

Fig. 3• Deposit rate of the “TIGer“ technology in comparison with other Fig. 4• Effect of the linear configuration of the tungsten electrodes on the
processes. (Source: Polysoude) seam geometry and on the penetration.

318 Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6

 Table 4 • Results of HV10 hardness tests Fig. 5 • Configura-
carried out on the specimen realised by the tion of a “TIGer“
“TIGer“ process. welding head.

Specimen Zone Hardness

1 ZF 254
2 ZF 235
3 ZF 241
4 ZTA 258
5 ZTA 207
6 ZTA 157
7 MB 152
8 MB 149
9 MB 154

• hardness analysis,
• corrosion tests according to ASTM G48,
method A.

Check of the correct adherence of

the layer
The check of the correct adherence be-
tween layer and substrate was evaluated by
means of non-destructive ultrasonic tests
and destructive side bend tests. For the first
control, the pulse-echo reflection technique
with calibration block for technique 1 was
used, as suggested by the ASME code, sec.
V, art. 4. This is also mandatory, since it is
an essential variable in writing a qualifica-
tion procedure for the ultrasonic testing. The
scan was realised on the base material side.
The result of the ultrasonic analysis of the
specimen was positive and later confirmed
by the side bend testing.
For the side bend test, the samples were
extracted in a direction perpendicular to the
cladded one and subsequently bent to an
angle of 180°. The results were positive, since
they did not show any discontinuities relat-
ing to operative faults, such as gluing or ar-
eas characterised by inadequate adherence.
Chemical analysis of the cladded
layer
The cladded layer, realised with AWS
A5.14 ERNiCrMo-3, incorporated the chem-
ical features of a nickel alloy UNS N06625.
As one of the main applications of the TIG
process is the cladding of components de-
signed for aggressive environments, this al-
loy is ideal as it affords optimal mechanical
resistance to corrosion in different aggres-
sive environments. Within its chemical com-
position are elements such as Mo, Nb and
Cr. Molybdenum and Niobium, producing
a hardening of the Ni-Cr matrix of this alloy,
assuring yield points of between 400 and
600 MPa, with percentage elongations of
about 40%. The presence of Molybdenum,
moreover, assures the alloy an optimal re-
sistance to localised corrosive attack, avoid-
ing such typical phenomena as pitting and
crevice corrosion. In addition, the presence
of stabilising elements, such as Nb and Ta,

T R A D E FA I R C E N T R E , E A S T G AT E

NEW
PERSPECTIVES
S TA R T: S P R I N G 2 0 1 6 www.trade-shows-new-perspectives.com
 FROM COMPANIES

Fig. 6 • Realisation of the cladded specimen with
the “TIGer“ process (end of the first cladded layer).
reduces the susceptibility of the alloy to the
phenomenon of sensitisation, especially
during welding. Finally, chromium ensures
good resistance in oxidising environments.
It is essential, during cladding with this
material, to check and preserve the chemical
analysis of the cladded layer, in order to guar-
antee specific characteristics of the alloy. For
example, some customers may require that
the iron content is less than 5% in order to
ensure excellent corrosion resistance.
In order to evaluate the dilution generat-
ed from “TIGer“ process, two different chem-
ical analyses were carried out on the first and
second cladded layers respectively. Table 3
reports the results of the chemical analyses
carried out with an emission spectrograph.
The results of the chemical analyses are ex-
tremely positive. From the first cladded layer
all elements, except for iron, are within the
limits of AWS A5. 11 ENiCrMo-3 is for weld
metal where the limit for iron is 7%. In the
second layer, the iron value is very low, close
to 1%, so that an optimal corrosion resistance
of the cladded layer could be expected. For
these reasons, it was decided to further test
the specimen by submitting it to the ASTM
G48 method A corrosion test: “Standard Test
Methods for Pitting and Crevice Corrosion
Resistance of Stainless Steels and Related Al-
loys by Use of Ferric Chloride Solution”.
Evaluation of the resistance to the
localised corrosive attack
From the achieved specimen, a sample
was taken for the analysis of localised cor-
rosion resistance (pitting and crevice). The
evaluation was made by means of a corro-
sion test according to ASTM G48 method A
standard. A sample with a surface of almost
20 cm3 was immersed for at least 72 hours
in a preparation of Ferric Chloride, which
had been heated to 50°C. At the end of the
test, the sample shows no corrosion points;
this is congruent with the previous chemical
analysis which highlighted that the second
cladded layer had a very low iron value (less
than 5%).
Hardness analysis
The heat affected zone was not large. As
expected from the results of the UT and
bend tests, the macrograph showed no
faults, neither two-dimensional nor three-
dimensional. Vickers hardness tests HV10
were also carried out; the results are indi-
cated in Table 4. The hardness values
showed no anomalies. Certainly, the most
interesting areas were the ones on the ferritic
side, where there was the risk of the forma-
tion of hardening structures due to the low
heat input and heavy thickness of the sub-
strate. In order to better characterise the
process and related influence on the prop-
erties of the material, forming the cladded
layers and the substrate, microstructural in-
vestigations were carried out.
Metallurgical analysis
In order to evaluate the microstructural
characteristics of the cladded layers and of
the substrate, a micrographical investigation
of the areas was carried out, in particular of
the heat affected zone and the molten zone.
The micrographical analysis confirmed the
results of the hardness tests, in that the heat
affected zone showed no off-balanced struc-
tures, but an acicular ferrite microstructure,
generated from the heat cycle, with dis-
persed carbides. The molten zone showed
the typical aspect of a monophasic dendritic
solidification.
Conclusions
Table 5 shows a summary of the “TIGer“
process together with various test results and
findings. (According to press information
from Polysoude)

Voluntary technical Completeness of the The product is disclosed in an exhaustive way both on the manufacturer’s Table 5 • Summa-
documentation information website and in the several brochures downloadable from the website. ry of opinion on
The features of the process and the main fields of application are the production of
well-highlighted. the “TIGer“ system,
together with the
Quality of the Explicative tables and pictures are present and make it possible to unders-
various test re-
information tand immediately the properties of the TIGer technology.
sults and find-
Characteristics of Process principle The presence of two tungsten electrodes in tandem configuration allows
ings.
the technology the ignition of two electrical arcs which, by way of the mutual attraction,
convey in a single heat source, able to reach welding speeds and deposit
rates higher than the classic HWTIG/GMAW process, by keeping the same
characteristics.
Welding speeds and The reachable values of welding speeds and deposit rates vary as a func-
deposit rates tion of the welding and cladding position, however, it is possible, in any
case to reach 950 mm/min with a deposit rate from 2.7 to 5.8 kg/h.
Process applications The TIGer process finds its main expression in cladding applications, which
could be vertical or horizontal in position, both inside (minimum diameter
150 mm) and outside (maximum length 12 m).
Characteristics of Adherences of the Both the adherence checks by means of UT tests and the side bend
the specimen cladded layer tests according to ASME IX code, Art. II completed on the specimens,
had positive results.
Intergranular corrosion The intergranular corrosion test, realized according to ASTM G48 –
resistance Method A standard, showed no localized corrosion points.
Chemical analysis of the The chemical analyses realized on the first and the second cladded layer
cladded layer showed an iron content of respectively 12.16% and 1.04%.

320 Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6

TWI lands NDA innovation award for cutting-edge
approach to decommissioning of nuclear skips
TWI’s laser experts have been recog-
nised by the UK Nuclear Decommissioning
Authority with a prestigious award for the
successful introduction of a new technology
to decommission radioactive metal storage
containers. The team developed a remote
cutting system – utilising TWI’s laser cutting
technology – over a two-year period, culmi-
nating in full trials at Hinkley Point A. The
new approach is expected to bring savings
to the UK of hundreds of millions of pounds.
Magnox Ltd has a large number of ra-
dioactive metal storage containers which
have been used over many years for storing
and moving fuel elements for the UK’s Mag-
nox reactors. Currently, the cost of storing
low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste
is related to the volume of the parts. The es-
timated cost of storing one such container The team at TWI behind the award-winning
for its lifetime is £ 0.5 million. There are laser cutting project.
around 300 such containers at Hinkley Point
and upwards of 2,000 at Sellafield. TWI, Magnox and Fanuc Robotics. Remote
Although laser cutting is a well-estab- laser cutting is one innovative solution mak-
lished method for precision cutting of met- ing a real difference to decommissioning
als, it has only recently been applied to de- procedures in the UK, at the same time as
commissioning. Magnox Ltd wanted to in- substantially reducing costs.’
vestigate an approach for breaking down The NDA Supply Chain Awards took
metal storage containers – also known as place on 4 November 2015 in Manchester,
nuclear skips – which would result in a sig- in front of 1,800 guests. The Technology/In-
nificant reduction in the amount of active novation Implementation Award recognises
material needing storage. Notably, radioac- both the innovation and collaboration re-
tivity in these skips is restricted to within 1.5 quired to take a technology/innovation
mm of the material surface. through to successful deployment on a site.
TWI was able to demonstrate that by us- TWI accepted the award alongside Fanuc
ing robotics to address positioning toler- Robotics and Magnox Ltd. For more infor-
ances, its remote one-pass laser cutting tech- mation visit www.twi-global.com. (Accord-
nology can be used to quickly and safely di- The NDA Innovation Award presented to TWI. ing to press information from TWI)
vide a Magnox nuclear skip into five pieces.
From here the pieces pass into a five-axis
milling machine, their geometries are
scanned and 1.5 mm cut away from exposed
surfaces.
The resulting active material forms a
mass of just over 50 kg, compared to the 450
kg weight of an empty contaminated skip.
The newly cut mass also has a high packing
density, so the volume remaining in storage
is significantly reduced. Remaining (non-
active) steel can be melted and recycled.
The facility has been designed such that it
can be remobilised on another nuclear site.
TWI Chief Executive Christoph Wiesner
said: ‘We are delighted that the NDA has
recognised the hard work of the teams at

Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6 321

 FROM COMPANIES
Short Messages
Expanding cooperation
Raymond Cointe, general director of
INERIS (Institut National de l’Environnement
Industriel et des Risques) and Professor Ul-
rich Panne, President of BAM (Bundesanstalt
für Materialforschung und -prüfung), signed
a cooperation agreement to promote research
into the development of new environmentally
friendly technologies. This agreement solid-
ified the French-German partnership of two
leading institutes in Europe covering indus-
Professor Ulrich Panne, BAM President (left) und
INERIS General Director Raymond Cointe (right)
signing the contract. (Photo: Ineris)
trial and environmental risks. This agreement
is aimed at strengthening and expanding
their longstanding successful cooperation in
the field of industrial safety such as the Eu-
ropean project ERA-NET SAFERA. The co-
operation agreement extends over a period
of five years and includes the mutual ex-
change of knowledge in the following areas
in particular: joint R & D projects, coordina-
tion of joint responses to calls for projects,
exchange of scientists and complementarity
use of laboratories and technology centres
with the objective of enhancing experimental
potential. This partnership unifies two organ-
isations in focus areas where complementar-
ity has already been proven in the past: cer-
tification of safety-related products or instal-
lations, prevention of industrial explosions
and fire protection, dispersion of toxic sub-
stances, nanotechnologies. This agreement
also allows the expansion of cooperation in
new topics such as risk assessment in new
technologies, safety of hydrogen as an energy
source or safety of batteries for electric vehi-
cles and stationary energy storage.
New Vice President of Marketing
Omax Corporation, a global leader in
advanced abrasive waterjet systems from
Kent, Washington/USA, recently welcomed
Stephen Bruner to its senior management
322
Stephen
Bruner, new
Omax Vice
President of
Marketing.
team as vice president of marketing. Bruner
joins the company with nearly 20 years of
B2B and vertical market experience execut-
ing highly successful integrated product
marketing strategies that drive business
growth. Bruner has oversight of the compa-
ny’s marketing, technical training and inside
sales teams and will work closely with staff
on program planning, brand development
and lead generation and nurturing. He will
also apply his strong analytical skills and
process management expertise to imple-
ment new integrated product marketing
techniques that further enhance the sales
and support of the company’s abrasive wa-
terjet solutions, which include Omax and
Maxiem JetMachining Centers. Prior to
Omax Corporation, Bruner led B2B market-
ing and vertical market management for
Seattle-based Precor, a leader in the fitness
industry. In this role, he implemented strate-
gic marketing campaigns, drove innovative
competitive intelligence efforts, developed
content for global distribution and managed
overall channel partner communications.
Other titles he has held during his career in-
clude vice president of technical marketing
and communications for iONexus and mar-
keting director for NuSil Technology.
Castolin West Africa Ltd takes
root in Nigeria
Aged only six months, the new-born
subsidiary Castolin West Africa Ltd, with the
headquarters in Lagos/Nigeria, is already
showing great progress with its engineering
team and facilities construction well under-
way. Castolin Eutectic and Deefort Ent. In-
ternational Ltd. teamed up via a Joint Ven-
ture agreement in December 2014 (Frank-
furt/Germany) to found a premium service,
maintenance and repair company offering
wear protection services to the country’s
giant oil and cement industries. The goals
of Castolin West Africa Ltd are to expand the
scope of currently offered services on the
Nigerian market, develop welding and coat-
ing training activities, create strategic al-
liances with the country’s major Oil and Ce-
ment industrial players and to establish ad-
vanced on-site repair capabilities. Bill Mc-
Dougall, CEO of Castolin Eutectic Africa
Middle East Division, explains the relation-
ship to Deefort already dates back many
years. Given Nigerias emerging economy
and government incentives encouraging for-
eign investment, this is a great opportunity
for growth. Deefort Ent. International Ltd,
which started as a distributor of Castolin Eu-
tectic welding consumables in Nigeria, was
founded in February 2008 as a welding one-
stop-shop, providing both wear control sup-
plies and services. Deefort is led by Ajibola
Olajide, holding a Masters of Science in Me-
chanical Engineering and an MBA from the
University of Liverpool, together with his
spouse, Adeola Olajide, who has almost 20
years experience as a welding engineer and
also holds an MBA from the University of
Lagos.
Oerlikon Balzers opens first
automotive competence centre
in Europe
In a Grand Opening Ceremony with nu-
merous guests of honour and customers,
Oerlikon Balzers opened their first European
competence centre for coatings in the auto-
motive sector. The new plant in Vel’ká Ida
near the major Slovakian city of Košice is
part of the Oerlikon Balzers overall strategy
for the automotive market. At the plant in
Vel’ká Ida, Oerlikon Balzers is pooling the
European service activities for the German
Founders and company man-
agement of Deefort Ent. In-
ternational Ltd., Lagos/Nige-
ria: Ajibola Olajide (left) and
Adeola Olajide (right).
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6

The newly constructed plant of Oerlikon Balzers
in Vel’ká Ida/Slovakia.
and European automotive industry at a cen-
tral site in Europe. Vel’ká Ida is positioned
within the corporation as the largest and
most modern production site to date: In ad-
dition to ultra-modern coating systems that
are designed and built by Oerlikon Balzers,
there are also fully automatic test systems
as well as batch loaders for components plus
state-of-the-art stripping technology for the
maintenance of fixtures and system compo-
nents. Moreover, there is an IT-supported
high-bay warehouse for unprocessed parts
and finished products. Production has al-
ready begun with the first 37 employees,
meaning the start-up of the plant is right on
schedule. In total, over 100 jobs are planned.
A second level of expansion is also already
under consideration.
Power tool manufacturer
becomes part of Hitachi Koki
Last month Hitachi Koki signed agree-
ments to take over the Nürtingen/Germany-
based power tool manufacturer Metabo.
With this transaction Metabo will become
part of Hitachi Koki Co., Ltd., a subsidiary
of the Hitachi Group. Headquartered in
Tokyo/Japan, Hitachi Koki generated sales
revenue of over EUR 1 billion with a global
workforce of around 5,000 in 2014. In the
same year, Metabo achieved sales revenue
of EUR 374 million and had 1,800 employees
worldwide. The transaction still needs to be
approved by the antitrust authorities. The
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
Nürtingen site offers Hitachi excellent pos-
sibilities to get closer to the European mar-
kets, with development, product manage-
ment, production and marketing operations
under one roof. Hitachi and Metabo have
been focusing on the promising cordless
power tool segment for many years. Hitachi
has a wide range of cordless products and a
strong 18 volt platform including a high end
electronic system and brushless technology.
At the same time Metabo has become the
technology leader in cordless technology
and has reached a strong position in Europe
with a number of world firsts such as its re-
cent extremely powerful LiHD technology.
The two brands complement each other
very well overall. Hitachi is one of the lead-
ing companies in its home market of Japan
and overall has a very good market position
in the Asia-Pacific region, which is enjoying
strong growth. Metabo on the other hand
generates the biggest part of its sales revenue
in Europe.
First TWI training blended learning
course goes live
Bookings are now being taken for the
first release in TWI’s suite of new blended
learning courses, covering phased array ul-
trasonic testing. Combining a week of
eLearning with two weeks of classroom-
based tuition, the new course offers a more
flexible, accessible and personalised way
of achieving this advanced ultrasonic Level
2 qualification. You can study theory and
concepts when and where you choose,
spend less time in the classroom, and save
costs related to travel and accommodation.
To celebrate the launch of its eLearning
programme, TWI is including two weeks’
free access to the phased array online study
material for anyone who enrols before the
end of 2015. This additional two weeks’ ac-
cess can be used at any time within 12
months of completing the course, so if you
need to refresh your knowledge, you can
do so at no extra cost. Phased array ultra-
sonic testing (PAUT) is now a widely ac-
cepted and frequently mandated method
The Metabo Executive Board
Team with CEO Horst W. Gar-
brecht (right) and CFO Eric
Oellerer remains on board.
(Photo: Metabo)
 FROM COMPANIES
of weld inspection, which can either en-
hance existing ultrasonic capability or, for
certain applications, be used in lieu of ra-
diography. Phased array is a complex
methodology, with no shortcut solution to
ensuring its competent use. Upskilling from
a conventional ultrasonic operator to a fully
certified PAUT technician in accordance
with BS EN ISO 9712, and approved certi-
fication scheme, requires over 100 hours of
training and extensive experience. TWI’s
new blended learning package makes
achieving this certification more accessible
than ever before, allowing you to cover the
theory at a time and place that suits you
before attending classes for the practical
element of the course. Additional NDT
blended learning programmes will be
launched in the near future, so keep an eye
out for coming opportunities. To find out
more visit the www.twitraining.com.
Products
“Simufact.forming 13“ is
available now
“Simufact.forming 13” (Fig. 1) provides
improvements in post processing, evalua-
tion and the depiction of the simulation re-
sults, result precision, software stability and
speed. With user-friendly mathematical for-
mulas, users can now generate their own re-
sult values based on those of the simulation.
In many cases, this new function renders
the programming of subroutines completely
unnecessary. Users can define their own
colour schemes for the depiction of result
quantities and therefore can evaluate sim-
ulation results according to their own crite-
ria. This function simplifies the post pro-
cessing process when examining the vari-
ables in the design process. Routine designs
can be automatically evaluated, which sub-
Fig. 1
324
stantially cuts down the time taken to find
the best design for the manufacturing
process. Post particle tracking helps to find
the causes of typical mistakes in a massive
forming process. The user can define them
after the actual simulation, during post pro-
cessing, and during all process steps whilst
running the simulation both forward and
backward. If a simulation indicates an im-
perfection, such as a fold formation, under-
filling or overfilling of the die, the user can
define the measuring points during post
processing. For example, if under-filling is
shown, users can put post particles on the
indicated location and trace it back to the
point where too little material was used in
the initial geometry. (simufact engineering
gmbh, Tempowerkring 19, 21079 Ham-
burg/Germany; www.simufact.de)
Plasma cutting system
Fig. 2
The “SGX” is a compact, automated
machine for plasma and oxy-fuel cutting
(Fig. 2) equipped with Esab’s “m3” plasma
system. The “m3” performs high-speed plas-
ma cutting, high precision cutting, plasma
marking, thick-plate cutting, dry (multi-gas)
cutting and water injection cutting. The new
“m2” plasma system is designed to cut a
broad range of materials and thicknesses
using air, oxygen or nitrogen gases. It pierces
and cuts mild steel up to 38 mm thick, and
can also edge start and sever materials up
to 50 mm thick. The high-quality cuts result
in minimal dross, reduced warping and a
small heat-affected zone, so there is a re-
duced need for secondary operations and
the per-part cost is lower than it would be
for oxy-fuel cutting. Furthermore, the “m2”
plasma cutting system is inherently easy to
use; a built-in process database with opti-
mised cutting parameters helps to ensure
consistent cutting results. Intuitive operator
controls reduce the need for operator train-
ing, minimise errors and speed setups, while
advanced diagnostics simplify troubleshoot-
ing and maintenance. (Esab Group (UK) Ltd,
Warlies Park House, Horseshoe Hill, Up-
shire, Essex EN9 3SL/UK; www.esab.co.uk)
Enhanced safety, longevity and
uptime
Fig. 3
The company which manufactures a
line of non-pressurised, non-evaporative
water-cooling equipment for the global
metal and mineral industries, has updated
its technology to incorporate several per-
formance enhancements and new patented
features that result in greater safety, equip-
ment longevity and operational uptime. A
safer and more cost-effective alternative to
conventional tubular cooling equipment
used in electric arc furnace (EAF) melt
shops and other extreme heat load appli-
cations, Spray-Cooled equipment uses an
arrangement of patented water spray noz-
zles to cool furnace roofs and other surfaces
at atmospheric pressure (Fig. 3). This de-
sign eliminates the high-pressure, high-vol-
ume water leaks that can result in cata-
strophic steam explosions. Updated fea-
tures include:
• A new patented spray nozzle with a
locking system to ensure that water
spray is consistently angled in the opti-
mum direction.
• A reconfigured spray pattern that flush-
es water more quickly off the hot face
for enhanced cooling.
• New 3D modeling capability that allows
easier retrofits: The design team can
perform an onsite 3D laser scan of the
furnace area to determine clearance is-
sues, location of equipment, etc. – re-
sulting in a customised plan that pre-
cisely fits the Spray-Cooled system into
the existing space.
• Upgraded construction features for
greater longevity: For example, right-
angled welds have been replaced with
chamfered corners for higher durability
and breakage resistance.
(Systems Spray-Cooled, 311 Plus Park, Suite
280, Nashville, TN 37217/USA; spraycooled.
tsg.bz)
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
Seam tracking and quality control
The “YW52” laser welding head has an
integrated “ScanTracker” (Fig. 4) for the
controlled weld position and weld seam
width. In conjunction with the “WeldMas-
ter” system for realtime process control and
quality monitoring, this is a flexible and
comprehensive solution for difficult weld-
ing tasks under changing conditions. The
“WeldMaster” measures the joining posi-
tion laterally and the width of the gap. In-
stead of an external axis, the integrated
scanner mirror of the “ScanTracker” pre-
cisely controls the focal position along the
measured joint. The “WeldMaster” systems
for realtime process control and quality
monitoring of laser seams are based on one
standardised platform, which is responsible
for data processing and operator guidance.
Camera systems and sensors for measuring
and controlling the laser joining process can
be connected and evaluated to suit the ap-
plication concerned. The operator concept
Fig. 4
is always the same, no matter whether the
system is supposed to detect and control
the joining position, whether an image is
evaluated for detecting welding seam errors
or whether only a simple sensor signal, the
laser power for instance, is to be depicted.
Examples of the first successful applications
of the “WeldMaster” system in automotive
engineering are laser welding and the qual-
ity control of gear units, aluminium con-
nections in the drive train, as well as alu-
minium fillet welds in body construction.
(Precitec GmbH & Co. KG, Draisstraße 1,
76571 Gaggenau-Bad Rotenfels/Germany;
www.precitec.de)
Resin for industrial applications
“Silikophen AC 950” – the high-temper-
ature resistant, high-solids silicone resin –
is HAPS-free and intended to provide pro-
tective properties in industrial applications.
No toxic substances release during curing,
making application of “Silikophen AC 950”
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
Fig. 5
possible in enclosed spaces. Smoke forma-
tion and VOC content are significantly lower
than traditional bake-cure silicone resins,
allowing “Silikophen AC 950” to meet the
increasing requirements for eco-friendly
coatings systems. “Silikophen AC 950” cures
at ambient temperature, utilising a catalyst,
which provides additional advantages. Ap-
plication displays high and early resistance
to aromatic and aliphatic solvents, in addi-
tion to impact resistance and non-blocking
properties without a bake-cure cycle. Oven
drying at high temperatures has natural lim-
its. The ambient-curing systems enable coat-
ing of large objects such as in industrial
plants for water treatment or for energy gen-
eration (Fig. 5). Compared to classic bake-
cure systems, energy consumption is also
lower. Curing at room temperature facilitates
a user friendly, economical solution to high-
temperature resistant coatings. (Evonik Re-
source Efficiency GmbH, Rellinghauser
Straße 1-11, 45128 Essen/Germany; www.
evonik.de)
Turn finish combination
The “Mikroturn 100 Superfinish” (Fig. 6)
is a fully hydrostatic turning machine with
an integrated tape-finishing unit. It is meant
for manufactures of cylindrical, spherical,
conical and crowned workpieces that re-
quire a surface finish quality that cannot be
achieved by means of hard turning only.
The tape-finish process can then further im-
prove the surface accuracy to Rz 0.05 di-
rectly after the turning operations. The ad-
vantages of this turn-finish combination are
Fig. 6
numerous. Integrating two processes in ma-
chine is time and cost saving as multiple
operations can be done in one set-up. It
eliminates the need for a multi-step process
that normally would involve two machines.
Another important advantage is that be-
cause all surfaces can be machined in one
clamping set-up it eliminates any possible
re-clamp errors leading to better workpiece
quality. The “Mikroturn 100 Superfinish” al-
lows to meet the highest demands for qual-
ity and process reliability. (Hembrug Ma-
chine Tools, Hendrik Figeeweg 1a+b, 2031
BJ Haarlem/The Netherlands; www.hem-
brug.com)
Next generation welding
anti-spatter
Fig. 7
Protection against weld spatter is ap-
plied to tools, equipment and work pieces,
in order to produce higher quality more ef-
ficiently. The non-flammable anti-spatter
agent “Protec CE15L+” (Fig. 7), now
launched in further improved formulation,
forms a protective film with influence on the
surface tension, that leads to a drop off effect
of the weld spatter, which is comparable to
the “lotus effect”. This is valid for both ma-
terials of steel and stainless steel. Therefore
the surface remains clean and the welding
result is optimised – no pores, even in case
of excessive (manual) application. The pH-
neutral fluid on an aqueous basis is com-
patible with all common coating techniques,
e.g. powder-coating, electroplating, cathodic
dip-paint coating, hydro varnishing, hot gal-
vanising etc.; no extra cleaning step will be
required. The anti-spatter fluid has been op-
timised to reduce emissions. An active cor-
rosion protection has been integrated for
the water phase. The enhanced fluids are
free of markings following the GHS/CLP
guidelines and are not classified as “haz-
ardous substance”. (Protec Trading GmbH,
Julius-Welser-Str. 1/5020 Salzburg/Austria;
www.protec-austria.com)
325
 WELDING PRACTICE
Health, safety and accident prevention during
welding and cutting – Health risks from fume and
gases during welding
Factors affecting composition and
quantity of fume and gases
The quantity and composition of fume
and gases generated during welding is in-
fluenced by the following:
• type of process
• welding consumable
• presence of any material coatings
• nature of MMA flux coating, or core of
FCA consumable
• welding parameters
• shielding gas composition
The two most important are the welding
process and the choice of consumable.
Welding processes
Gas welding
Gas welding fume contains pollutants
formed by combustion of the fuel gas. When
an oxidising flame is used, these will be car-
bon dioxide with oxides of nitrogen but, for
a slightly reducing flame, carbon monoxide
will also be present.
Safe practice and accident avoidance
Providing there is good ventilation, the
levels of fume and gases generated when
welding mild steel are normally well below
any Workplace Exposure Limits (WELs). No
special precautions are required.
326
Manual metal arc (MMA)
A MMA rod has a suitable composition
for the weld metal deposited but the flux
covering provides gases for the arc, addi-
tional alloying elements and slag for pro-
tecting the weld pool. The composition and
quantity of the fume generated will depend
on the process variables, for example, type
of consumable, polarity, voltage and cur-
rent. The toxic elements in the fume will
be similar to those in the consumable, al-
though the proportions are likely to be dif-
ferent.
Safe practice and accident avoidance
For normal welding operations, the ex-
posure levels of fume constituents will gen-
erally exceed relevant WELs. Local exhaust
ventilation (LEV) should be used to remove
fume at source. As stainless steel fume, in
particular, causes respiratory tract sensiti-
sation (the welder becomes more suscepti-
ble to occupational asthma), special care
should be taken to control exposure to as
low a level as is reasonably practicable.
Flux cored arc (FCA)
Continuously fed wire in self-shielded
FCA welding contains a flux which pro-
duces a large amount of gas for the arc and
protection/deoxidisation of the weld pool.
Self-shielded wires are normally used for
welding outdoors. With gas-shielded wires,
which are only used in the welding shop,
an additional shield (CO2 or argon-CO2) is
needed to protect the weld pool. As FCA is
normally employed at high welding cur-
rent levels and higher duty cycle, more
fume will be produced compared with
MMA.
Safe practice and accident avoidance
Providing sensible precautions are tak-
en, self-shielded FCA welding, taking place
outside, will not need any fume removal
measures. For gas-shielded welding inside
a building, similar precautions to MMA
welding should be used, such as LEV.
Metal inert/active gas (MIG/MAG)
MIG/MAG uses a solid wire and a sepa-
rate gas to form the arc and shield the weld
pool. The shielding gas is normally CO2 or a
mixture of argon-O2-CO2 but argon can be
partly replaced with helium. As well as the
effect of the welding parameters, the mode
of metal transfer has a significant effect on
fume levels.
Dip transfer mode operates at a low
welding current level and has a characteris-
tic short arc length. Fume levels
are low. Spray transfer mode
which operates at much higher
current levels and at a greater arc
length can generate higher fume
levels, but a spray condition at
minimum voltage generates low
levels of fume.
Pulsed transfer mode oper-
ates at similar low current levels
to dip transfer but with a longer
arc length and generates interme-
diate fume levels depending upon
the welding parameters.
Special mention must be
made of the presence of ozone
which is generated by the effect of
ultraviolet radiation on the air im-
mediately surrounding the gas
shield as shown in the diagram.
Welding with an aluminium-sili-
con wire, in particular, produces
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
high ozone exposures. Over exposure to
ozone may also occur during MIG/MAG
welding of aluminium, mild and stainless
steels.
Safe practice and accident avoidance
Use LEV to remove fume and ozone at
source. If ozone is not adequately con-
trolled by this method, the welder must
wear Respiratory Protective Equipment
(RPE).
Tungsten inert gas (TIG) and plasma
The arc is formed between the tungsten
electrode and the workpiece with an inert
gas. As the filler metal is added directly to
the weld pool, metal does not pass through
the arc, so there is hardly any fume generat-
ed. In open workshop conditions, exposures
will not normally exceed WELs.
Welding of stainless steel may generate
unacceptable levels of ozone. Ozone is gen-
erated by the effect of ultraviolet radiation
on the air immediately surrounding the gas
shield.
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
Safe practice and accident avoidance
Good ventilation does not require fume
extraction but when welding stainless steel,
control of ozone using LEV or LEV plus RPE
may be needed.
Submerged arc
Submerged arc welding uses a bed of
granulated flux to cover the arc. As the arc
is not exposed, there is negligible emission
of fume and gaseous pollutants, although
exposure to fluorides should be considered
when using highly basic fluxes.
Safe practice and accident avoidance
Special precautions are not usually need-
ed but it should be remembered that dust may
be produced when filling the hopper with flux.
Exposure to welding fume and
gases
The effect of process and consumable
type on exposure assessment is summarised
in the table on the opposite page. The indi-
cation of exposure levels assumes that no
control systems are being used. The generic
term Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL) is
used and may apply to one or all of the in-
dividual constituents of the fume. Assess-
ment indicators are the fume and gas com-
ponents most likely to exceed their respec-
tive WELs during welding.
For safe use of consumables, reference
should always be made to the manufactur-
ers’ or suppliers’ hazard data sheets.
It should be noted that in addition to
fume, where appropriate, a risk assessment
must also consider exposure to shielding
gases, which may be toxic or asphyxiant.
Gases are also produced by the action of
heat on the welding flux or slag (carbon diox-
ide and carbon monoxide) and heat or ul-
traviolet radiation on the atmosphere sur-
rounding the welding arc (nitric oxide, ni-
trogen dioxide and ozone).
(Information prepared in collaboration with
Roger Sykes, Health & Safety Executive,
Newcastle upon Tyne/UK and Geoff Melton,
Chairman, BSI WEE-6 Committee. Copy-
right TWI 2015)
327
 REPORTS

Acoustic emission solution for structural health

monitoring of wind turbine blades
tive area of research primarily due to the re-
quirement for complex signal processing to
extract and identify the signals of interest from
a noisy background. Additional complexity
arises from the fact that the AE signals are
strongly non-stationary (frequency varies as
a function of time as in a chirp) which leads
to errors if classical signal processing tech-
niques are employed (such as Fourier analy-
sis).

Blade test programme

Testing a 45.7 m long turbine blade.
TWI, Cambridge/UK, has completed
research into enhanced condition moni-
toring systems for wind turbine blades that
will decrease maintenance costs and in-
crease installation reliability, allowing the
development of more remote offshore
wind farms and thus reducing pressure for
onshore installations. This project will en-
able the UK manufacturing industry to
compete with overseas suppliers in the
production of advanced designs of offshore
wind turbines.
The main purpose of this study was to
investigate the feasibility of in-service mon-
itoring of the structural health of blades us-
ing AE. The experiment was developed at
the National Renewable Energy Centre
(Narec) 100 m Blade Test Facility. A 45.7 m
long blade, in which a crack had been ini-
tiated, was subject to fatigue loads at dif-
ferent load values using compact resonant
masses (CRMs) to excite the blade, accu-
Developing acoustic emission sys- rately simulating in-service load conditions
tems and methodologies over a six-week period, during which AE
The acoustic emission (AE) technique for monitoring was performed with four sen-
structural health monitoring (SHM) is an ac- sors.
Signals
reaching 1,
2, 3 and 4
sensors.

Reducing costs through remote

monitoring
Operation and maintenance costs con-
stitute a sizeable share of the total annual
costs of a wind turbine. For a new machine,
these costs might easily have an average
share over the lifetime of the turbine of
more than 30% of the total cost per kWh
produced. Therefore, maintenance costs
are increasingly attracting the attention of
manufacturers, who are seeking to develop
new maintenance strategies.
For offshore turbines, costs of access
are disproportionately high, increasing the
incentive for remote monitoring. In addi-
tion, blade and structure failures seem to
correspond to a high percentage of the fail-
ures that have occurred during the last six
years across the world market.

328 Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6

 Over the course of the experiment over
9,000 datasets were recorded. The challenge
was to separate the signals caused by an AE
event due to crack propagation, from those
caused by the vibration and ‚coherent‘ noise
generated by the movement and friction of
the blade.
An AE event was defined as one where
all four sensors were hit within a time span
ranging from 100 to 550 μs. Eliminating
those datasets where only 1-3 of the sensors
were triggered, left 277 datasets with four
signals crossing the threshold at least once.
These were selected for additional analysis
to confirm if they referred to an AE event.
As AE signals propagate within the ma-
terial at a specific speed, this value can be
used to determine the defect localisation co-
ordinates. To determine the location of the
event, the relative differences in time of ar-
rival were calculated using the sensor that
detected the first threshold crossing (45 Acoustic emission signals reaching the four-sensor array at different times.
dBAE) as a reference point. The localisation
process was then performed using trilater-
ation method, finally obtaining the source nance costs with a viable remote condition ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
localisation for four sensors being triggered monitoring system.
by the AE. Clustered event locations can be Research leading to these results has received
confidently interpreted as representing Future development funding by the RGF (Regional Growth Fund)
crack propagation. The next stage of the research will look scheme and managed by National Renewable
The study confirmed that AE signals can at improving accuracy by taking into ac- Energy Centre (Narec) in Blyth, Northumber-
be extracted and classified successfully, count the anisotropy of the blade material land/UK. It is part of the four-project pro-
demonstrating that AE has been developed for localisation processing. For further in- gramme: Offshore Wind Turbine Fabrication
to the point where we are confident that it formation, please visit the project website: and Condition Monitoring – Knowledge Gen-
can yield vital information that will meet the www.cm-project.co.uk. (According to press eration and Transfer to Industry.
objective to reduce operating and mainte- information from TWI)

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Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6 329

 REPORTS
Trends in development in gas shielded arc welding
equipment in Japan
1 Introduction
In the welding field in Japan new tech-
nologies and processes have been developed
one after another in response to the improve-
ment in materials and the changes in the mar-
ket needs, which have remarkably been con-
tributing to rationalisation and cost reduction
in various industries. This paper provides an
overview of the present situation of techno-
logical developments in terms of gas shielded
arc welding equipment.
It has passed one century with the arc
welding technology since 1904 when Oscar
Kjellberg, a shipbuilding engineer in Swe-
den, developed and practiced the shielded
metal arc welding process. This process was
introduced in shipyards in Japan about ten
years later than that time, and in the 1920s,
the first domestic DC arc welding machine
was born. Afterwards, the submerged arc
welding process and the gas shielded arc
Fig. 2 • Trends in developments of main control technology for arc welding power sources.
330
welding processes such as TIG and MIG
were developed and practiced one after an-
other in Europe and the United States from
the 1930s to 1940s. These welding processes
were introduced in Japan, too, nearly ten
years later after the employment in the West-
ern countries.
In the early 1950s, the submerged arc
welding machine was developed with the do-
mestic technologies. Since then, the perform-
ance and quality of the domestic arc welding
equipment have earned a giant leap in tan-
dem with the advancement of the heavy in-
dustries such mainly as shipbuilders and
bridge fabricators. This became the trigger of
shifting the main usage of the Western-made
arc welding machines to the Japanese-made
ones in fabrication sites. In the 1970s, the tra-
ditional major processes of submerged arc
welding and shielded metal arc welding were
superseded gradually by GMA welding, main-
Fig. 1 • Change in
spread of power
source control
types in Japan.
ly CO2 arc welding and MIG welding. This has
urged the development of GMA welding
equipment. The 1980s were special in that the
articulated arc-welding robot became popular
and the welding power source of the transis-
tor-inverter controlled type was developed,
and thereby the arc welding equipment was
improved associated with the advancements
in the power electronics. As a result, the tech-
nical development for higher efficiency and
automatisation in welding has been pro-
gressed until today.
2 The history of development of
the GMA welding power source in
Japan
2.1 The growth of the output control
method for the GMA welding power
source
Fig. 1 shows a summary of the trend and
growth of the output control method for the
welding power source for GMA welding in
Japan for the last 30 years.
Though the step or slide-transform con-
trol type has decreased in the production
quantity ratio, it is still used steadily at a ratio
of about 5%, mainly in the sheet-metal weld-
ing workshop. The thyristor control type,
which was dominant for the output control
method till the 1970s, is still used mainly in
the fabrication sites for medium/thick plate
welding constructions in shipbuilders and
building constructors, with a volume ratio of
around 20%.
Since the welding power source of the in-
verter control type with power transistor was
developed in the early 1980s, the production
volume ratio rapidly expanded by the early
1990s. In the latter half of the 1990s, the digital
inverter control type was developed which
features the inverter for controlling the output
and the software for controlling the welding
current and voltage waveforms to govern the
welding performance and function. This con-
trol type has earned a rapid growth of use
since the 2000s, reaching a quantity ratio of
nearly 70% today.
2.2 Trends in the technology develop-
ment for GMA-welding power source
Fig. 2 shows a summary of the recent
trends in the development of the major con-
trol technologies for the arc welding power
source [1]. The thyristor-controlled power
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
source was developed in 1969, which led the
development of the welding sequential con-
trol and the unified control for improved
performance. The low-frequency pulse con-
trol and the medium-frequency pulse con-
trol with a fixed pulse frequency were also
practiced.
The pulse power source with the syner-
gic pulse process on board was developed
in 1980 and was marketed as the welding
power source equipped with the world’s
first, general-purpose, low-priced transistor
for the output control by the transistor chop-
per. This type of power source became the
prototype of the present pulse MIG/MAG
welding power ource. However, in 1983, the
practice of the inverter-controlled welding
power source highly expanded, resulting in
the development of the pulse MIG/MAG
welding power source of the inverter control
type that featured high-speed output con-
trol. This development caused the pulse
MIG/MAG welding power source of the
transistor-chopper control type to become
disused shortly.
Afterwards, all the advancements in the
welding power source were based on the in-
verter control type. In 1990, the high-func-
tion/performance welding power source that
was combined with the microcomputer con-
trol was developed [2, 3]. In 1992, the intelli-
gent welding power source with the fuzzy con-
trol on board was developed [4, 5].
At the end of the 20th century, it was
started to apply highly the digital control to
the welding power source, with the back-
ground of advancement in the digital control
technology; i.e., the majority of the control
circuits were engineered to change the ana-
log control to the digital control to improve
the reproducibility of welding conditions [6].
Recently, it has actively been promoted to
increase the output control speed by using
the high-speed control element; as a result,
the high-performance welding power
source, that can control the welding and arc
phenomena in almost the ideal modes, has
also been marketed [7].
Table 1 shows a summary of the perform-
ances of the microprocessors applied to the
welding power sources of the digital inverter-
control type. In 1996, the digital control (with
software) was employed for all the controls of
the welding current and voltage waveforms
to regulate the arc welding process [8]. At that
time, a 16-bit microprocessor was used to en-
able a single-chip microcomputer to execute
multiple controls, including the optimising
control of pulse parameters and the fuzzy con-
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
Table 1 • Change in micro processors and welding power sources.
trol for automatic adjustment of welding cur-
rent and voltage, thereby eliminating the need
of individual logic circuits.
In 2000, 32-bit microprocessor, which fea-
tures the two times or higher control frequen-
cy and 4-8 times capacity as compared to the
conventional type, began to be applied. With
respect to the control speed, the Digital Signal
Processor (DSP) that enables the direct con-
trol with software has provided the fast-acting
output control by inverter [9]. Lately, the Field
Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) with a
highly-integrated circuit that unifies 32-bit
microcomputer and Digital Signal Processor
(DSP) has been employed in the welding pow-
er source, and thereby the control speed and
program capacity have been improved by 1-
or 2-digit magnitude as compared to those
used ten years ago.
These microprocessors used in the weld-
ing power source are commercial ones. In or-
der to realise a high-dimensional welding
control, the authors have developed the spe-
cial welding-control microprocessor called
“Welbee“ (WELding Best Electronic Engine),
the single-purpose LSI for the welding control,
which is the unique fourth-generation engine
dedicated to the welding and inverter controls
[10]. By using the “Welbee“, the operation pro-
Fig. 3 • Con-
trolled Bridge
Transfer Ex-
panded (CBT
Expanded)
process.
cessing rate can be increased from a conven-
tional micro-order level to a nano-order level,
and thereby the control performance of the
welding power source can be 64 times higher
than that of the first-generation welding power
source.
3 Digital control methods for the
welding current waveform and
their performances
3.1 Development of spatter reduction in
the GMA welding process
Several methods for reducing spatter,
typically the Controlled Bridge Transfer (CBT)
method [11] that feature less spattering in the
short-circuiting current range (up to around
150-180 A) in CO2 arc welding have been sug-
gested and realised for the low-spatter weld-
ing process. On the other hand, from the view-
point of higher welding efficiency, the low-
spatter performance is required also in the
globular-transfer current range where the
metal transfer is prone to become irregular
and unstable. However, the spatter perform-
ance of the conventional welding power
sources was not enough in the globular-trans-
fer current range (over 200 A).
As shown in Fig. 3, in the use of the weld-
ing power source equipped with the dedi-
331
 REPORTS

Fig. 4 • Com- pulse current to prevent the droplet from

cated welding microprocessor of “Welbee“
the superimposed pulse current waveform
which consists of periodical changes, is ap-
plied immediately after the re-arcing from
short-circuiting to regulate the metal trans-
fer. Additionally, the welding current is
controlled to be nearly tens of amperes at
the moment of shifting from short-circuit-
ing to arcing by means of the high-speed
operation processing of the algorithm for
detecting the weld pool condition in the
last stage of the short-circuiting. The de-
velopment of this technology for control-
ling the welding current waveform has en-
abled to reduce spatter even in the current
range over 200A.
Fig. 4 shows a comparison of the
amounts of spatter in CO2 arc welding with
a “Welbee“-installed welding power source
and a conventional welding power source.
The right part of the figure shows typical
spattering views and the relative amounts
of spatter. In the condition where the
amount of spatter is 0.5 g/min or less, only
minute particles of spatter are observed.
In the condition where the amount of spat-
ter is 1.0 g/min or larger, a mixture of
coarse and minute particles of spatter can
be observed.
parison of
spatter
levels.
centrated piping system in the workshop. It
is known that the metal transfer becomes
unstable when the CO2 ratio exceeds 20% in
the shielding gas, and thereby the one-
droplet per pulse transfer becomes impos-
sible to achieve.
With the newly developed pulse-current
waveform control, the initial value of a
pulsed current is set to be higher than the
proper value for 80%Ar + 20%CO2, in order
to enhance the constriction of a droplet for
detaching from the wire tip even when the
CO2 mixing ratio becomes higher up to 30%.
This control method also features the two-
step pulse waveform, which reduces the
becoming larger excessively while maintain-
ing the electromagnetic pinching force to
detach the molten droplet formed at the ini-
tial stage of the process. In the process of
lowering the pulse current to the base cur-
rent, it is reduced exponentially, not linearly,
in order to maintain the electromagnetic
pinching force immediately before detach-
ing the molten droplet. Consequently, this
process assures a steady metal transfer while
preventing the generation of minute parti-
cles of spatter that is caused by the residue
of molten droplet flown apart from the wire
tip as the result of an excessive energy ac-
companied by the detachment of the
droplet.
In pulsed GMA welding, stainless steel re-
quires a shielding gas with a higher ratio
of Ar as compared with mild steel; in gen-
eral, oxidised gas (O2 or CO2) is added at
several percent to improve the arc stability.
However, even if an Ar-rich shielding gas
is used, a stable metal-transfer arc may not
be obtained in the pulsed GMA welding of
stainless steel because the high viscosity
or surface tension of the molten droplet
makes it difficult to detach the droplet from
the wire tip.

3.2 Control for stabilising the metal Fig. 5 • Low-frequen-

transfer in pulsed GMA welding cy modulated pulsed
Table 2 shows examples of the welding GMA process.
current waveform control in pulsed GMA
welding that have recently been developed
by applying the digital control technology
[12].
In the pulsed GMA welding of mild steel,
the common shielding gas used is an Ar-CO2
mixture with 20% CO2. On the other hand,
the CO2 ratio in the shielding gas mixture
often changes depending on the mixing
mechanism and the performance of the mix-
er in cases where the shielding gas is sup- Fig. 6 • AC pulsed
plied to the welding process line via a con- GMA waveform.

332 Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6

 Table 2 • Pulsed wave
form type and their
metal transfer.
With the newly-developed current wave-
form control, the initial rising rate of a pulsed
current is designed to be high so that the
electromagnetic pinch force can firmly work
on the molten droplet at the initial rise of
pulsed current. Additionally, to cope with a
lack of electromagnetic pinch force while a
pulse current is applied, the pulse current
is designed to increase gradually after reach-
ing the pulse current, thereby ensuring the
sufficient electromagnetic pinch force in ac-
cord with the timing of detaching the molten
droplet. The process of reducing the pulse
current to the base current is the same as
the pulse waveform for the pulsed GMA
welding of mild steel; i.e., the pulse current
is decreased exponentially to prevent the
generation of minute-particle spatter caused
by the residue of molten droplet flown apart
from the wire tip, thereby achieving a steady
metal transfer.
In the pulsed GMA welding of alumini-
um and its alloys, the pulsed current wave-
form control must be executed in consider-
ation of the properties that the melting point,
viscosity and surface tension of the wire are
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
lower than those of steel wire. Especially, if
an excessive pulse peak current is energised
to the wire, minute particles of spatter may
be generated when the molten droplet de-
taches from the wire. To solve this problem,
the lately-developed current waveform con-
trol features the exponentially ascending or
descending curves for the rising or falling
current waveform between the peak current
and the base current. This technology pre-
vents the generation of minute-particle spat-
ter when the molten droplet detaches, there-
by obtaining a stable one-pulse one-droplet
transfer.
3.3 Pulsed GMA welding process with
superimposed low-frequency pulse
In 1990, the pulsed GMA welding
process with superimposed low frequency
pulse was developed for aluminium and its
alloys [13]. In this process, the arc condition
is changed cyclically by controlling the out-
put current and voltage with the welding
current waveform that features the low fre-
quency pulse superimposed, for reflecting
the vibration of the weld pool, on the medi-
Fig. 7 • Wire
melting charac-
teristics.
um frequency pulse that controls the metal
transfer under a constant wire feed rate.
With this advanced technology, the au-
thors have made suggestions for realising
the GMA weld beads with the regular ripple
pattern like TIG weld beads, and for using
the weld pool vibration to refine crystal
grains and to reduce the susceptibility to so-
lidification cracking [14] as well as to prevent
blowholes [15].
However, with mild steel and stainless
steel whose melting points are higher, the
change in the arc phenomena is not as cycli-
cal as observed with aluminium alloys; thus,
the above-mentioned effects could not be
achieved.
To overcome this problem, the new
pulsed MIG/MAG welding process with su-
perimposed low frequency pulse has been
developed, with which the wire feed speed
can be synchronised with the current wave-
form control, as shown in Fig. 5. With this
advanced process, the output can dynami-
cally be changed at a low frequency of 5 Hz
max for mild steel and stainless steel, and
thereby it has become possible to change
333
 REPORTS
Fig. 8 • Effect of EN
ratio on bead forma-
tion.
Fig. 9 • Principle
of the cold tan-
dem pulsed GMA
welding process.
significantly the arc pressure and wire melt-
ing rate.
With this process, a molten pool can
cyclically be vibrated. This function enables
to remove zinc vapour from the molten pool
in the welding of galvanised steel plates,
thereby reducing the occurrence of blow-
holes and pits in the weld metal.
3.4 Development of AC-pulsed GMA
welding process
Depending on the type of welding struc-
ture, some of the welding joints may be dif-
ficult to weld because the root gap is re-
quired to be filled with deposited metal even
though the base metal’s thermal capacity is
small. In the automatic welding of such par-
ticular joints, the use of low welding current
can prevent burn-through that is caused by
excessive heat input; however, it will become
difficult to bridge the root gap with deposit-
ed metal. Conversely, if the welding current
is increased to fill the root gap with deposit-
ed metal, excessive heat input may cause
burn-through. This problem can be attrib-
uted to the nature of the common DC GMA
welding process in which the welding cur-
rent is related directly to the wire melting
334
rate. Therefore, it is significantly difficult to
set the proper welding condition in the
welding by robots and automatic machines.
Even if the proper condition could be set up,
it would become difficult to maintain/con-
trol that condition due to less robustness.
The AC-pulsed GMA welding process is
one of the processes that can solve such
welding problems. Fig. 6 shows a welding
current waveform in AC-pulsed GMA weld-
ing. Here, the ratio of EN (electrode negative)
polarity current to the average welding cur-
rent in one pulse cycle is called the EN ratio
[16], which can be defined by the equation
shown in the figure.
Fig. 7 shows the relation between weld-
ing current and wire feed speed as a function
of the EN ratio in the use of Al-Mg alloy wire
and mild steel wire with a wire diameter of
1.2 mm. As shown in these figures, setting
an EN ratio can determine the melting char-
acteristic curve for a particular wire in rela-
tion to the melting rate vs. welding current
in AC-pulsed GMA welding. Specifically,
when comparing the EN ratios at the same
welding current, the wire melting rate be-
comes faster with a higher EN ratio and
slower with a lower EN ratio.
When the wire melting rate is kept con-
stant, a change in the EN ratio affects the
welding current; i.e. the welding current de-
creases with a higher EN ratio, and increases
with a lower EN ratio. Due to these charac-
teristics, changing the EN ratio affects the
cross-sectional contour of a weld bead in
AC-pulsed GMA welding as shown in Fig. 8;
i.e., with an increase in the EN ratio, the bead
width and penetration decrease, and weld
reinforcement increases. This specific fea-
ture of the AC-pulsed GMA welding process
is useful in the welding of a welding joint
having an excessive gap.
3.5 Cold tandem GMA welding
Fig. 9 shows the principles of the cold
tandem GMA welding process. Specifically,
a couple of wires are aligned in tandem
along the welding line, and while the lead-
ing wire generates a pulse arc, the trailing
wire that is not energised is fed into the
molten metal produced by the leading arc.
In the cold tandem GMA welding process,
the filler wire is fed 5 mm away backwards
from the leading arc into the molten pool,
unlike the TIG filer welding process in
which the filler wire is fed into the molten
pool immediately beneath the arc.
With this process, the solidification rate
of the molten pool becomes faster and thus
the prevention of undercut and humped
bead can be expected. Because the filler
wire is fed into the rear part of the molten
pool, the heat capacity of the arc is never
drawn by melting the filler wire. This is why
the penetration shape is almost not affected
by the filler wire fed. In addition, since the
proceeding arc is kept in perfect spray with-
out short circuiting, similarly to the con-
ventional pulsed MAG welding process, the
generation of spatter is extremely low.
In recent years, thick plate fabricators
tend to use narrow groove joints to get high-
er welding efficiency. However, the use of a
high-efficient welding process in a narrow
groove joint may cause the occurrence of a
hot crack in the penetrated weld centre de-
pending upon the penetration shape. The
hot cracking can occur if molten metal does
not fill the shrinkage cavity that is formed at
the interface (the finally solidified zone) of
the columnar structures near the center of
a weld during the solidification and shrink-
age process. With the cold-filler tandem
GMA welding process, the cold filler wire is
fed into the molten pool formed by a high-
current arc, and hence it can be expected
that the molten-metal filling action into the
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
molten pool can be enhanced, thereby pre-
venting the hot cracking.
Fig. 10 shows the welding results of the
pipe-flange joint of machinery structure
steel. In this experiment, welding was started
with the pulsed GMA welding process,
which was followed in the mid-course by
cold tandem GMA welding with the trailing
filler wire fed, in order to compare the effect
of the filler wire. Consequently, solidification
cracking occurred near the centre of the
bead from the weld start when only pulsed
GMA welding was used, by contrast, right
after switching to cold tandem GMA weld-
ing, the crack propagation was arrested, and
thereby the expected effect of cold filler wire
has been confirmed.

4 Conclusion
The trends in the development of the
GMA welding equipment observed in
Japan in the last ten years have been in-
troduced. The GMA welding equipment
has remarkably been improved in tandem
with the developments in the power elec-
tronics controls and elements together
with the advancements in various control
methodologies. Today, the capacity of mi-
croprocessors is also advanced consider-
ably; thus, particular output controls that
were hard to realise are becoming possible
to practice.
On the other hand, for the fusion welding
process like the arc welding process, it is re-
quired to handle the phenomena in which
solid, liquid and vapour phases can change
for a short time. Therefore, in order to ac-
complish the further advancement/ devel-
opment of the welding equipment, better
understanding the physical phenomena cen-
tered on the arc phenomena in the welding
process will become more vital for the tech-
nological step-up in the future.
Tomoyuki Ueyama,
Daihen (OTC) Corporation, Osaka/Japan
Fig. 10 • Inhibiting effect of solidification crack propagation by cold tandem pulsed GMAW.
Literature
[1] Mita, T: Progress of Arc welding Technolo-
gies. Journal of the JWS, Vol. 69 (2000) No. 3,
pp. 190/96.
[2] Yamamoto, H., et al.: Development of Low
Frequency Pulsed MIG Welding for Alu-
minium Alloys. Welding International, Vol.
6 (1992) No. 7, pp. 580/83.
[3] Mita, T.: Spatter Reduction – Power Source
Considerations. Welding International, Vol.
5 (1991) No. 11, pp. 847/50.
[4] Harada, S., et al.: Development of Fuzzy
Controlled Pulsed MIG Welding Power
Source. Welding Technique, Vol. 40 (1992)
No. 8, pp. 63/68.
[5] Innami, T., et al.: Development of CO2/MAG
Automatic Welding Equipment Applied
Fuzzy. Welding Technique, Vol. 40 (1992)
No. 8, pp. 69/73.
[6] Ohhashi, N., et al.: Full-Digital Controlled
Welding Machine. Welding Technique, Vol.
48 (2000) No. 8, pp. 56/62.
[7] Hirata, Y.: Innovation of Welding Related
Manufacturing System by Using Fully Digi-
tal-Controlled Arc Welding Machine. Jour-
nal of the JWS, Vol. 74 (2005) No. 7, pp.
473/77.
[8] Yamamoto, H.: Arc Welding Phenomena
and Welding Power Sources. Journal of the
JWS, Vol. 66 (1997) No. 8, pp. 615/29.
[9] Mita, T., and S. Harada: Trend and perspec-
tive on welding power source in Japan. IIW
Doc. XII-1824-04 (2004).
[10] Era, T.: Leading edge of control technology of
arc welding equipment. Welding Interna-
tional, Vol. 26 (2012) No. 3, pp. 170/74.
[11] Era, T., and T. Ueyama: Welding Steel Sheet
with a Modified Short Circuiting Process.
Welding Journal, Vol. 87 (2008) No. 12, pp.
28/33.
[12] Ueyama, T., and T. Era: Development of
pulsed MAG/MIG welding power source for
automatic instrument and robot. Proceedings
of Sheet Metal Welding Conference XIV, May
2010, Livonia MI, USA.
[13] Yamamoto, H., et al.: Study of low-frequency
pulsed MIG welding. Welding International,
Vol. 7 (1993) No.1, pp. 21/26.
[14] Yamamoto, H., et al.: Beneficial effects of low-
frequency pulsed MIG welding on grain re-
finement of weld metal and improvement of
solidification crack susceptibility of alu-
minium alloys. Welding International, Vol. 7
(1993) No. 6, pp. 456/61.
[15] Yamamoto, H., et al.: Inhibiting effect of low-
frequency pulsed MIG welding on blowhole
generation in Al and its alloys, Welding Inter-
national, Vol. 8 (1994) No. 8, pp. 606/11.
[16] Ueyama, T., et al.: AC pulsed GMAW im-
proves sheet metal joining. Welding Journal,
Vol. 84 (2005) No. 2, pp. 40/45.

 



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Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6 335

Radiant winners at the DVS CONGRESS and
the DVS EXPO
There were a lot of radiant faces at the
DVS CONGRESS and the DVS EXPO in
Nuremberg on 16 September 2015. At Nürn-
berg Messe, DVS – German Welding Society
was able to hand over the prizes for no fewer
than four different competitions.
First DVS Robot Welding
Competition
In this respect, interest focused on the
first DVS Robot Welding Competition which
was staged by DVS together with SLV Duis-
burg, a branch of GSI – Gesellschaft für
Schweißtechnik International mbH. On two
days during the DVS EXPO, 15 participants
programmed, taught and welded for the best
test piece. The organisers were particularly
pleased to greet five participants from China
who were supervised by Prof. Dr. Liu Zheny-
ing, President of Beijing ARC Xinxing Sci-
ence & Technology Co. and Secretary-Gen-
eral of the Association for International
Welding Technology Cooperation in China.
The programmers competed with the fol-
lowing combinations of robots and welding
power sources:
• Fanuc robot – Fronius welding power
source,
• KUKA robot – Fronius welding power
source,
• Yaskawa robot – SKS welding power
source.
On a robot from Cloos, the welds were tested
in a matter of seconds with a measuring sys-
tem from Vitronic and were investigated for
irregularities by the employees of SLV Duis-
burg in front of the public. All the combina-
tions were assessed separately and three
winners were thus chosen too. Sven Laubner
(H. Euen GmbH Schweißtechnische Geräte)
on the Fanuc robot, Yan Hongbo (China
FAW Group Corporation Labor Union) on
the KUKA robot and Jens Kiri (Böhmer Sys-
temtechnik GmbH) on the Yaskawa robot
were pleased about their first places. From
the hands of the DVS President Prof. Dr.-
Ing. Heinrich Flegel and Christian Paul,
Head of Application and Process Technology
Development at Carl Cloos Schweißtechnik
GmbH, they each received an educational
336
Tim Christian Thurn (centre) took the first place
in the Young Professionals Award at the DVS
Student Congress. (Photo: DVS)
voucher for five days from the robot manu-
facturer in question, an educational voucher
for three days from GSI mbH as well as a
high-quality tablet from DVS.
Young Professionals Award at the
DVS Student Congress
For many years already, the DVS Student
Congress has taken place within the frame-
work of the DVS CONGRESS. The young
professionals have their say here: Prospec-
tive engineers report on the contents of their
current work and can recommend them-
selves to an international trade public. DVS
presents the Young Professionals Award for
the best two submitted papers. This year,
Tim Christian Thurn was able to convince
The winners of the
first DVS Robot Weld-
ing Competition with
the DVS President
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Heinrich
Flegel (far left) and
Christian Paul, Head
of Application and
Process Technology
Development at Carl
Cloos Schweißtechnik
GmbH (far right).
(Photo: DVS / Bischof
& Broel)
The second place in the Young Professionals
Award at the DVS Student Congress went to
Christoph Lüdecke. (Photo: DVS)
the jury with his lecture entitled “Analytical
model of the laser beam cutting of semi-fin-
ished products made of carbon fibre“ and
received Euro 600 for the first place.
Christoph Lüdecke took the second place
for his lecture entitled “Fundamental weld-
ing technology investigations into the fric-
tion spot welding of aluminium/aluminium
and aluminium/steel joints“ and was pre-
sented with Euro 400. Marvin Keinert, M.
Sc., who himself was active amongst the
young professionals for many years and now
works for DVS in the “Research and Tech-
nology“ division, handed over the prizes to-
gether with Simone Mahlstedt, Manager of
“Technological Exchange & Network“ at
DVS.
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6

3M Welding Safety Award and
EWM Award “Physics of Welding“
The already established prizes, the 3M
Welding Safety Award and the EWM Award
“Physics of Welding“, were conferred for the
fourth time. Every two years, the well-known
firms from the joining sector, 3M Deutsch-
land GmbH and EWM AG, offer their respec-
tive prizes which are then presented in an
official DVS setting.
This year, the project group consisting
of Anton Heinitz and Dr.-Ing. Sascha Rose,
both from the Institute of Manufacturing
Technology at the Dresden University of
Technology, were pleased about the first
place in the 3M Welding Safety Award. They
convinced the jury with the idea about the
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
“GMA welding of high-alloyed steels without
any chromium or nickel fumes“. In addition
to Euro 5,000 prize money, the project group
also received the 3M Welding Safety Award
trophy from the hands of Prof. Flegel and
Jürgen Gleim, Sales Manager for Welding
Protection Products at 3M.
The second place and thus Euro 3,000
went to the project group with Rudi Belman,
Alexander Böhm, Claus Dinger, Uwe
Jochims, Eugen Reis and Michael Weinacht
from BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, for their pro-
posal for the “Improvement of the technical
possibilities for the connection of the current
return during electric arc welding“. With
their idea about an “Emergency cabinet“, the
project group with Kevin Feldhaus, Marvin
The DVS President
Prof. Dr. Heinrich
Flegel (left) and Jür-
gen Gleim from 3M
(right) congratulated
the winners of the
first three places in
the 3M Welding
Safety Award. (Pho-
to: DVS / Bischof &
Broel)
Kai Treutler (second from left) was pleased
about the EWM Award, handed over by the eu-
logist Prof. Dr. Steffen Keitel, Managing Director
of SLV Halle GmbH (far left), the DVS President
Prof. Dr. Heinrich Flegel (far right) as well as Su-
sanne Szczesny-Oßing, President of the EWM
AG Supervisory Board. (Photo: DVS / Bischof &
Broel)
Gröger, Til Möller and Justin Müller from
voestalpine Böhler Welding Germany
GmbH in Hamm were pleased about the
third place which was endowed with Euro
2,000.
Every two years, up-and-coming scien-
tists from university and research institutes
as well as from Welding Training and Re-
search Institutes can, with their pioneering
research concepts, put themselves forward
as candidates for the EWM Award “Physics
of Welding“. This time, Dipl.-Ing. Kai Treut-
ler, Institute of Welding and Machining at
the Clausthal University of Technology, was
allowed to accept the prize endowed with
Euro 30,000. For his research paper entitled
“Influencing arc stability using thin-film-
coated wire electrodes“, he received the
EWM Award from Susanne Szczesny-Oßing,
President of the EMW AG Supervisory
Board, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Steffen Keitel, Managing
Director of SLV Halle GmbH, and the DVS
President Flegel.
337
 REPORTS
Brazing: When, where and how did it begin? –
Part 2: The brazing processes used in antiquity
Modern industrial brazing practice de-
mands that the filler materials are available
in the form of rod, strip, foil, preforms, pow-
der and pastes and the necessary fluxing
media as powders, pastes, liquid and gas.
However, nothing useful arises by a making
a comparison between 21st century tech-
nology and that which existed some 5,000
years ago. As we saw in Part 1 of this series,
at that time the metal workers had neither
the technical knowledge nor the equipment
to produce brazing filler materials in
wrought form, nor did they understand the
technical and metallurgical aspects of the
joining processes that they were using. That
they could find the ways and means that
were able to produce reliable and perma-
nent joints between their components was
their only goal! As a result it is reasonable
for us to assume that many of the results
achieved were the product of a ‘rule of
thumb’ technology. Setting that conjecture
to one side, and despite the high degree of
technical and metallurgical expertise rou-
tinely available to modern practitioners of
brazing, it has to be said that some of the re-
sultant joints that were produced would be
difficult to emulate today, see Figs. 2 and 5.
Clearly, the question facing the modern
investigator is, therefore, how did they do
it?
Unfortunately, the illustrations and texts
found in ancient tombs that can be accu-
rately dated to the third millennium B.C.E
338
provide us with very little positive informa-
tion, and it is not until the Roman era that
written accounts that describe the brazing
process used in Egypt (‘many hundreds of
years earlier’) became available to scholars.
In order to produce a convincing explana-
tion of the results that were achieved it has
therefore been necessary to study these texts
and then consider the procedural informa-
tion they contain in the light of modern tech-
nological knowledge and understanding.
We will now consider three of these texts,
and then analyse their content against the
background mentioned above.
A text written by Pliny the Elder in
60 A.D.
Maryon [1] reproduces the text on the
brazing of gold which reads as follows (N.B.
the words in brackets have been added to
clarify what we would write today): “Gold-
smiths also claim Chrysocolla as their own
for the soldering (brazing) of gold, saying
that all other varieties (of copper salts) with
a similar verdant hue were named from this
one. It is mixed in due proportions with
Cyprian Verdigris and the urine of a beard-
less boy. Nitrum is added, and the whole
ground to a powder with a pestle (made
from) Cyprian copper in a mortar of the
same material. The mixture (so obtained) is
called ‘Santerna’. With it is soldered (brazed)
gold which (also) contains silver, the pres-
ence of which is indicated by the brilliance
Fig. 1 • The liquidus
curves of the ternary
gold-silver-copper al-
loys used from the ear-
liest times as a
‘provider’ of brazing
material. Note particu-
larly that a trough in
the liquidus values ex-
tends across the dia-
gram from the silver-
copper eutectic melting
at 778°C, to the mini-
mum in the gold–cop-
per liquidus curve at
910°C.
of the surface (of the metal), when the San-
terna is applied. On the other hand, gold
which contains copper contracts and grows
dull and is soldered (brazed) with difficulty.
For this kind of metal, the solder (brazing
filler metal) is made by adding gold and
one-seventh part of silver to the substances
mentioned above, and grinding them to-
gether.”
It is interesting to see what this transla-
tion from Latin actually says when exam-
ined in the light of 21st century brazing
technology.
What Pliny is saying is that the crafts-
man is mixing four chemicals together:
1. Chrysocolla: Hydrated copper silicate
(CuSiO2,2H2O)
2. Verdigris: Basic copper carbonate (Cu-
CO3, CuO)
3. Urea: Converted to an ammonium salt
during heating
4. Nitrum: Sodium Carbonate (Na2CO3)
When mixed together these compounds
will form ‘Santerna’, the basis of both a flux
(due to the presence of the silicate, the am-
monium salt and the carbonate) and also
metallic copper due to the subsequent de-
composition of the Chrysocolla and the
Verdigris under the influence of heat. (Per-
haps a product that is somewhat similar to
that of a modern filler metal paste?)
In this instance the brazing of gold
would be accomplished as a result of the
‘in situ’ formation at 910°C of a single melt-
ing point alloy gold-copper arising from the
inter-metallic diffusion of the copper that
has been produced by the decomposition
of the Santerna, see Fig. 1.
Further, and as we have already seen,
Pliny says, “On the other hand, gold which
contains copper contracts and grows dull,
and is soldered (brazed) with difficulty”.
It is clear that this statement refers to the
formation of an oxide-layer on the surface
of the gold-copper alloy during the heating
cycle and, moreover, one that is difficult to
remove at 910°C, the temperature required
to form the gold-copper eutectic alloy. Pliny
goes on to comment that this problem is
overcome if one adds a certain amount of
silver to the Santerna. The effect of adopting
this recommendation would ultimately re-
sult in the generation in situ of an 87.5%
gold-silver-copper alloy at a temperature at
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
around 795°C, and this would certainly act
as a suitable brazing filler material. At this
lower temperature there would be a strong
possibility that the remnants of the silicate-
carbonate flux would have enough ‘life’ left
in it to deal with the copper-oxide skin: this
would certainly be the case if the joint area
happened to be close to the centre of a char-
coal fire and so completely shrouded by car-
bon monoxide, this making a substantial
contribution to the extension of the ‘active
life’ of the flux.
The fact that Pliny mentions these mat-
ters in some detail is reasonably strong ev-
idence that he actually had witnessed them
taking place. Thus the foregoing comments
are probably not too far removed from the
reality of the situation.
A text from the 11th century A.D.
The Benedictine monk Theophilus Pres-
byter, the author of “De diversis artibus“
(“Concerning various arts“) in the early 11th
century AD, described methods used for the
brazing of silver and gold.
On the brazing of silver he wrote as fol-
lows: “Weigh two parts of pure silver and a
third part of red copper, and then melt them
together, and then rasp (file) into a clean
vessel, and put it into a quill (the hollow por-
tion of a birds feather). Then take wine-stone
(vini petrum) which accumulates in a vessel
in which best wine has remained for a long
time and tie pieces (of it), in a cloth and put
into a fire so that it may be burned until at
last no vapours proceed from it. From which,
when taken from the fire and cooled, blow
off the ashes of the cloth, and grind the burnt
(substance), in a copper vessel with a round
mallet, water and salt being mixed until it is
thick as lees (the sediment remaining in a
barrel in which wine has been stored to
‘age’); (then), with a thin piece of wood you
anoint (the work to be brazed), and you rub
off with a small (piece of iron) some of the
burnt substance over it, and then dry it. Lat-
er, again paint the mixture over it more thick-
ly than before, and put it into the fire, and
coals being applied, carefully cover it until
the soldering (brazing) is sufficiently melt-
ed.”
In the 21st century we would say that
the craftsman is, in effect, using the following
materials:
1. A 66% silver-copper alloy, melting
range 778 to 820°C
2. Potassium tartrate – the wine stone
3. Sodium chloride – common salt
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
Fig. 2 • An outstanding example of the use of
decorative step-brazing of a 75% gold-silver al-
loy with tiny (0.4 mm) diameter gold spheres.
This Egyptian message carrier was made about
2,800 year ago. (Photograph: Courtesy of the
British Museum, London)
In this instance the chloride-tartrate mix-
ture would act as a flux up to a temperature
of about 600°C. However, since the ‘brazing
process’ is using a coal fire as the heating
source, the carbon monoxide generated as a
result of the burning process will have a suf-
ficient ‘shrouding’ and oxide-reducing effect
to ensure that oxide formation on the surface
of the work does not occur. At about 800°C
dissociation of any silver oxide that is present
will occur. At this temperature the 66% silver
copper alloy will be part liquid, part solid,
and the liquid portion will begin to make the
joint. In addition, once the liquid phase of
the filler material begins to wet the silver par-
ent material it will dissolve some of it. The
inevitable result of this procedure will be that
as the filler material takes more and more sil-
ver into solution, the melting range of the
filler material will be progressively reduced,
and may even reach the eutectic point in the
silver-copper binary alloy system of 778°C.
Overall, the above effect will enhance
the flow characteristics of the molten filler
material that will tend to result in an accept-
able soundness of the brazed joint.
Theophilus also wrote about a suitable
method for the brazing of gold:
“Take the ashes of burnt beech wood
and make a lye (a strong solution) that
should be strained through the same ashes
so that the lye becomes thick. Place the lye
in a pot and cook it till its volume is re-
duced by two thirds, add a small amount
of soap (modicum smigmalis), add a little
fat from an old pig, and cook a little more.
Take the pot from the fire and allow the lye
to cool and repose, then strain it carefully
through a cloth and place it in a copper
vessel which is sound everywhere with the
exception of a small round hole at the top
that can be sealed with a finger. Then take
a piece of copper, moisten it with water,
and rub salt on the moistened surfaces (et
fricabis super eam salem ex utraque parte).
You then place it in the fire, and when it
has glowed, extinguish it in a clean basin
with pure water, and do so as before, then
again, until there be enough (of the burned
residues in the water). Then pour out the
water, dry the powder in a copper vessel,
and grind it in the same vessel with an iron
mallet until it becomes very fine. Place (the
vessel) over the live coals and again burn
it strongly, and grind it anew. Then pour
in the lye from the first vessel into (the one
which), which contains the ground pow-
der, and mix it, and boil it, for a long time.
When it has been allowed to cool, pour it
back, together with the powder, where it
was before. With this composition gold and
silver may be soldered (brazed). But in sol-
dering (brazing) gold the powder must be
stirred together as mentioned above, but
in soldering (brazing) silver it must not be
stirred”.
In the above situation the craftsman is
taking:
1. Potassium hydroxide – the ashes of
burnt beech wood
2. Soap – sodium stearate (carbonaceous
matter + sodium hydroxide)
3. Pig fat – organic matter
The effect of heating copper which had pre-
viously been coated with salt would make
a flux that would certainly be capable of
dissolving the copper oxide that will be pro-
duced during heating. Consequently, the
residue being washed into the collecting
vessel would be a complex salt comprising
sodium chloride, cuprous chloride and
copper oxide. On mixing these chemicals
with potassium hydroxide, sodium stearate
and the fat, and then heating the whole
mass a highly complex chemical reaction
would occur, and the probable end-product
would be a mixture of copper stearate, cop-
339
 REPORTS
Fig. 3 • Gold and copper form a continuous series of short melting range alloys. Note that at a com-
position of 80% gold - 20% copper there is a eutectic alloy with the single melting point of 910°C.
Such short melting-range alloys are ideal for use as brazing filler materials.
Fig. 4 • A gold bowl produced in Ur, Sumeria, about 4,500 years ago. The item formed part of the
treasure buried with Queen Pu–abi. Note particularly the presence of a small fillet of the filler mate-
rial at the point where the twisted wire handle is attached to the bowl. (Photographs: Courtesy of the
British Museum, London)
per hydroxide and cuprous chloride. Each
of these chemicals having an important
part to play in the subsequent brazing op-
eration.
Under the influence of heat the following
will occur:
a) Copper stearate will decompose to pro-
duce copper oxide and carbon
b) Copper hydroxide will decompose to
produce copper oxide
c) Cuprous chloride will provide a fluxing
action up to a temperature of about
500°C and then decompose to form
copper oxide
Clearly, is does not require a brazing expert
to realise that, in effect, if carbon and copper
oxide are heated together the result will be
the formation of carbon monoxide accord-
ing to the general formula:
CuO + C
Cu + CO 
340
Clearly, the copper produced in situ on
the work by this reaction will alloy with the
parent metal to produce a brazing filler ma-
terial. In the case of silver a silver-copper al-
loy will result, a gold-copper binary alloy
where gold is the substrate, and a gold-sil-
ver-copper ternary alloy if a gold-silver alloy
is the parent material.
It is perhaps interesting that it seems that
nobody in the modern era had attempted
to braze gold items using the techniques de-
scribed by Pliny and Theophilus. However,
as recently as 1933 an archaeological re-
search worker, H.A.P. Littledale [2] was
granted a British Patent that was based on
the historical methods described earlier in
this article for the brazing of gold.
In essence the patent describes a process
where cupric hydroxide is mixed with sec-
cotine glue. This mixture is then used as an
adhesive to attach, for example, ting gold
spheres to a gold alloy substrate. On placing
the assembly into a charcoal fire it is found
that the seccotine carbonises at about 600°C,
and when the cupric hydroxide breaks down
to produce copper oxide, the inevitable re-
duction of the copper oxide to metallic cop-
per takes place. The metallic copper diffuses
into the gold with which it is in contact and
brazes the spheres of gold to the substrate,
see Fig. 2.
This illustration is not an item produced
by Mr Littledale, but it does show the result
of decorative possibilities that exist when
gold spheres are brazed to a gold alloy sub-
strate. The item shown is currently in The
British Museum and is a 75% gold-silver pa-
pyrus message carrier made in Egypt in
about 1800 B.C.E. In this case the adhesive
would have been the gum of the acacia tree
rather than seccotine. However, perhaps a
matter of some significance to the develop-
ment of the decorative arts employed by
these early workers becomes clear when we
consider the metallurgy of the gold-copper
binary alloy system. The thermal equilibri-
um of this system is shown in Fig. 3 and this,
taken together with the procedure set out in
the patent granted to Mr Littledale, means
that when one follows the instructions the
possibility to undertake step-brazing reveals
itself! This, of course, means that the deco-
ration does not have to be made as a ‘one-
shot’ operation, but can be phased over a
number of successive processes. The expla-
nation of this is as follows.
In the situation where the parent mate-
rial is pure gold it is necessary to heat the
components to 910°C in order to be certain
that interdiffusion between gold and copper
will occur to produce an alloy of 80% gold –
20% silver, the eutectic composition of this
system. As can be seen in Fig. 3, when this
gold-copper eutectic alloy takes more gold
into solution its melting point increases.
Thus, if the temperature of the assembly is
held constant, say at 920°C, the molten alloy
will rapidly dissolve enough gold to take its
solidus temperature to 920°C. It then solid-
ifies, and no further flow of the alloy, or dis-
solution of gold, will take place. However,
solid state diffusion of between the copper
and the gold will tend to occur, this raising
the re-melt temperature of the solidified al-
loy that has already joined, for example, sev-
eral rows of pure gold spheres to the sub-
strate.
If the temperature is then raised to say
1,000°C, the alloy in the joint becomes
molten, takes more gold into solution and
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
Fig. 5 • The sequin (a), the sequin cross-section (b) and the brazed joint (c). An 85% gold – silver sequin made in Egypt about 3,340 years ago.
(Photographs Courtesy of the British Museum and Johnson Matthey Plc)

eventually achieves a composition that has

a solidus temperature of 1,000°C, and so
freezes once more.
Clearly, this technique can also be used
in reverse. The first joints would be made at
a temperature, say, of 1,020°C, the second
at 990°C, the third at 960°C, and so on, until
the lowest melting point of 910°C was em-
ployed. This procedure is known as ‘Step-
brazing’ and is commonly used in numerous
cases in modern brazing technology.
As we have seen, Egyptian craftsmen
working some 3,800 year ago might have
used this technique as a six-step operation
in order to produce the chevron decoration
shown in Fig. 2. There is absolutely no doubt
Fig. 6 • A gold ‘hollow-walled’ Sumerian goblet that was also found in the tomb of Queen Pu-abi.
that those Egyptians were certainly very
When found it was still filled with green eye-paint, proving that the eye-shadow used by ladies today
skilled brazing operators.
is not a recently developed cosmetic, but is one that was certainly used more than 4,500 year ago.
In the remaining portion of this article (Photographs Courtesy of the British Museum)
we will take a look at some brazed assem-
blies that have been found during archaeo-
logical investigations in various parts of the Table 1 • Composition
Part % Gold % Silver % Copper Liquidus °C Solidus °C
Middle East during the past 150 years or so. and melting points of
Head 86.4 ± 1.0 13.4 ± 0.9 1.3 ± 0.2 1,050 1,020
the alloys of the
An example of this can be seen in Fig. 4. Shank 71.4 ± 0.2 26.1 ± 0.2 2.5 ± 0.1 1,030 980
Egyptian sequin shown
Brazed joint 66.7 ± 0.6 28.0 ± 0.6 5.3 ± 0.2 1,010 920 in Figs. 5 (a) to (c).
An investigation of an Egyptian
brazed joint
Let us now return to a conventional brazing technology department of Johnson Matthey Research Laboratory [3], and the
brazing process using the application of a Matthey plc, and prompted by the presence other remains in the authors’ possession.
filler material during the assembly stage of of the Tutankhamun exhibition that had The object had come from the area of
the operation. been mounted some months earlier by The Thebes in Egypt and dated to about 1,328
Very few metallurgical investigations British Museum) contacted their Depart- B.C.E. The overall diameter of the sequin
have been made of brazed joints from the ment of Egyptian Antiquities, and was able head shown in Fig. 5(a) is about 4 mm, and
early civilisations, since it is usually out of to visit their offices for some discussions the U-shaped shank, see Fig. 5(b), about 3
the question to examine valuable museum with some of their team of archaeologists mm high. Both of these items were fabricat-
pieces, particularly if to pursue matters to a concerning ancient Egyptian metal-joining ed from a gold-based alloy strip 0.3 mm
conclusion requires samples to be taken, technology. Several weeks after these dis- thick, the starting composition of this alloy
mounted in bakelite, polished, and then cussions had taken place, the Museum sent probably being 85% gold – 15% silver. As can
subjected to a metallographic examination. the author two small sequins, see Figures be seen in Figs. 5(b) and (c), the ends of the
However, in late 1972 the author (who was 5(a), (b) and (c). One was subjected to a full U-shaped shank have been butt-brazed to
then working as a ‘trouble shooter’ in the metallurgical analysis by the Johnson the inside surface of the head.

Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6 341

 REPORTS
One of the more interesting features of
these pictures is the size of the fillet at the
base of the left-hand foot of the shank. The
greatly magnified view of this joint in Fig.
5(c) shows that the fillet contains a rather
large amount of porosity.
The shank of the sequin was a little
lighter in colour than the head, and a lighter
coloured layer was also visible over parts of
the inner surface of the head close to the
points of attachment of the shank to the
head where filler material has flowed around
the base of the joints.
Electron probe micro-analysis was car-
ried out on the head, the shank, and the joint
area, and the results are given in Table 1
(with a standard deviation where multiple
analyses were performed to give some idea
of homogeneity), together with the solidus
and liquidus temperatures of the compo-
nents being tested.
The braze fillet not only contains more
copper than either the head or the shank,
but also slightly more silver. However, it is,
of course, likely that the joint has become
enriched with gold to some extent from the
components being brazed, so it would be
reasonable to assume that a rather lower
melting range for the brazing alloy is more
likely than that shown in the table. However
Now
available!
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T +49. (0)2 11. 15 91-162 • F +49. (0)2 11. 15 91-250 • vertrieb@dvs-hg.de • www.dvs-media.eu
342
this would not be likely to be lower than
850°C for the solidus and 950°C for the liq-
uidus, the latter temperature being only 30°C
below the solidus temperature of the shank!
It is abundantly clear that from these re-
sults, plus the fact that it is known that about
15,000 sequins were required to decorate a
cloak, that a very high degree of temperature
control would have been a mandatory re-
quirement to make the joints without melting
the assembly. The fact that they achieved suc-
cessful brazing is confirmed by the presence
of the parts on a cloak, and Figs. 5(a) to (c).
The modern skilled metal workers would find
it very difficult to make these parts without
the aid of some form of a highly sophisticated
brazing system … we would do well to marvel
at the expertise of the Egyptian brazing op-
erators who, if the tomb paintings are to be
believed, were working with only a charcoal
fire and a hand-held mouth blow-pipe!
The majority of the illustrations in this
article are of Egyptian artefacts, however, as
mentioned briefly in Part 1, brazing was ini-
tially developed in Sumeria, and so the final
example of a brazed assembly in this article
is a gold goblet excavated in the late 19th cen-
tury from the Royal Cemetery in Ur, Fig. 6.
The goblet is also on display in the British
Museum.
DVS Technical Bulletins on Thermal Spraying
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This goblet, made about 4,500 years ago,
is quite remarkable since it has hollow walls.
As shown in the sketch accompanying the
photograph, there is a mechanical joint at
the top and a brazed joint at the bottom of
the object. The item is fabricated from a 75%
gold-silver alloy (known as electrum) and
was found in the tomb of Queen Pu-abi.
When it was discovered it was still filled with
a green pigment, this being believed to be a
fore-runner of modern cosmetic eye-shad-
ow!
P. M. Roberts, Delphi Brazing Consultants,
Congleton, Cheshire/UK
Literature
[1] Maryon, H.: The technical methods of the
Irish Smiths in the Bronze and Early Iron
Ages. Proc. Royal Irish Academy, 1938, XLIV,
c, (3) pp. 181/225.
[2] Littledale, H.A.P.: British Patent Number
415181 (1933).
[3] The author extends his thanks to the co-op-
eration provided by the Johnson Matthey
Research Laboratory in the metallurgical ex-
amination of the gold sequin during the
1960’s.
N.B. This two-part article series is based
upon a number of presentations and Tech-
nical Papers prepared by the author in the
period 1970 to 1975.
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Guidance for technical personnel
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Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
 N EWS
THE NEWSLETTER OF THE WELDING INSTITUTE
Editorial
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sparks?
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The Welding Institute provides a themed Annual Conference
within a programme of seminars from the eight Technical Groups,
to ensure that all those with interest in the focus groups have mul-
tiple opportunities to attend events of relevance to them through-
out the year and at a variety of venues. For those who do not have
the benefit of attending meetings and seminars, there is regular
delivery of webinars that can be viewed live via the internet, often
with interactive question and answer sessions, and viewed later
as recordings. This technical CPD programme is supplemented by
the combination of technical and social events delivered through
the extensive Branch network.
The flagship activity of The Welding Institute’s educational out-
reach programme is the ‘Welding with Chocolate’ experiment. En-
joying enormous success in the Big Bang engineering careers fairs
between 2009 and 2014, including exposure on television news
coverage of the events, The Welding Institute has decided to
broaden access to this fabulously simple but immensely informa-
tive experiment through a larger number of smaller and more
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
November
December
2015
widely spread events, and making resources available to schools,
colleges and other STEM activity providers. Some educational out-
reach activities cannot be taken on the road, and The Welding In-
stitute continues to host an increasing number of visits into TWI
from schools, colleges and universities. Whether at TWI or else-
where, whether delivered directly or by our talented and enthu-
siastic volunteers, the rewarding response of our outreach
recipients is most often, “wow”, “cool”, “awesome”.
The stars in our universe of welding are undoubtedly the young
welders from part-time, full-time and apprenticeship programmes
who demonstrate their skills under the spotlight of welding com-
petitions. Our flagship event here is SkillWeld, the national welder
competition that identifies the top ten young welders in the UK
each year and feeds into the WorldSkills international events. Ap-
plying the four main welding processes (MMA, MAG, MIG and
TIG) to carbon steel, stainless steel and aluminium fabrications,
including a pressure vessel, SkillWeld combines high level weld-
ing challenges with industrial relevance. As SkillWeld is exclusive,
in that its combination of processes and materials is not readily
accessible for all welding trainees, The Welding Institute supports
other types of welding and materials joining skills competitions.
The Association for Welding and Fabrication Training and Educa-
tion (AWFTE), which is an association within The Welding Insti-
tute, delivers the Construction Metalwork competition that
focuses on metal fabrication, and The Welding Institute has also
supports other competition series, including hosting the 2015 EWF
WeldCup European Young Welder Competition. We are currently
working to reinvigorate the National Sheet Metalwork competi-
tion and to reintroduce a materials joining competition for the
HVAC sector.
As the 2015 UK National Skills Competition Finals closed on Sat-
urday 21 November, I am delighted to be able to congratulate all
of the competitors and especially the following:
SkillWeld 2015:
Gold Medal – Jamie Lee Robinson from Lakes
College, West Cumbria.
Silver Medal – Conor Alexander from Lakes Col-
lege, West Cumbria.
Bronze Medal – Kane Foulkes from Alstom Power.
Highly Commended – Thomas Earle from Doosan Bab-
cock.
- James Elliott from Alstom Power.
- Jonathan Rowell from Lakes Col-
lege, West Cumbria.
Construction Metalwork 2015:
Gold Medal - Thomas Woodburn from WEC
Group Ltd.
Silver Medal - Bradley Clare from Grimsby Insti-
tute of Further and Higher Educa-
tion.
343
 THE WELDING INSTITUTE NEWS

Bronze Medal - Christopher Taylor from Training
2000 Limited.
Highly Commended - Macaulay Reavil from Grimsby
College of Further and Higher Ed-
ucation.
- Ryan Smith from WEC Group Ltd.
Sheet Metalwork Technology:
Gold Medal – Advanced; Thomas French from
KMF (Precision Sheet Metal) Lim-
ited.
- Higher; Adam Griffiths from
Coleg Cambria, Wales.
Silver Medal - Advanced; Ashley Degg from KMF
(Precision Sheet Metal) Limited.
- Higher; Joshua McCabe from City
College Plymouth.
Bronze Medal - Advanced; Matthew Hughes from
Coleg Cambria, Wales.
- Higher; Cameron Mia from City of
Wolverhampton College.
Highly Commended - Advanced; Nicholas Roberts from
Coleg Cambria, Wales.
- Advanced; Benjamin Swingewood
from KMF (precision Sheet Metal)
Limited.
Eur Ing Chris Eady BSc(Hons) MSc CEng MRAeS FWeldI
Associate Director Professional Affairs
The Welding Institute

Standards News September–October 2015

New/revised standards
AWS A5.35/A5.35M:2015 Specification for covered electrodes for underwater wet shielded metal arc welding, Welding Journal,
vol.94, no.9. Sept.2015. p.71
AWS B2.1-1/8-231:2015 Standard welding procedure specification (SWPS) for gas tungsten arc welding with consumable insert
root followed by shielded metal arc welding of carbon steel (M-1/P-1, groups 1 or 2) to austenitic stainless
steel (M-8/P-8, group 1), 1/8 inch [3 mm] through 1.5 inch [38 mm] thick, IN309, ER309 and E309-15, -16
or -17, or IN309, E309(L) and E309(L)-15, -16, or -17, in the as-welded condition, primarily pipe applica-
tions, Welding Journal, vol.94, no.9. Sept.2015. p.71
AWS C1.5:2015 Specification for the qualification of resistance welding technicians, Welding Journal, vol.94, no.9.
Sept.2015. p.71
AWS D1.1:2015 Structural welding code - steel, Welding Journal, vol.94, no.10. Oct.2015. p.173.
AWS D18.3/D18.3M:2015 Specification for welding tanks, vessels and other equipment in sanitary (hygienic) applications, Welding
Journal, vol.94, no.9. Sept.2015. p.71
BS EN 10359:2015 Laser welded tailored blanks. Technical delivery conditions, [BSI] Update Standards. Sept.2015. p.11.
BS EN 62135-1:2015 Resistance welding equipment. Safety requirements for design, manufacture and installation. (Supersedes
2008 edition), [BSI] Update Standards. Sept.2015. p.14.
BS EN ISO 11151-1:2015 Lasers and laser-related equipment. Standard optical components. Components for the UV, visible and
near-infrared spectral ranges. (Supersedes 2000 edition), [BSI] Update Standards. Sept.2015. p.11.
BS EN ISO 11151-2:2015 Lasers and laser-related equipment. Standard optical components. Components for the infrared spectral
range. (Superseded by 2000 edition), [BSI] Update Standards. Sept.2015. p.11.
BS EN ISO 11611:2015 Protective clothing for use in welding and allied processes. (Supersedes 2007 edition), [BSI] Update Stan-
dards. Sept.2015. p.11.
BS EN ISO 17634:2015 Welding consumables. Tubular cored electrodes for gas shielded metal arc welding of creep-resisting
steels. Classification (Supersedes 2006 edition), [BSI] Update Standards. Sept.2015. p.50.
BS ISO 17533:2015 Welding for aerospace applications. Welding information in design documents, [BSI] Update Standards.
Sept.2015. p.16.
ISO 6848:2015 Arc welding and cutting. Nonconsumable tungsten electrodes. Classification. (Will become an identical
British Standard), [BSI] Update Standards. Oct.2015. p.53.
ISO 9934-1:2015 Non-destructive testing. Magnetic particle testing. General principles. (Will become an identical British
Standard), [BSI] Update Standards. Oct.2015. p.53.
ISO 9934-2:2015 Non-destructive testing. Magnetic particle testing. Detection media. (Will become an identical British Stan-
dard), [BSI] Update Standards. Oct.2015. p.53.
ISO 9934-3:2015 Non-destructive testing. Magnetic particle testing. Equipment. (Will become an identical British Standard),
[BSI] Update Standards. Oct.2015. p.53.
ISO 15156-1:2015 Petroleum and natural gas industries. Materials for use in H2S-containing environments in oil and gas
production. General principles for selection of cracking-resistant materials. (Will become an identical
British Standard), [BSI] Update Standards. Oct.2015. p.54.
ISO 15156-2:2015 Petroleum and natural gas industries. Materials for use in H2S-containing environments in oil and gas
production. Cracking-resistant carbon and low-alloy steels, and the use of cast irons. (Will become an
identical British Standard), [BSI] Update Standards. Oct.2015. p.54.
ISO 15156-3:2015 Petroleum and natural gas industries. Materials for use in H2S-containing environments in oil and gas
production. Cracking-resistant CRAs (corrosion-resistant alloys) and other alloys. (Will become an identi-
cal British Standard), [BSI] Update Standards. Oct.2015. p.54.
PD CEN/TR 13445-101:2015 Unfired pressure vessels. Example of application, [BSI] Update Standards. Oct.2015. p.19.
PD CEN/TR 16862:2015 Plastics welding supervisor. Task, responsibilities, knowledge, skills and competence, [BSI] Update Stan-
dards. Sept.2015. p.17.

344 Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6

 THE WELDING INSTITUTE NEWS

Romania strikes gold in WeldCup2015

The EWF European Young Welder Com-

petition encouraged teams from across
Europe and from China to showcase
their excellent skills. Runner-up in Weld-
Cup2015 was Germany, and the United
Kingdom team were awarded the Bronze
Medal

WeldCup is an increasingly popular weld-

ing skills competition for young welders
from across Europe. The competition al-
lows competitors, many of whom are still
undergoing training, to showcase their
skills and meet other welders from across
Europe and, in this second edition, even
further afield.
WeldCup is aimed at fostering interest in
the welding profession while promoting
the career opportunities that exist in the
industry, as well as recognising welding
excellence amongst competing young
welders. The competition took place at
The Welding Institute, at Granta Park,
near Cambridge, and was jointly organ-
ized by TWI and EWF, the European
Federation for Welding, Joining and Cut-
ting. The industrial sponsors were Lin-
coln Electric UK and Air Products.
Participating teams of three young
welders who had won their national se-
lections competed for WeldCup2015,
with the teams coming from six Euro-
pean countries – Germany, United King-
dom, Austria, Belgium, Hungary and Romania – as well as one The competition
guest team from China. By participating in this competition, The competition featured seven teams, each required to produce a
young welders enjoyed a unique opportunity to exchange best single test object using a combination of industrially relevant weld-
practices and compare their welding skills against their peers ing processes to weld plate and pipe in both carbon and stainless
from across Europe. steel. The quality of the welding and the accuracy of the finished
The WeldCup European Young Welder Competition made a posi- fabrication were assessed and marked by judges from the partici-
tive statement about the quality of the welding profession and its pating countries.
relevance to the growth of the region. In congratulating the win- The competition was staged in the following four welding
ning team from Romania, Eur Ing Chris Eady, Associate Director processes:
for Professional Affairs and Certification at TWI, said, ‘I am de- 1. Manual metal arc welding (111)
lighted with the competition. The quality of welding has been very 2. Metal active gas welding (135)
high, and the competitors have enjoyed the event. WeldCup2015 3. Tungsten inert gas welding (141)
has clearly shown that welding is a winner. Whether by weight or 4. Fluxed cored arc welding (136)
by volume, the largest part of en- The final results gave first prize to the team of Romania, with Ger-
gineering production is through many taking second place and the United Kingdom third.
manual welding of steel, and the
excellent level of welding compe- Now that WeldCup 2015 is finished, it is time to start preparing for
tence shown by all the competi- WeldCup 2017 in Germany.
tors gives high confidence for the
future of manufacturing and fab- For more information visit www.ewf.be/weldcup/.
rication in Europe.’

Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6 345

 THE WELDING INSTITUTE NEWS
Joining Challenges in Electronics and Packaging of
Electronics: a joint lecture by The London Materials
Society and TWI
Norman Stockham, 10 September 2015
TWI’s Electronics, Photonics and Sen-
sors Sector Manager, Norman Stock-
ham, emphasised the importance of
miniaturisation of electronic devices as
the key driver for the development of
many of today’s commercial products.
In his joint LMS/TWI lecture on 10 Sep-
tember 2015 he said that materials and
joining technology advances had been
fundamental to the effective use of
these devices. ”For example, there are
at least 5000 joints in a mobile phone; if one of these joints fail you
lose your phone.” Great precision is required in order to achieve
100% success of all the welds in increasingly small devices. An ex-
ample of a space-saving technique is flip chip assembly which al-
lows electrical connections on the chip and the substrate to be laid
out in an array rather than around the periphery.
The need for miniaturisation is accompanied by other drivers for
developments, such as higher power, harsher environments and
cost reduction. For example, the electronics for controlling jet en-
gines in the aerospace industry need to be able to resist tempera-
tures of 200–400°C.
With the greater de-
mand for electronics
in biomedical appli-
cations, a reliable in-
terface between the
physiology and the
device is required so
that one does not ad-
versely affect the
other. The integrity
of the packaging will
protect the implanted device from damage as a result of moisture
or biological processes, and will also protect the body from adverse
reactions to materials and joints used in the device. This has impli-
cations in everything from endoscopes to the recently reported reti-
nal implant system pioneered by surgeons in Manchester.
This exciting lecture ended with movies of some of TWI’s pioneer-
ing manufacturing techniques which include Surfi-Sculpt technol-
ogy. We watched pulsing light from an electron beam create a
surface that is unique to the technology with advantages such as
improved thermal management.
These kinds of space- and time-saving techniques promise to con-
tinue to ensure the further enhancement and exploitation of electron-
ically controlled systems, providing technological and social benefits.
Dr Michelle Korda
346
Eastern Counties Branch Report
‘Molybdenum – By Any Other Name’
Presentation by Eur Ing C.E.D. Rowe, BSc, CEng,
CSci, FIMMM, FWeldI
16 September 2015
Uses of Molybdenum by Sector
Prior to his presentation, David Rowe ran a continuous slide loop
of over 220 different recorded spellings for molybdenum. To begin
his main presentation, David showed the periodic table indicating
the position of molybdenum in the refractory metals group, and its
neighbour technetium. He then outlined the history of the metal
and where it comes from, with details of world mine production
and reserves of molybdenite ore from 2009 to 2014 (latest figures
available).
Molybdenum is obtained as a by-product of copper mining as well
as being mined as molybdenite ore by open-cast or deep mining
techniques. Because of the processing cost differentials, the cheaper
method of copper by-product is preferred, as the ore has already
been ground to fine powder for the copper extraction. Deep-mined
material is mainly produced when demand for molybdenum is
high. The production process from ore to metal powder was then
described, followed by consolidation processes via powder metal-
lurgical and arc-casting routes.
The majority of molybdenum produced, over 83%, is used in ferrous
alloy production including stainless steels and super alloys, as in-
dicated in the diagram above, with only 5% being used as molyb-
denum metal or alloy.
The three types of molybdenum alloys commercially available – car-
bide-strengthened, substitutional and dispersed phase – were dis-
cussed. After outlining some properties of molybdenum he gave an
illustrated description of the many uses of the material, as pure or
alloyed, in applications including nuclear, glass, chemical, furnace,
automotive, electronic (including mass spectrometers and thyris-
tors, especially those used in high-voltage DC power transmission),
lighting, LED (light emitting diode), solar panel and metal die cast-
ing – especially aluminium zinc and stainless steel. It is also used
in fertilisers for brassicas, the disulphide in lubricants and pigments
for paints, inks, plastics and rubber. The di-silicide is used for heat-
ing elements operating >1500°C in air.
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
 THE WELDING INSTITUTE NEWS

Molybdenum is also an essential trace element in human diet, aid-
ing food metabolism and also having an inhibiting effect on certain
types of cancers. David then continued discussing welding and
brazing techniques for the material. Finally, the production of the
isotope of molybdenum Mo-99 and its decay product Technetium
99 (Tc-99m), which has a half-life of only six hours, and its use in
medical diagnosis as an injectable gamma-ray source, was dis-
cussed. After answering a number of questions from the enthusi-
astic audience David stated that a PDF text version of the presen-
tation was available for those interested by contacting him at
david.rowe@cedarmetals.co.uk.
Lois Appleyard BA Hons MA AWeldI MInstLM MCMI
Professional Membership and Accreditation Manager,
The Welding Institute

New members (16 July 2015 – 15 September 2015)

Member No Name Member Grade EngC Registration Branch Prev. Member Grade

598470 BRISAC, Gaspard Member CEng N/SCT

503934 DIXON Keith Member CEng ECS Member
687764 SONI, Sunny Member IEng UNOS
686883 CALUEAN, Cosmin Member IEng SCS
686472 ELGENDY, Rabeh Member IEng UNOS
592162 DIRISU Philip T Member IEng UNOS
661222 PICKEN, Callum Member IEng SWN Member/Interim IEng
630816 O'MALLEY Patrick Member IEng NEW
686886 PEDRAM RAD, Seyed K Member Interim CEng ECS
670492 PROCTOR, Ryan Member Interim IEng ECS Associate
626657 ZEAIR, Mahmoud Member UNOS
683754 IRONS Richard Member NWN
509404 TOMLINSON Stephen Member NUA Technician
503023 ALLEN Roy Member NUA
671567 SUNDARAM Kannan Member LON

609556 DOMONEY Ian Technician EngTech UNOS

673818 OAKLEY Ross Technician EngTech WM
636298 RICHARD, Thomas Technician EngTech LON
596744 SIWACH, Sachin Technician EngTech UNOS
507806 MILLER, John Technician EngTech TEE
606337 McAULEY, Brendan Technician EngTech N.IRL Associate (Reg)
519578 FLEMING, William Oliver Technician EngTech H&I
576800 BEER, Mark Colin Technician EngTech SWA
514186 DE FREITAS, Miguel Jose Abreu Technician EngTech WM
586803 FISHER, Edwin Thomas Technician EngTech TEE Associate (Reg)
534065 MOHALLY, Ken Technician EngTech UNOS
553833 BUCHANAN, Jason Scott Technician EngTech UNOS
558983 ISMAIL, MD Technician EngTech UNOS
601771 ISLAM, Amjadul Technician EngTech UNOS
628373 MEZHUBOVSKI, Dmitry Technician EngTech UNOS Associate (Reg)
602865 MULVIHILL, Jack Technician EngTech UNOS
582381 MUHAMMAD, Sarwar Technician EngTech UNOS
656974 HUGHES, Gerald Technician EngTech UNOS
683739 ROWLEY, Mark Technician EngTech SCS
683634 BUTLER, Boyd Technician EngTech UNOS
555952 JULDEFI, Juldefi Technician EngTech UNOS
647946 OIANG, Pan Long Technician EngTech UNOS
684821 ZIETSMAN, Salomon Technician EngTech UNOS
644239 HEARN, Luke Technician EngTech UNOS
565412 JOSEPH, Jude Technician EngTech UNOS
666185 HALL, Duncan Technician EngTech NWE
642816 RANGASWAMY, Sivataman Technician EngTech UNOS
510721 SETTY, Venkateswarao Selagam Technician EngTech UNOS
639685 ENECHUKWU, Chinedu Technician EngTech UNOS
587680 KRISHNAN, Manikandan Radha Technician EngTech UNOS
618173 IGUWE, Christian Chidiebere Technician EngTech UNOS
619316 McGARRY, Brendon Technician EngTech LV
630635 VAN DEN BERG, Olaf Bastiaan Technician EngTech UNOS
534144 CHONG, Hon Kean Technician EngTech UNOS

Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6 347

 THE WELDING INSTITUTE NEWS

MI-21 Consumables New Data July–September 2015

Standards
BS EN ISO 17634:2015
JIS Z 3202:1999 (2007)
JIS Z 3223:2010
JIS Z 3225:1999 (2007)
JIS Z 3231:1999 (2007)
JIS Z 3251:2000 (2006)
JIS Z 3282:2006
JIS Z 3283:2006
JIS Z 3312:2009
JIS Z 3313:2009
JIS Z 3319:1999 (2007)
JIS Z 3323:2007
JIS Z 3324:2010
JIS Z 3332:1999 (2007)
JIS Z 3333:1999 (2007)
JIS Z 3341:1999 (2007)
Welding consumables. Tubular cored electrodes for gas
shielded metal arc welding of creep-resisting steels. Classification
Copper and copper alloy gas welding rods (+ Amendment 1: 2007)
Covered electrodes for molybdenum steel and chromium Molybdenum steel
Covered electrodes for 9% nickel steel (+ Amendment 1: 2007)
Copper and copper alloy covered electrodes (+ Amendment 1:2007)
Covered electrodes for hardfacing (+ Amendment 1:2006)
Soft solders. Chemical compositions and forms
Resin flux cored solders
Solid wires for MAG and MIG welding of mild steel, high strength steel and low temperature service steel
Flux cored wires for gas shielded and self-shielded metal arc welding of mild steel, high strength steel
and low temperature service steel
Flux cored wires for electrogas arc welding (+ Amendment 1: 2007)
Stainless steel flux cored wires and rods for arc welding
Classification and testing methods for deposited metal of stainless steel by submerged arc welding
Filler rods and solid wires for TIG welding of 9% nickel steel (+ Amendment 1:2007)
Submerged arc welding solid wires and fluxes for 9% nickel steel (+ Amendment 1:2007)
Copper and copper alloy rods and solid wires for inert gas shielded arc welding (+ Amendment 1:2007)

Trade Products:
EWM Hightec Welding
Lincoln Electric Company
Murex Welding Processes Ltd
Oerlikon Welding Ltd
Handbook: Welding Consumables (2014)
SuperGlaze HD 5183, HD 5356, HD 5356 TM, HD 5556 UltraCore HD Marine (2015)
Electrode Guide for Metal-Arc Welding (1965)
Selection of 1980 products

deliver significant benefit and enable progress. From commencing

Deceased members From September 2015
work with The Welding Institute in 1964 to the very end of his career,
Name Number Grade Joined Branch David was an energetic and committed supporter of the profession,
and contributed selflessly to Institute committees, activities and
Douglas Heath 505155 Senior 1956 West Midlands events, across development of technology and engineering solutions,
Member through delivery of guidance and standards, and in governance of
Frank Moat 504532 Member 1982 Northumbria
professional registration and certification. In recognition of his
(Senior
Associate) achievements, David received The Welding Institute Distinguished
Sydney Joseph 505421 Fellow 1949 West Midlands Service Award in 2005, and the International Institute of Welding
Henry Boys Thomas Medal in 2007 and Arthur Smith Award in 2013. Many of
us have been fortunate enough to hear David say, “I’m going to give
you the benefit of my experience”, and to recognise from his soft
Eur Ing Dr David Newton Shackleton PhD CEng voice and knowing smile that his reflection on past events was not
FWeldI (20 March 1937 to 22 November 2015) only well meant but accurately targeted and embedded with the in-
David Shackleton was a highly experienced, extremely knowledge- formation and encouragement we would need to face the challenges
able and passionately enthusiastic engineer. More than that, David ahead. The universe of welding has been dimmed by the loss of
was a loyal friend to many and a caring advisor to many more. David Shackleton and, from the many messages already received in
David’s detailed understanding of metallurgy, which was formu- the day following the news of his passing, he will be sorely missed
lated in his Honours degree from the University of Sheffield and and fondly remembered by all who knew him.
PhD from the University of Leeds, and his focus on quality manage- This was purely a brief announcement of the loss of David, a full
ment, underpinned his outstanding problem-solving abilities across obituary will be published in the near future.
his 51-year career. David published some 70 papers and contributed
to numerous standards committees and activities at national, Euro- Eur Ing Chris Eady BSc(Hons) MSc CEng MRAeS FWeldI
pean and international levels, committing to these activities to bring Associate Director Professional Affairs
his extensive experience and quietly persuasive manner into play to The Welding Institute

348 Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6

 DVS-TV goes international

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English-language news programme and more from
the world of welding, cutting and coating technology.

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Web TV for welding, cutting and coating technology

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SPECIALIST ARTICLES

Metallurgy and strength behaviour of coats

surface-welded with pulsed Nd:YAG lasers and
welding fillers in wire form
Repair welding on cost-intensive assemblies, such as turbine components THE AUTHORS
or tool moulds, makes it possible to restore their good working order. This
Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Jan Neubert, born in 1972,
extends the service lives of assemblies and thus makes a new purchase su-
studied Mechanical Engineering/Operating
perfluous. To an increasing extent, the surface welding necessary for this
Materials Design at the Berlin University of
purpose is being carried out with the laser beam procedure. This article
Applied Sciences for Engineering and Eco-
deals with the investigations not only into the manufacture of coats which
nomics (FHTW). After ending his studies with
were surface-welded on substrates made of the X20Cr13 material using
a dissertation in 1998 he subsequently
pulsed Nd:YAG lasers and welding fillers in wire form but also into the de-
worked as a Research Engineer at SLV Halle
termination of their properties.
GmbH. In 2000, he concluded his training to
become an International Welding Engineer.
1 Introduction
Since 2002, he has managed the Beam Weld-
With a rising interest in resource-conserving and cost-
ing Division in the Research and Develop-
favourable possibilities of extending the service lives of
ment Department at SLV Halle GmbH.
assemblies, interest has increasingly centred on refined
laser beam surface welding in recent years. For example,
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Steffen Keitel, born in 1958,
a laser beam and a filler material can be used in order to
studied at the Magdeburg University of Tech-
rectify manufacturing mistakes and to manufacture, repair
nology from 1980 to 1985, with Fabrication
and regenerate assemblies which are worn or must even
Engineering as his specialised field at the
be recoated. With conventional welding procedures, these
Central Institute for Welding Technology of
tasks can be performed to a limited extent only or with a
the GDR (ZIS Halle). He obtained his Dr.-Ing.
great scope of work. Not only especially in sectors with
title in 1988 and qualified as a Welding Engi-
high values added such as energy generation, toolmaking
neer in 1992. He was appointed as the Head
and mouldmaking but also in the transport industry, enor-
of the Materials Testing and Beam Technol-
mous material and cost savings have already been regis-
ogy Department in 1992 and, later on, also
tered due to laser beam surface welding [1].
as the Research and Development Manager
In the meantime, particularly the pulsed Nd:YAG
at SLV Halle GmbH. He was commissioned as
lasers are more cost-favourable to purchase than other
the sole Managing Director of SLV Halle
laser beam sources in materials processing and, in the
GmbH in 1996 until today. In 2009, he was
medium power range up to 300 W, are characterised by
nominated as an Honorary Professor for
compact construction shapes with mobility and flexibility.
Beam Technologies at the Faculty for Me-
Their application can be found in small and medium-
chanical Engineering at the Chemnitz Univer-
sized enterprises which manufacture repair welds of all
sity of Technology.
kinds with the laser beam procedure.
The essential advantage of the pulsed Nd:YAG laser is
the pulse-like energy output which can be used in order
to exert targeted influences on the heat input into the as- 2 Motivation and objective
sembly. Modern laser beam sources allow not only a rec- Due to their increased heat input, conventional re-
tangular pulse but also the individual shaping of the pulse. pair welding procedures, such as TIG surface welding,
In the case of so-called thermal pulse shaping, the pulse may lead to damage to the base material (BM) or to the
course can be adapted to the temperature-dependent ab- distortion of the assembly. This can only be counter-
sorption behaviour of the material in question and the acted by complicated preparation and subsequent pro-
controlled pulse phases serve to preheat and cool the ma- cessing. For this reason, surface welds are increasingly
terial in defined ways. The metallurgical benefit obtained being executed with the laser beam procedure. In this
from the pulse shaping lies in the improvement in the respect, the high energy densities and the specific ad-
welding technology processing of materials with only justment of the process variables permit a reduction in
moderate weldabilities. Particularly the preheating and the heat input. Time-intensive and cost-intensive pro-
cooling phases in the pulse course contribute to this since cessing steps before and after the welding can be re-
they reduce that temperature gradient during the liquid- duced in this way. However, due to new materials and
to-solid phase transition which is responsible for the so- more stringent requirements on the assemblies, the pro-
lidification process and thus lower, for example, the danger cedure must always be adjusted in order to guarantee a
of hardening cracks in steels with high carbon contents constantly high quality of the surface coats. However,
[2]. the procedure cannot be checked on cost-intensive as-

350 Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6

semblies since non-destructive tests can be performed
here to a restricted extent only and no destructive tests
are feasible. This results in the need for systematic in-
vestigations for repair welding with the laser beam. The
aim of these investigations was to improve the know-
ledge about the strength behaviour and metallurgy of
the coats surface-welded on the X20Cr13 base material
(substrate) with pulsed Nd:YAG lasers and filler mate-
rials in wire form.
3 Test setup and execution
Surface welding was carried out with Nd:YAG lasers
from Alpha Laser. The pulsed laser of the AL 200 type used
in Test Phase I has a mean output power of 200 W while
an AL 300 with an output power of 300 W and a maximum
pulse frequency of 100 Hz was utilised in Test Phase II. In
order to perform the tests, the specimens were locked in
a clamping jig which was mounted on the working table.
The working table can travel along the X, Y and Z axes
manually using a joystick, semi-automatically at prese-
lected axial speeds or in automatic operation. For surface
welding, the semi-automatic operation provided a defined
welding speed and permitted the manual stipulation of
the weld arrangement. The filler material which was avail-
able in wire form, had a diameter of 0.4 mm and was re-
quired for the surface coats was mechanically supplied
to the welding process at a constant feed speed using a
wire feed device.
3.1 Test Phase I: 200 W laser
For an optimum comparison between the individual
test series, the parameters were stipulated on the basis
of identical mean laser beam powers which were chosen
between 100 W and 200 W. The variation of the pulse
voltage and duration as well as of the pulse frequency
resulted in the pulse energy for the systematic investi-
gations in the individual test series.
The selection of the filler materials was oriented to
the stress type in question and to the utilisation fields
of the base materials. For example, the surface coats
were intended to exhibit the same mechanical-techno-
logical and chemical properties as the substrate, e.g.
corrosion resistance or high strength values.
In the test execution, the martensitic X20Cr13
chromium steel (material number: 1.4021) was investi-
gated as the substrate. The three-layer surface coats
were produced with an X8CrNi13-1 (1.4018) chromium
steel with a composition identical to that of the substrate
and with a dissimilar NiCr21Mo9Nb (2.4831) filler ma-
terial. The regular rectangular pulse was chosen as the
pulse shape. The specimens manufactured in this way
in both test series were investigated metallographically
with macrosections/microsections and by means of mi-
crohardness testing as well as using a scanning electron
microscope in order to establish any differences or ir-
regularities depending on the laser parameters or filler
materials used for the welding.
In the first test series of the martensitic chromium
steel, irregularities in the surface coats mainly arose in
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
Fig. 1• Microsec-
tions through the
surface welds
with the dissimi-
lar 2.4831 filler
material and the
identical 1.4018
filler material.
Table 1 • Hardness traverses of identical and dissimilar filler
materials with the same parameter set (186 W, 9 ms and 16 Hz).
the form of pores and lack of fusion. These could be
avoided altogether by making corresponding parameter
adjustments in the further course of the test series. Par-
ticularly during the welding at the pulse energies over
12 J and the pulse frequencies over 12 Hz, the surface
coats did not exhibit any process-induced irregularities
for either of the filler materials.
Microsections were prepared for the investigation
into the influence of the filler material on the formation
of the joint with the substrate. The results are portrayed
on Fig. 1. Primarily for pulse energies under 13 J, the
established hardness traverses exhibited the lowest
hardness increase in the heat-affected zone (HAZ). The
dissimilar filler material reached the same hardnesses
in the weld metal (WM) as those of the substrate and
was able to achieve a lower hardness increase in the
HAZ than the identical filler material, Table 1.
The multilayer surface welds were investigated with
a scanning electron microscope and were considered
in greater detail with regard to the effects of the laser
parameters on the chemical compositions. The chemical
compositions of the base material, the filler materials
and the respective weld metals of the produced speci-
mens were established in the energy-dispersive X-ray
(EDX) analysis. The alloy proportions in the surface
coats were determined over a circular investigation cross
section of 100 μm. Fig. 2 illustrates the investigation re-
gions and shows the results of the EDX analysis of an
identical surface weld depending on the pulse energy
and duration as well as on the pulse frequency.
In spite of varying parameters, the alloy contents of
all the specimens were constant in a narrow interval.
Increased alloy burn-out tendencies only emerged as
the pulse energy rose. For both filler materials, it was
ultimately not possible to establish any essential influ-
ences of the laser parameters, particularly for pulse en-
ergies under 15 J, on the chemical composition of the
weld metal.
351
SPECIALIST ARTICLES

Fig. 2 • EDX
analysis of the WM top WM bottom
identical 1.4018
filler material.

Table 2 • Parameter sets for surface welding on the X20Cr13 base material using the AL 300 laser installation.

Test Mean Pulse Fokus Pulse Pulse Pulse VD/VS Filler Pulse shape
power voltage duration frequency energy material
W V mm ms Hz J mm/s

1 326 260 0.9 20 33 9.9 1 1.4018 Pulse modulation

2 289 230 1,0 3 90 3.2 1 1.4018 Rectangle
3 297 260 1.1 11 22 13.5 1 1.4018 Rectangle
4 326 260 0.9 20 33 9.9 1 1.4337 Pulse modulation
5 289 230 1.0 3 90 3.2 1 1.4337 Rectangle
6 289 230 1.0 3 90 3.2 1 2.4831 Rectangle
7 153 230 1.0 1.5 90 1.7 1 2.4831 Rectangle

Table 3 • Hardness
traverses on the sur-
face welds according
to Table 2 (WM: weld
metal, HAZ: heat-af-
fected zone, BM: base
material).

3.2 Test Phase II: 300 W laser
The tests carried out on the X20Cr13 in Test Phase I
have shown that hardness increases over 400 HV1 were
produced not only in the HAZ but also in the weld metal
during laser beam surface welding with dissimilar filler
material (FM) and, in particular, with identical filler ma-
terial. In view of principally dynamic utilisation stresses
on the test material, the aim is to reduce these hardness
values using higher laser powers.
According to the t8/5 concept, decreased cooling rates
cause lower hardness increases in the heat-affected zone.
The reduction in the cooling rate can be implemented via
an increased energy per unit length during the welding.
For the following tests, the increased energy per unit
length was achieved via a higher mean power which is
put into effect not only via high pulse frequencies but also
via long pulse durations. Even with short pulse durations,
the high pulse frequencies permit a sufficient bond of the

352 Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6

 Fig. 3 • Microsections after
the parameter variation
according to Table 2.

filler material to the base material. The

shorter pulse durations were expected to
lead to a reduction in the microcracks which
arose in the HAZ of the dissimilar surface
coats in the preliminary tests and this was
confirmed. With the longer pulse durations,
the work continued to be performed with
the thermal pulse shaping.
In addition to the already utilised iden-
tical (1.4018) and dissimilar (2.4831) filler
materials, another nickel-alloyed welding
filler on an iron basis, X10CrNi30-9 (1.4337),
was considered in the tests. Table 2 illus-
trates the parameter sets of the surface
welding on the X20Cr13 base material with
the AL 300 laser installation for the different
welding fillers.
The specimens made of both test mate-
rials were evaluated using microsections as
well as by means of microhardness testing,
Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 as well as Table 3. With very
short pulse durations (3 ms) and at low
pulse energies (3.2 J), it was possible to
achieve a satisfactory bond to the substrate
only with the dissimilar filler material. If the
pulse energy is too low (1.7 J), lack of fusion
can be established here too. No microcracks
below the fusion line are recognisable if either the 1.4337 The results obtained here are
filler material or the 2.4831 filler material is used. portrayed in Table 4. As far as
In principle, a lower hardness increase, particularly the results were concerned, it
in the HAZ, can be established in comparison with the was conspicuous that, for the
investigations at a mean laser beam power of 200 W. Spec- 1.4337 filler material, the frac-
imens 1 to 3 (identical – 1.4018) exhibit high hardness ture occurred in the weld met-
values in the weld metal similar to those of the specimens al at very low elongation val-
welded at a lower power. Specimens 4 and 5 (similar – ues. This refuted the thesis
1.4337) achieve the same hardness values in the weld met- formulated above. On this ba-
al as in the base material. The hardness values of the HAZ, sis, the decision was taken to
below 350 HV1 on average, may be classed as uncritical. conduct the investigations in-
As far as the results are concerned, Specimens 6 and 7 to the fatigue strength behav-
(dissimilar – 2.4831) are comparable with Specimens 4 iour only using the
and 5. X8CrNi13-1 (1.4018) and
NiCr21Mo9Nb (2.4831) filler
3.3 Conclusions materials.
The higher mean power reduces the cooling rate and The investigations in or-
thus the hardness over the specimen cross section. The der to determine the fatigue
similar filler material (1.4337) achieves better results than strength behaviour were con-
the identical filler material (1.4018) and seems to be more ducted on small specimens
suitable in view of the dynamic stresses. The short pulse on a modified high-frequency
durations were able to prevent any microcracks with the Fig. 4 • Fusion pulsator. The modification related to the fact that a special
dissimilar 2.4831 filler material. lines of similar furnace system was arranged around the specimen clamp,
(1.4337), top, and thus creating the possibility of carrying out the test in-
4 Strength behaviour dissimilar cluding the operating temperature of 200°C, Fig. 5. The
In order to underpin the theses formulated in the con- (2.4831), bottom, fatigue strength behaviour was established using the por-
filler materials.
clusion to the preceding section, static tensile tests were trayed setup at a temperature of 200°C on the basis of
carried out for the three different welding filler materials. stress-cycle line investigations. For example, the bearable

Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6 353

SPECIALIST ARTICLES

Table 4 • Results of the tensile test (BM: base material, WM: weld metal).

Filler Yield Tensile Elongation Area Fracture Fig. 5 •

material strength strength at fracture reduction position High-fre-
at fracture quency
Rp0,2 Rm A Z pulsator
with a
MPa MPa % %
heating
1.4018 (A) 585 740 15.5 60 BM furnace.
1.4018 (B) 584 739 16.5 63 BM
1.4337 (A) 598 730 5.9 16 WM
1.4337 (B) 594 723 5.8 11 WM
2.4831 (A) 600 762 16.3 61 BM
2.4831 (B) 598 753 16.2 62 BM

stresses with ten million load cycles were determined at

a limiting stress ratio of 0.01. The established bearable
stresses of the surface welds with 1.4018 and 2.4831 filler
materials are portrayed on Fig. 6 in comparison with the
base material strength.

5 Concluding remarks
The results show that, due to its multifaceted parameter
adjustment, the pulsed Nd:YAG laser is outstandingly suit-
able for repair welding, particularly for surface welding on
materials with moderate to no weldability. For the investi-
gated filler materials, it was possible to produce the surface
welds on the X20Cr13 without any defects with regard to
technological aspects. In this respect, the pulse energy was
determined as a decisive parameter for the occurrence of
irregularities and as an essential variable influencing the
hardness traverse over the weld cross section. It was illus-
trated that the identical filler material has an inclination to
a more extreme hardness increase not only in the weld metal
but also in the HAZ than the dissimilar filler material. In
contrast, metallurgically induced microcracks arose with Fig. 6 • Results of the fatigue strength investigations on laser
the dissimilar filler material but could be suppressed to the beam repair welds (top: base material: X20Cr13QT1, filler ma-
greatest possible extent by optimising the heat control via terial: 2.4831, testing temperature: 200°C; bottom: base mate-
the increase in the pulse frequency. rial: X20Cr13QT1, filler material: 1.4018, testing temperature:
The results of the strength investigations show that, with 200°C).
ten million load cycles at a limiting stress ratio of 0.01, the
X8CrNi13-1 (1.4018) filler material achieves a higher stress- Literature
bearing capacity of the repair weld than the NiCr21Mo9Nb [1] Candel-Ruiz, A.: Werte aus Licht und Staub. Sonderdruck.
(2.4831) filler material. In this respect, the strength of the Laser + Produktion. pp. 20/23. TRUMPF Laser- & Sys-
repair weld dropped by approx. 20% with the laser beam temtechnik GmbH, Ditzingen 2010. http://www.trumpf-
without any complicated post-weld heat treatment in com- laser.com/fileadmin/DAM/trumpf-laser.com/Sonderdruck
e/Werte_aus_Licht_und_Staub_Laser_Produktion_2010.pdf
parison with the base material strength. This is within the [2] Wilden, J., et al.: Einsatz von gepulsten Nd:YAG-Lasern für
limits well-known for conventional welding processes with das Fügen von Werkstoffen und Werkstoffkombinationen
post-weld heat treatment, such as TIG surface welding. mit anspruchsvollen Eigenschaften. DVS-Berichte Bd. 244
(CD), pp. 13/18. DVS Media, Düsseldorf 2007.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The presented work was supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and
Energy within the framework of the project entitled “Metallurgy, strength behaviour
and economic viability during the manufacture of coats surface-welded with pulsed
Nd:YAG lasers and welding fillers in wire form“ (FKZ MF100114). We would like to
express our explicit gratitude for this. Additional thanks go to the industrial partners
involved in the project (Oberflächentechnik GmbH & Co. KG Schwerin, L&A Lasertechnik
GmbH, quada V+F Laserschweißdraht GmbH and Siemens AG) for their support during
the implementation of the investigations.

354 Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6

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SPECIALIST ARTICLES
Shock welding – Process variants and measuring
procedures for assessing the welding quality
The prerequisites necessary for joining using shock welding processes
were investigated within the framework of a research project. Both explo-
sive welding and magnetic pulse welding were considered. In this respect,
the investigations encompassed process requirements as well as defined
parameters. The shock-welded joints were classified on the basis of the
evaluation of metallographic specimens using a light microscope and the
technological limits of the process were described. The determination of
the degree of hardness H, the welding zone length lSZ and the adhesive
shear strength τH served to establish the welding properties. The bonding
zone of the welded joint was investigated with the EDX (energy-dispersive
X ray spectroscopy) procedure using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
1 Introduction
With regard to the joining mechanism, not only explo-
sive welding but also magnetic pulse welding may be clas-
sified as shock welding processes. In this respect, unlike fu-
sion welding processes, it is not the complete melting caused
by an elevated material temperature which is decisively re-
sponsible for the joining process but instead the material
plastification induced by a locally high pressure and high
shear stresses. This may be attributed to the kinetic energy
which is used during the collision of both joining members
and, to a high degree, is converted into plastic deformation.
Both processes offer the possibility of welding materials
with each other which are otherwise not weldable conven-
tionally, e.g. because of the great differences in the respective
melting temperatures at the ambient pressure. In order to
build up kinetic energy, one joining member needs an ef-
fective acceleration as well as an acceleration path so that
the respective required relative speeds with regard to the
other joining member can be reached. In the case of explo-
sive welding, the necessary kinetic energy for the accelera-
tion is obtained by detonating an explosive. In the case of
magnetic pulse welding, an eddy current is induced inside
the workpiece by a magnetic field of a tool coil and produces
a magnetic field acting in the opposite direction. The tool
coil and the workpiece repel each other due to the force re-
sulting from the interaction of the magnetic fields.
Because of the safety aspects, explosive welding is diffi-
cult to implement in a production environment. However,
the process makes it possible to weld large sheets with each
other continuously over large areas. For example, the process
thus serves to produce mixed sheets for tank construction
which, in the material composite, may not only possess the
Fig. 1 • Schematic setup for the explosive welding process.
356
THE AUTHORS
Dipl.-Ing. Alexander Ziefle, born in 1982,
concluded the course of study entitled
“Physical Engineering Sciences“ at the Berlin
University of Technology with the graduate
engineer degree in 2008. Since 2008, he has
worked as a scientific employee at the Insti-
tute for Machine Tools and Factory Opera-
tions (IWF) at the Berlin University of
Technology in the Machine Tools and Fabri-
cation Technology Division.
Prof. Dr. h. c. Dr.-Ing. Eckart Uhlmann,
born in 1958, studied Mechanical Engineer-
ing at the Berlin University of Technology.
From 1986 to 1994, he was a scientific em-
ployee and a senior engineer there in the
Fabrication Technology Division at the Insti-
tute for Machine Tools and Factory Opera-
tions (IWF) at the Berlin University of
Technology where he also obtained his doc-
torate. Thereafter, he worked as the Divi-
sional Manager for Research, Development,
Applications Engineering and Patents in the
Hermes Schleifmittel GmbH & Co. corporate
group in Hamburg. In 1997, he assumed re-
sponsibility for the management of the
Fraunhofer Institute for Production Installa-
tions and Design Technology (IPK) as well as
for the management of the Machine Tools
and Fabrication Technology Specialist Divi-
sion of IWF at the Berlin University of Tech-
nology in the Berlin Production Technology
Centre. Since 2014, he has been the Presi-
dent of the Scientific Society for Production
Technology (WGP).
necessary chemical resistance or corrosion resistance but
may also exhibit a high toughness and tensile strength. Fur-
thermore, because aluminium can be welded with steel us-
ing the process, it is possible to manufacture intermediate
pieces which, in each case, can be conventionally welded
on to structures made of the corresponding material.
Because of the different concept for the force introduc-
tion, magnetic pulse welding cannot be utilised for large-
area welded joints. However, manageable safety require-
ments mean that the process can be integrated into auto-
mated production sequences.
2 Shock welding processes
2.1 Explosive welding
Shock welding processes typically take place during
the collision of two workpieces at a high velocity. A
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
schematic test setup for explosive welding is portrayed
on Fig. 1. In this respect, the joining members are the tar-
get and the flyer. Depending on the thickness, the target
is bedded in a sand bed or on a thick steel plate. Spacers
are applied to the target at defined distances apart and
the flyer is placed on the spacers. This is necessary in
order to ensure that the distance between the flyer and
the target is sufficiently identical on the entire sheet sur-
face since this also determines the acceleration path and
thus the final velocity at the time of the collision.
After the ignition, a detonation is initiated in the ex-
plosive and spreads concentrically starting from the det-
onator. This produces a pressure wave which advances in
the same characteristic and accelerates and deforms the
flyer. Pressures p of up to 9 GPa and collision velocities vP
of up to 2,500 m/s arise in this respect [1]. This leads to a
steady rolling-off process of the flyer on to the target in
the radial direction starting from the detonator. At the col-
lision point, the centre of the angle which is covered by
the flyer and the target at the point in time of the collision,
the pressure maximum arising there leads to the pres-
sure-induced complete melting of the material. In this re-
spect, the high pressure causes a proportion of the mate-
rial to be thrown out in the form of a “jet“ between the
flyer and the target, Fig. 2b. This has the expedient side
effects that, on the one hand, oxide coats are broken open
and, on the other hand, any soiling is transported out of
the joining zone to a certain degree so that metallically
pure surfaces come into contact with each other.
2.2 Magnetic pulse welding
In analogy to explosive welding, the process is based
on a shock welding operation. Here, a forming process
based on the induction effect is used as the method for
accelerating the flyer material. In this respect, the dis-
charge energy WE stored in a capacitor is discharged via a
tool coil after a heavy-current switch has been activated.
A damped, high-frequency alternating current I(t) flows
through the tool coil. In an electrically conductive work-
piece, the generated alternating magnetic field induces
eddy currents in the direction opposite to the current flow
in the tool coil, Fig. 2a. Because of the skin effect, the eddy
current only arises on the workpiece surface. The resulting
Lorentz force FLorentz which can be portrayed in a simplified
manner with the formation of a magnetic pressure pmag(t)
on the workpiece surface acts in this way. At a pressure
pmag above the flow limit kf of the flyer material (up to 800
MPa), the consequence is the abrupt acceleration and
thus forming of the workpiece. The joining mechanism
then occurs in analogy to explosive welding. During the
collision, the surface atoms of the welding members are
pressed together to an interatomic distance and thus enter
into a metallic bond. A characteristic wave-shaped bor-
derline also arises at the time of the impact, Fig. 2b bottom.
In the welding zone, it is possible to observe considerable
surface deformations which favour the tearing-open of
oxide coats. This forms the current flow consisting of the
oxide and dirt particles flaking off the surface (jet) and
conveys these out of the welding zone.
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
Fig. 2 • a) Working principle of pulsed magnetic compression, b) shock welding
operation at the point in time of the collision.
Fig. 3 • Represen-
tation of general
weld types in the
case of shock-
welded joints;
a) straight weld,
no thermal acti-
vation; b) rippled
weld, no thermal
activation; c) rip-
pled weld, forma-
tion of molten
pockets, [3],
d) continuous
joint.
3 Metallographic characterisation of welded
joint and process limits
Shock-welded joints can be divided into various bond-
ing zone types [2]:
a) Flat joint without any signs of thermally activated
structural changes,
b) Wavy joint without any signs of thermally activated
structural changes,
c) Wavy joint with local partial melting phenomena
(molten pockets) and swirls,
d) Continuous molten coat with a mostly flat joint.
On Fig. 3, the different types are portrayed as metallographic
sections [2, 3]. In principle, preference should be given to
welded joints in variant b). Weld types in Variant a) form at
collision point velocities vW below the critical transition ve-
locity vT. Although welded joints of this kind are also de-
fect-free, this region is not usable because of the facts that
it is located outside the welding window and thus entails
the danger of the formation of local imperfections. Weld
type c) can also be manufactured in a reliable process but,
because of the formation of molten pockets mostly con-
sisting of brittle mixed phases, has worse strength properties
than variant b). Variant d) is not usable since continuous,
mostly brittle mixed phases arise throughout the bonding
zone because of complete melting phenomena.
357
SPECIALIST ARTICLES
A high-quality weld is characterised by the formation
of a uniform, wave-shaped joining zone without the for-
mation of any mixed phases. As further process variables,
the amplitude A, the wavelength λ of the welding zone
and, in the case of magnetic-pulse-welded joints, the weld-
ing zone length lSZ are determined in exact positions on
transverse sections, Fig. 4.
The weldability during the shock welding process is
illustrated using the diagrams which portray the depend-
ence of the collision angle β on the collision point velocity
vW. In this respect, a high-quality weld can only be ob-
tained in certain ranges designated as the welding win-
dow, Fig. 5.
The range of the welding window is described by four
curves. The left side is limited by a transition velocity vT
dependent on the joining members. If the collision point
velocity vW is lower than this, no wave formation can arise
along the bonding zone. On the right side of the welding
window, a “jet“ can no longer arise because the collision
point velocity vW exceeds the velocity of sound [1, 5]. This
is necessary in order to produce a pure surface on both
joining members during the collision. The lower limit is
characterised by an inadequate collision velocity vP so
that the pressure necessary for the complete melting of
the material cannot be reached. The upper limit of the
welding window may be attributed to an excessive colli-
sion velocity vP so that the values are below the necessary
melting and solidification times and the joining members
bounce off each other.
4 Experimental investigations
Specimens were manufactured with the fabrication
processes of explosive welding and magnetic pulse weld-
ing and were evaluated. Details of the specimen geometry
and the process parameters are specified in Table 1. The
Fig. 4 • Microscopic process variables of the weld type.
Fig. 5 • Generic welding window for shock-welded joints [4].
358
geometries of the test specimens are portrayed on Fig. 6.
The specimens produced in the case of explosive welding
were sawn out of the clad sheet and exhibit a complete
welded joint over a large area. An axially symmetrical
tube/conus joint was chosen for the magnetic pulse weld-
ed specimens. There, the shock weld is distinct merely at
the diagonal sidewall between the deformed tube and
conus.
The conus angle φ should not be equated with the
collision angle β. This may be attributed to the fact that
the internal contour of a tube formed with radial com-
pression is not parallel to the tube axis but is instead con-
stricted only at the position of the forming. The conse-
quence of this is an additional angular component at the
collision point.
Table 1 • Test conditions and specimen geometry.
Parameter Value
Explosive welding
Flyer material OF-CU
Plate thickness dF_exp 3 mm
Target material EN AW-1050 A H111
Plate thickness dT_exp 10 mm
Plate dimensions 2,000 mm× 1,000 mm
Magnetic pulse welding
Flyer material (pipe) EN AW-6060 T66
Diameter Df_mag 18 mm
Wall thickness dw_mag 1 mm
Target material (conus) OF-CU, EN AW-6060 T66, ST-52
Gap width sP 1 mm
Conus angle φ 0° to 6°
Charge energy WE 6 kJ to 14 kJ
Discharge capacity C 240 μF
5 Analysis procedures
The measurements of the degree of hardness, the
material composition (EDX procedure), the welding
zone length lSZ and the shearing strength τH were select-
ed as the analysis procedures in order to characterise
the welded joints. A non-destructive measuring method
(micro CT measurements) was chosen in addition.
5.1 Course of the degree of hardness over the joining
cross section
In the case of shock-welded joints, it is frequently pos-
sible to observe an increase in the hardness of the material
in the region of the welding zone. The degrees of hardness
of the produced specimens were established with a mi-
crohardness measuring device in the measuring proce-
dure according to Vickers. The course of the degree of
hardness was investigated with a low-load hardness meas-
uring device of the Leitz Miniload 2 type. During the meas-
urements, the testing force was 98.1 mN which corre-
sponds to a testing weight of mPrüf = 10 g. In order to
guarantee statistical meaningfulness, five measurements
were taken here in each case at the distances of 0 μm,
5 μm, 10 μm and 30 μm in both directions transverse to
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
the welding zone, Fig. 7. Because of the different manu-
facturing methods, the tube and the conus exhibit dif-
ferent degrees of hardness in spite of an identical alloy,
as can be seen at a distance of 30 μm away from the
welding zone. The degree of hardness rises at an in-
creasing proximity to the welding zone until a local max-
imum is achieved in the region of the welding zone.
This hardness distribution is characteristic of welds of
this type. The maximum standard deviation of the meas-
ured values (± 18 HV 10) is located in the joining zone.
This is attributed to the extremely thin intermetallic rip-
pled coat which exhibits a higher degree of hardness
than the base material in question combined with a
steep hardness gradient transverse to the welding di- Fig. 6 • Specimen geometries of both shock welding processes: a) explosive welding,
b) magnetic pulse welding.
rection.

5.2 SEM investigations

For the further investigation of the bonding region of
the shock-welded joint, measurements were taken with
the EDX procedure using scanning electron microscopy
in order to establish the material diffusion. Fig. 8 portrays
an example of the course of the elementary distribution
of copper, Fig. 8 a, light, to an aluminium alloy, Fig. 8 a,
dark.

5.3 Welding zone length

Unlike explosive welding, no large-area welded Fig. 7 • Course of the degree of hardness transverse to the welding direction (tube
joints can be achieved with magnetic pulse welding. and conus material: EN AW-6066 T66; process parameters: charge energy WE = 10 kJ;
The established welding zone length lSZ varies with the gap width sp = 10 mm; conus angle φ = 0°).
set welding parameters. The welding zone length de-
termines the bonding area AB of the shock-welded joint
and thus the dimension of the force which can be ac-
commodated by the welded joint.
Within the framework of the experimental parameter
variations, the charge energies WE were varied between
6 kJ and 14 kJ in 4 kJ steps. The conus angles φ of the
target specimens were increased from 0° to 6° in 3° steps.
At different charge energies WE and different conus an-
gles φ, the welding zone lengths lSZ established after the
metallographic sections of the joining specimens had
been prepared are portrayed on Fig. 9. In this respect,
the welding zone length was only measured for the spec-
Fig. 8 • left: Scanning electron micrograph, right: EDX line scans using the example of
imens joined with magnetic pulse welding since weld-
a magnetic pulse welded specimen.
clad specimens are generally welded together on nearly
the entire plate area. A few specimens exhibited dou-
ble-welded joints so that complete, annularly continu-
ous welding regions were created across the specimen
surface in two axial positions. The welding zone lengths
lSZ in the resulting double welding zones are portrayed
individually on Fig. 9. As can be observed in the results,
double welding zones arise at high charge energies WE
in particular. Moreover, the presence of the second weld-
ing zone should always be seen as a supplement to the
first welding zone since the first welding zone also al-
ways exhibits welding zone lengths in the order of mag-
nitude of the observed values with normal welding
zones. In the executed tests, a rise in the charge energy
WE as well as increasing conus angles φ result in an in- Fig. 9 • Lengths of the welding zone lSZ (tube and conus material: EN AW-6066 T66;
creasing welding zone length lSZ. gap width sp = 1 mm).

Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6 359

SPECIALIST ARTICLES
Fig. 10 • Shearing strength test, schematic.
Fig. 11 • Shearing strength τH after exposure at the ageing temperature TA (flyer ma-
terial: OF-CU, target material: EN AW-1050 A H111; shear web: 5 mm x 20 mm, AS =
10 mm2, tAZ = 10 min).
Fig. 12 • Three-dimensional representation of the material density.
5.4 Shearing strength
The suitable method for determining the joint quality
and the load-bearing capacity in the case of shock welding
is the testing of the shearing strength τH. In order to portray
360
the actual adhesive capacity of the shock-welded joint,
the clad-on material had to be exposed as precisely as
possible up to the welding zone between the aluminium
and the copper apart from a narrow web. In the next step,
the web was sheared off at a defined edge using a dis-
placement-controlled method. The Zwick/Roell Z150 ten-
sile/pressure testing centre was used for this purpose. A
schematic representation is shown on Fig. 10. The shear
path d and the shear force FS are established and are con-
verted into the shearing strength τH according to Equation
1 in DIN 50162 [6].
(1)
In this respect, the shearing strength τH is the quotient
from the shear force F and the shear area AS – given by
the specimen shape – in the bonding area between the
overlaid material and the base material. The specimens
had previously been artificially aged at different temper-
atures. The dependence of the shearing strength τH on
the exposure to an ageing temperature TA during explosive
cladding is plotted on Fig. 11. As can be recognised, the
shearing strength τH tends to decrease as the temperature
exposure increases. Since temperature exposure may arise
at comparable levels locally during the manufacture of
welds, the strength loss in the proximity of welds must be
taken into consideration when producing welded struc-
tures with clad materials.
5.5 Non-destructive investigation of welded joint
While the stringent safety requirements on explosive
cladding mean that it is customary to investigate the entire
cladding in a close-meshed pattern by means of ultrasonic
measurement in order to localise and mark the imperfec-
tions [7, 8], this is possible to a restricted extent only in
the case of magnetic pulse welding for various reasons. It
is primarily the small diameter (Df_mag = 18 mm) of the
welded joints which makes it more difficult to utilise ul-
trasonic detectors.
In order to establish indications in relation to the weld-
ing quality, a few examples of specimens were measured
with the Zeiss Metronom 800 micro CT measuring system.
In this respect, it was investigated with what accuracy any
cavities or imperfections within the welding region can
be detected. Thus, the density can be portrayed three-di-
mensionally by correlating the images. The measuring
resolution of the procedure is 40 μm which is not a suffi-
cient resolution for the up to 20 μm thick welded coat.
Fig. 12 shows that the measuring procedure is capable of
detecting larger cavities in the range of 40 μm using a non-
destructive method in order to be able to make an initial
selection of scrap parts. Defective joints executed by
means of magnetic pulse welding (gaps) cannot be de-
tected with the procedure.
6 Concluding remarks
With the shock welding process, it is possible to weld
different metals with each other with which material-lock-
Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
ing joints are difficult to produce with fusion welding
processes because the melting points are far apart. Ex-
plosive welding and magnetic pulse welding were inves-
tigated. Because of the possible applications, both process-
es are not in competition with each other. While explosive
welding is used for the manufacture of sheets welded over
large areas, magnetic pulse welding is restricted to the
manufacture of narrow lap welds as well as tube/rod
joints. In this respect, important process parameters are
the collision point velocity vW and the collision angle β.
The resulting welding zone has a thickness of just a few
micrometres and an increase in the hardness of the ma-
terial in the region of the bonding zone can be observed
because of the collision process. The welding zones were
investigated with the EDX procedure using scanning elec-
tron microscopy – no oxide coats were found. In order to
assess the weld quality of the joining process of magnetic
pulse welding, the welding zone length lSZ was established
and evaluated depending on the following process pa-
rameters: collision angle, gap distance and charge energy.
Moreover, investigations were conducted into the influ-
ence of heat exposure after shock welding on the stability
of the welded joint, as may arise (for example) during
subsequent process steps. The joining quality was tested
non-destructively with the micro CT measuring system
which makes it possible to detect cavities with a minimum
diameter of 40 μm.
Literature
[1] Moussavi, A.: The Mechanics of Explosive Welding. PhD
tesis. University of Manchester Institute of Science and
Technology, Manchester/UK, (2001).
Welding and Cutting – editorial preview
Issue 1 (January/February)
• New findings about resistance welding
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Welding and Cutting 14 (2015) No. 6
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The IGF Project IGF 167.278
N / DVS Number 05.042 of
the research association
“Forschungsvereinigung
Schweißen und verwandte
Verfahren des DVS, Aachener
Straße 172, 40223 Düssel-
dorf“ was, on the basis of a resolution of the German Bundestag,
promoted by the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy
via AiF within the framework of the programme for the promotion
of joint industrial research and development (IGF).
[2] Kreye, H., et al.: Über den Bindemechanismus beim Explo-
sivschweißen. Schw. Schn., 37 (1985), H. 7, pp. 297/302.
[3] Cowan, G. R., et al.: Mechanism of bond zone wave forma-
tion in explosion-clad metals. Metallurgical and Materials
Transactions B, 2 (1971), pp. 3145/55.
[4] Grignon, F., et al.: Explosive welding of aluminum to alu-
minum: analysis, computations and experiments. Interna-
tional Journal of Impact Engineering, 30 (2004), No. 10, pp.
1333/51.
[5] Cowan, G. R., et al.: Flow Configurations in Colliding Plates:
Explosive Bonding. Journal of Applied Physics, 34 (1963),
No. 4, pp. 928/39.
[6] DIN 50162 Ermittlung der Haft-Scherfestigkeit zwischen
Auflagewerkstoff und Grundwerkstoff im Scherversuch.
(September 1978 Edition).
[7] DIN 54123 Ultraschallverfahren zur Prüfung von Spreng-
plattierungen. (October 1980 Edition).
[8] DIN EN 10160 Ultraschallprüfung von Flacherzeugnissen
aus Stahl mit einer Dicke größer oder gleich 6 mm (Reflex-
ionsverfahren). (September 1999 Edition).
Issue 2 (March/April)
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• Examples of applications in welding and cutting technology
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361
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