The

Issue

05
Welding
Institute

2014

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

Visit us at EuroBLECH 2014

21st to 25th October 2014
in Hanover, Germany

Humans are individual. Hall 13, Booth D25

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Welding and cutting technology SRM stud welding - a new arc Designing thin sheet joints
at EuroBLECH 2014 - Announce- stud welding variant executed with little heat in a way
ments from exhibitors appropriate for operation
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 EDITORIAL

Professional Development
and Continued Competence
An impressive CV of qualifications, training courses and experi-
ence can be difficult to value. Registration and membership
through The Welding Institute adds up to more than the sum of
its parts. Peer-reviewed competence in welding and materials
joining provides high confidence in technicians, technologists
and engineers, as more individuals and employers choose Eng-
Tech TechWeldI, IEng MWeldI, and CEng MWeldI as recognition
of professional status.

Read more in The Welding Institute News Editorial on page 303.

Eur Ing Chris Eady BSc(Hons) MSc CEng MRAeS FWeldI

Associate Director Professional Affairs
The Welding Institute

Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5 255

 CONTENTS WELDING AND CUTTING 05/2014

News 258 Developing a zinc-free corrosion

protection primer for steel: The
“WeldaPrime“ project
259 Personal robots and new business
models emerge as new mega trends
260 “TowerPower“ launch points to reduced
costs for offshore wind inspections
260 The “BondTest“ project – creating a non-
destructive test for diffusion bonded
joints
262 Conferences and Exhibitions
262 Work-related stress: EU campaign calls
on employers and workers to tackle it

260 Offshore wind park

263
together
TWI celebrates National Women in
Engineering Day
264 Lloyd’s Register Foundation supports
education and research centre in
structural integrity

From Companies 266 New era of oxygen weld monitors

268 Advanced materials conditioning facility
expands exposure testing opportunities
270 Welding thick sheets quickly
271 New arc process for more efficient
welding
272 Frequency scanning testing of armour
Cross section of a root seam welded
wire provides data for improved fatigue
with “LSC Root“ with the penetration
design
stabiliser disabled (Photo: Fronius
International GmbH) 273 Short Messages

Welding Practice 276 Information about practical welding

Events 278 EuroBLECH 2014 – Announcements from

exhibitors
288 “Fabtech 2014“ has Georgia on its mind
289 Friction stir welding focus in China
289 19th “Beijing Essen Welding & Cutting“
was a huge success
290 Positive assessment of “ITSC 2014“ in
Barcelona

Reports 294 Brazing tungsten carbide – Part 2: Brazing

filler materials and fluxes for use with
tungsten carbide

Welding positions according to

DIN EN ISO 6947.
276 298 SRM stud welding – a new arc stud weld-
ing variant

256 Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5

 Issue

01
The

05
Welding
Institute

2014

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 288 “Fabtech 2014“ will be held on 11 to
13 November in Atlanta/USA (Photo:
Georgia World Congress Center)

Produced in Collaboration between

Specialist Articles 305 Designing thin sheet joints executed with

little heat in a way appropriate for opera-
tion
Alfons Esderts, Christian Wilmes, Driss
Bartout, Rainer Stark, Thomas Nitschke
Pagel, Klaus Dilger
310 Study on the effect of hot spots generated
by induction heating to prevent hot
cracking during laser welding of the
294 Carbide-tipped hammer drills that are
ready for brazing. Note the presence of a
copper-base filler material paste at the
tip of each drill. (Photo: Courtesy Mahler
aluminum alloys AA6082T6 and
GmbH, Plochingen, Germany)
AA5754H22
Stefan HollandMoritz, Vladislav Somo
nov, Stephan Völkers, Markus Geyer,
Stefan Böhm
319 Investigating the indentation, degrading
and deterioration of electrodes using
carbon and stainless steel welds in
resistance spot welding
Nachimani Charde, Farazila Binti Yusof,
Rajprasad Kumar Rajkumar

325 Editorial Preview

326 Books
326 Imprint/Ad Index

310
National Pages 292 Information from the DVS – German Picture of the temperature field, taken
Welding Society with the thermographic camera FLIR
SC5600-M.
303 TWI News – The Newsletter of
The Welding Institute

Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5 257

 NEWS
Developing a zinc-free corrosion protection primer
for steel: The “WeldaPrime“ project
Corrosion prevention is a challenge
faced by the steel industry. The existing an-
ticorrosion solutions rely on zinc as a com-
ponent of the coating, which has environ-
mental and health hazards associated with
it, as well as creates issues of welding quality.
Globally, the production of steel is in the
range of 1,500 million tons (source: World
Steel Association), worth nearly € 1 trillion.
Steel production is a highly relevant industry
in the European Union, which is, in aggre-
gate, the second largest producer in the
world. As a key component of many relevant
industries within the EU, all improvements
made to its production quality can provide
extra competitiveness to European compa-
nies.
Most of this steel is carbon or mild steel
which corrodes at a high rate. Although
there are a significant number of anticorro-
sion solutions on the market, protective
coating is the most widely used, thanks to
its low cost and high versatility. However the
inability of currently available primers to
provide for good quality welding along with
durable corrosion protection and reduced
health hazards is a critical challenge today.
Focus on thin coatings
In this environment, the European Com-
mission FP7 Research has sponsored the
project “WeldaPrime“, which aims at devel-
oping a zinc-free corrosion protection
primer with an optimum thickness and af-
fordable cost, offering durable corrosion
protection, resistant to mechanical damage
and that can be weldable without zinc
fumes. The project will focus on the devel-
opment of thin coatings which minimise the
amount of material on the surface of the
steel structure and so reduce the impact of
the coating on the welding characteristics
of the protected substrate.
These coatings will be developed to have
excellent adhesion to the substrate due to
the development of formal covalent chemi-
cal bonds to the surface of the steel. This su-
perior corrosion protection therefore means
that the “WeldaPrime“ project will be able
to deposit thinner coatings, which will re-
duce the impact of the coating on the weld-
ing conditions.
The project “WeldaPrime – Self-re-
pairable Zinc-free Weldable Anti-corrosion
258
Primer for the Steel protection”, is sponsored
by the EC FP7 Research for the benefit of
SME associations (3-year projects) and was
started on 1 February 2014, with the EWF –
European Federation for Welding, Joining
and Cutting as its project coordinator.
Main purposes of the project
The main purposes of the “WeldaPrime“
project will be to:
• Develop an anti-corrosion primer with-
out any zinc content that lasts at least
1 to 2 years;
• Develop a durable and mechanically
resistant primer formulation that is able
to withstand damage through handling,
storage and transportation;
• Provide a self-repairable surface to
maintain continuous protection;
• Ensure an optimum coating thickness
that maintains durable protection and
weldability;
• Ensure the formulation includes a con-
ductive material that allows the arc to
strike; thus avoiding any need to re-
move the primer before fabrication;
• Minimise the by-products that could af-
fect weld quality or cause porosity;
• Eliminate unpleasant odours or fume
issues in the workshop;
• Reduce the heat generated during the
thermal cutting and welding proce-
dures in the surrounding surface area;
• Conform to relevant legislations;
• Provide good compatibility in relation
to adhesion of an overcoat or final pro-
tective paint post fabrication.
As stated, the project is two-fold, as it ad-
dresses the economic and industrial issue
of optimal protection and weldability, as
well as key health issues. The health issues
will be minimised by the fact that the devel-
oped primer will be zinc free, since it is well
known that the inhalation of ZnO causes
metal fume fever, which is known to cause
fatigue, chills, fever, myalgia, cough, dys-
pnoea, leucocytosis, thirst, metallic taste and
salivation.
The economic and industrial issues tack-
led by this solution are related to corrosion,
a regular issue for steel production. As above
mentioned, it is expected that the new so-
lution will provide good anticorrosion prop-
erties, good arc weldability without further
treatments (e.g. grinding and cleaning),
good compatibility with overcoating, good
deposition compatibility and thickness con-
trol (e.g. using airless spray) as well as cost
effectiveness. Current anti-corrosion prim-
ers are often too thick (~50 μm) for welding,
giving rise to poor weld quality or the need
for time-consuming localised grinding to re-
move the primer.
The project is comprised of a transnation-
al consortium, which includes ten partners:
EWF – European Federation for Welding, Join-
ing and Cutting; Croatian Chamber of Econ-
omy; Federacion Vizcaina De Empresas Del
Metal; The British Coatings Federation; Lo-
ufakis Chemicals; Talleres De Soldadura Y
Mecanizado; Thomas Swan & Co; TWI – The
Welding Institute; L’urederra, Fundacion Para
El Desarrollo Tecnologico Y Social and Leib-
niz-Institut Fuer Neue Materialien. More in-
formation: www.weldaprime.com. (Accord-
ing to press information from EWF)
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
Personal robots and new business models emerge
as new mega trends
By the year 2020, personal robots rang-
ing between $1,500 and $4,500 could enter
our lives, technologies such as 3D printing
could likely generate revenue of $7.1 billion
by 2020 and we will witness the emergence
of new business models. The global consult-
ing company Frost & Sullivan explores few
radical future concepts in an exclusive
analysis titled “World’s Top Global Mega
Trends To 2025 and Implications to Busi-
ness, Society and Cultures”.
In this analysis, Frost & Sullivan details
twelve new mega trends that will drive
growth and innovation in the world. “We at
the Visionary Innovation team scout and
track new Mega Trends that will transform
the world as we know it”, said Archana Amar-
nath, Programme Manager, Visionary Inno-
vation Research Group. “We are not only
seeing new trends such as wearable devices,
3D printing and virtual currencies. Mature
4
ALUMINIUM 2014
7.– 9. Okt. 2014 | Messe Düsseldorf
10. Weltmesse & Kongress
www.aluminium-messe.com
Organised by Partners
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
trends such as urbanisation are rapidly
evolving and changing patterns with the new
world thereby creating new business models
and value chain networks in the future.”
One of the most interesting and impor-
tant mega trends will be that of Connectivity
and Convergence and especially the market
opportunity it represents in creating a con-
nected life. This “Internet of things” in our
home, work, and city environments will
bring huge opportunities for growth. Frost
& Sullivan values this whole eco-system –
comprising of connected home, work, and
city solutions – to be worth $731.70 billion
by 2020, with the connected city segment
accounting for over 50% of the revenue. This
opportunity will usher new competition into
the market offering immense opportunity
to telecom, M2M and software vendors who
will be experimenting with different types
of New Business Models.
New Business Models, in fact, will emerge
as an important mega trend defining ways
for businesses to monetise new opportuni-
ties. Different types of business models can
be witnessed among different stakeholder re-
lationships – right from Business to Con-
sumers (B2C) to Business to Business (B2B)
to Government to Business (G2B). Some of
these business models can be disruptive or
transformative and can result in a potential
collapse of firms in the industry. For example,
‘Sharing’ business models such as peer-to-
peer money lending and car sharing have al-
ready lead to a transformation in the financial
services and mobility industries. New digital
media models like on-demand or streaming
services such as Netflix or Roku are already
being seen as a serious threat that could lead
to the potential collapse of the traditional
broadcasting industry. (According to press
information from Frost & Sullivan)
259
 NEWS
“TowerPower“ launch points to reduced
costs for offshore wind inspections
In May 2014, the 11 partners of the Eu-
ropean collaborative project “TowerPower“
met in Aix-en-Provence/France to launch a
programme of work to develop a remote
real-time monitoring system for ageing di-
agnosis of offshore wind turbine structures.
This development meets a real demand
from offshore wind park operators looking
to reduce maintenance costs by increasing
the time period between on-site inspections.
The project will last three years with a budg-
et close to € 2 million.
Co-ordinated by the Capenergies cluster
(France), the TowerPower project team
comprises:
• organisations from the wind energy sec-
tor, to carry out the dissemination and
Offshore wind park
Crack in the weld of the tower
Crack in the weld of the flange to the tower
260
exploitation scheme: Capenergies
(France), Cylsolar (Spain) and Associ-
azione Italiana Prove non Distruttive –
AIPnD (Italy),
• small and medium-sized enterprises in-
terested in the new technology, to help
direct the work programme: Kingston
Computer Consulting – KCC (UK),
Moniteye (UK), Teknisk Data AS (Nor-
way), WLB (Cyprus) and TecopySA
(Spain),
• research centres to take charge of sys-
tem design, development and valida-
tion: CETIM (France), Innora (Greece)
and TWI (UK).
A typical substructure for an offshore wind
turbine generator consists of a foundation
structure (piles/buckets), a monopile/jacket,
a transition piece and a tower. The project
will study the main ageing phenomena:
• instances of fatigue cracking in the sup-
port towers,
• flange bolts at the ends of the tower sec-
tions becoming loose,
• higher than expected levels of vibration,
which could cause either of the above
mechanisms,
• degradation of the grouted joint be-
tween the pile and transition piece in
offshore installations.
Relying on a network of sensors of various
natures, on amplifying electronics and on
advanced signal processing algorithms, the
The “BondTest“ project –
creating a non-destructive test for
diffusion bonded joints
Diffusion bonding is an advanced solid
state welding process by which two metals
(which may be dissimilar) can be bonded
together. Diffusion involves the migration
of atoms across the joint, due to chemical
composition concentration gradients. The
two materials are pressed together at an el-
evated temperature (usually between 50%
and 70% of the melting point) so that the
process can be applied to finished machine
parts. The pressure will relieve voids that
“TowerPower“ solution will enable self-
learning of the normal behaviour “signature”
of the structure and detect any deviation
from the initial record. Meanwhile, the sys-
tem will contribute to a better understand-
ing of physic-chemical phenomena leading
to flaws triggering.
The intellectual property generated
through the project, including eventual
patent applications, will be jointly owned by
the participating associations, which may
include licence agreements with participat-
ing SMEs, their member companies and
even other companies in the world accord-
ing to the business opportunities.
Capenergies and the wind energy in-
dustry as a whole will benefit from the de-
velopment of a remarkable instrument, re-
gionally and beyond. For Capenergies, this
will be in line with its strategic priorities
and those of the PACA region (Provence-
Alpes-Côte d’Azur in the South East of
France) in the frame of its ‚smart speciali-
sation‘. The TowerPower project is co-fi-
nanced by the European Commission with-
in the 7th Framework Programme for Re-
search and Development.
may occur due to the different surface
topographies and irregularities. Diffusion
bonding is often used on sheet metal struc-
tures. Process variables include tempera-
ture, pressure, time, surface roughness and
interlayer composition, density and thick-
ness.
The main advantage of diffusion bond-
ing is that, unlike welding, it is not a ’fusion’
process – it is a solid state process and the
parent materials to be joined do not need
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
to be melted. This makes diffusion bonding
an ideal solution for joining materials such
as metals to ceramics and aluminum, tita-
nium, nickel, steel etc., increasingly relevant
within the manufacturing of all types of
goods, for better overall quality and usabil-
ity. Other advantages include near-parent
properties, minimal shape change to parts
and no post-finishing.
The key to successful diffusion bonding
lies in choosing process conditions which
are appropriate to the circumstances be-
cause the joint needs to form successfully
with both parent materials, whilst control-
ling deformation. Joint intimacy and clean-
liness are also critical factors. A reliable NDE
method (Non-Destructive Examination) is
required for the inspection of the bonds. The
outcome of the project will be a non-de-
structive testing system using ultrasonic test-
ing technique based in a phased array ul-
trasonic testing (PAUT) method and Full
Matrix Capture (FMC) that, combined with
a material-based model of the multi-layered
structure, will allow to characterise diffusion
bonds in layered structures.
Testing challenges posed by
diffusion bonding
In the past and up until today, mechan-
ical testing (tensile, impact and fatigue)
complemented by metallography has pre-
dominantly been used to identify the per-
mitted variations in the processes for a re-
alistic and economical production manu-
facture. It is therefore evident that there is a
need for a non-destructive test that will ex-
amine the entire diagnostic volume of the
bond area to detect and evaluate industry
www.soyer.com
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
specified defects. A non-satisfactory bond-
ing may include voids that will have a nega-
tive effect of the integrity of the joint. The
challenge in inspecting these bonds is that
the joining process will create a multi-lay-
ered structure that will complicate the in-
terpretation of the inspection data. In addi-
tion to this, the bonding layer will have an
irregular surface making most inspection
techniques unsuitable.
There is a growing need for the use of
diffusion bonding particularly in the aero-
space industry due to its fabrication and
service benefits. Furthermore, high integrity
applications, particularly those that are de-
signed for a long service life, may be limited
because of small defects with the potential
to grow in-service (e.g. through fatigue) be-
ing undetected at the component manufac-
turing/fabrication stage.
There are no commercially available
Non Destructive Testing (NDT) systems that
can examine the entire volume of diffusion
bonded joints/welds to the required indus-
trial standard(s) in terms of reliability, re-
peatability and high sensitivity of defect de-
tection capability.
The challenge in inspecting these bonds
is that the joining process will create a mul-
ti-layered structure that will complicate the
interpretation of the inspection data. In ad-
dition to this, the bonding layer will have
an irregular surface making most inspection
techniques unsuitable. It is anticipated that
this issue can be solved by developing a
phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT)
method and Full Matrix Capture (FMC)
that, combined with a material-based mod-
el of the multi-layered structure, will give
Stud welding
TODAY a
CLEAN
solution!
an assessment of the diffusion bonding. The
model and the tailored inspection data will
then be used in signal processing algo-
rithms to extract features of the bonding
layer.
Key stages of the project
The project will address the following
key stages:
• Phased array equipment;
• Inspection technique development;
• Material modelling;
• Signal processing;
• Full Matrix Capture (FMC) and focusing
of the diagnostic region.
This project‘s partners include Diagnostic
Sonar Ltd. (UK), I-Deal Technologies GmbH
(Germany), Rubico Consulting AB (Sweden),
TWI Limited (UK), Lulea Tekniska Universi-
tet (Sweden) and EWF – European Federa-
tion for Welding, Joining and Cutting (Por-
tugal). EWF‘s participation in this project
demonstrates the commitment to the most
recent technological advancements, con-
tributing to the dissemination of diffusion
bonding in a growing number of industrial
processes, further strengthening European
Industry‘s competitiveness. The BondTest
project is funded by the European Union 7th
Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2014] un-
der grant agreement no 605288. (According
to press information from EWF)
Booth E08
Hall 013
261
 NEWS

Conferences and Exhibitions

Date Place Event/Information
28.10.-29.10.2014 Amsterdam/ Offshore Energy 2014 Exhibition and Conference
The Netherlands Information: Navingo BV, Internet: www.offshore-energy.biz
28.10.-30.10.2014 Mumbai/ International Trade Fair “India Essen Welding & Cutting 2014“
India Information: Messe Essen, Internet: www.india-essen-welding-cutting.com
04.11.-06.11.2014 Rosario/ 20th IAS Steel Conference 2014
Argentina Information: IAS – Instituto Argentino de Siderurgia, Internet: www.siderurgia.org.ar/conf14
05.11.-06.11.2014 Wollongong/ The 4th IIW Welding Research & Collaboration Colloquium
Australia Information: WTIA, Internet: www.wtia.com.au
06.11.-07.11.2014 Aberdeen/ 3rd Annual Structural Integrity Management Conference
UK Information: Decomworld, Internet: www.decomworld.com/structural-integrity-management/
11.11.-13.11.2014 Atlanta/ Fabtech 2014 – North America’s Largest Metal Forming, Fabricating, Welding and Finishing Event
USA Information: Fabtech, Internet: www.fabtechexpo.com
20.11.-21.11.2014 Bielefeld/ 2nd International Conference “CastTec 2014 – The world of cast iron materials – diversity for the future“
Germany Information: atm Gesellschaft für aktives technisches Marketing, Internet: www.casttec2014.com
02.12.-04.12.2014 St. Petersburg/ The 3rd International Conference and Exhibition “Aluminium-21/Joining of Structures“
Russia Information: Alusil, Internet: http//eng.apral.org/Aluminium-21-Joining
03.12.-06.12.2014 Jakarta/ International Exhibitions “Machine Tool Indonesia 2014“ & “Manufacturing Indonesia 2014“
Indonesia Information: Allworld Exhibitions, Internet: www.machinetoolindonesia.com / www.manufacturingindonesia.com
09.12.-12.12.2014 Byron Bay/ 23rd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials (ACMSM23)
Australia Information: Southern Cross University, Internet: http://scu.edu.au/acmsm23/
10.01.-13.01.2015 Dubai/ International Trade Fair “Arabia Essen Welding & Cutting 2014“
UAE Information: Messe Essen, Internet: www.arabia-essen-welding-cutting.com
15.04.-17.04.2015 Graz/ 18th International Conference on Material Forming “Esaform“
Austria Information: TU Graz, Internet: www.esaform2015.at
26.04.-29.04.2015 Helsingor/ 18th International Conference on Joining Materials “JOM-18“
Denmark Information: JOM, E-Mail: jom_aws@post10.tele.dk
28.04.-30.04.2015 Graz/ 8th European Stainless Steel Conference / Duplex Stainless Steel Conference & Exhibition
Austria Information: TU Graz, Internet: www.stainlesssteel2015.org
05.05.-08.05.2015 Wildbad Kreuth/ International Conference on High-Temperature Shape Memory Alloys – From Basics to Applications
Germany Information: DGM, Internet: www.dgm.de/htsmas
11.05.-14.05.2015 Long Beach/ ITSC 2015 – International Thermal Spray Conference and Exposition
USA Information: ASM International, Internet: www.asminternational.org/web/itsc-2015
12.05.-16.05.2015 Florence/ 9th Aluminium Two Thousand Congress & 5th International Conference on Extrusion and Benchmark
Italy Information: University of Bologna, Internet: www.aluminium2000.com / www.ice-b.net

Work-related stress: EU campaign calls on employers

and workers to tackle it together
The European Agency for Safety and
Health at Work (EU-OSHA), headquartered
in Bilbao/Spain, launched a two year Europe-
wide campaign: ‘Healthy Workplaces Manage
Stress’. The prevalence of work-related stress
in Europe is startling. EU-OSHA’s latest pan-
European opinion poll revealed that 51% of
workers find work-related stress to be com-
mon in their workplace and 4 in 10 workers
think that stress is not handled well in their
organisation. However, together employers
and workers can successfully manage and
prevent work-related stress and psychosocial
risks; the Healthy Workplaces Campaign aims
to help companies do just that.
The campaign launch brought together
EU Commissioner for Employment, Social
Affairs and Inclusion, László Andor, Greek
Deputy Minister for Labour, Social Security
and Welfare, Vasilis Kegkeroglou, represent-
ing the Greek EU Council Presidency, and
Director of EU-OSHA, Dr Christa Sed-
latschek. They called on Europe’s enterprises
(both private and public) to recognise the
need to tackle work-related stress. By doing
so, they will be protecting their workers’
health and their organisations’ productivity.
Better protection of workers’
mental health
Commissioner Andor said: “Managing
work-related stress is one of the corner-
stones in ensuring the health, safety and
wellbeing of European workers. Workplaces
cannot afford to ignore work-related stress,
which increases absenteeism and lowers
productivity. The forthcoming EU Strategic
Framework on Health and Safety at work
2014-20 will underline that better protection
of workers’ mental health is a key factor to
prevent work-related diseases. The frame-
work will propose a range of actions, such
as sharing good practices, for promoting
mental health at work. A positive working
environment is not only important for en-
abling employees to work longer, it is also
important to ensure that when workers do
retire, they are still in good health. I am con-
vinced that the new EU-OSHA campaign on
stress and psychosocial risks at work will
greatly contribute to this objective.“
“The Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress
Campaign 2014–15 is an excellent opportu-
nity to promote the need for European work-

262 Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5


places to effectively tackle psychosocial risks
and work-related stress,“ added Kegkeroglou.
“The campaign provides the required sup-
port and guidance to employers, managers,
workers and their representatives.“
Dr Sedlatschek spoke about the aims
of the campaign: “Despite the increasing
presence and costs of workplace stress,
there is still significant misunderstanding
and sensitivity around it – EU-OSHA’s ES-
ENER survey found that over 40% of em-
ployers consider psychosocial risks more
difficult to manage than ‘traditional’ occu-
pational safety and health risks. With this
campaign, we want to raise awareness of
the problem and provide support to man-
age psychosocial risks. Work-related stress
is an organisational issue and should be
tackled as such by employers and workers
working together.“
National focal points in more than
30 European countries
The Healthy Workplaces Campaign
seeks to show how psychosocial risks can
be handled in the same systematic way as
any other occupational safety and health
risk. It aims to promote the use of simple
tools which can help organisations to effec-
tively manage these risks and highlight the
positive effects of doing so. The campaign
invites all organisations and individuals at
local, national and European levels to take
part. It will be coordinated at national level
by EU-OSHA’s national focal points in more
than 30 European countries, and supported
by official campaign partners – pan-Euro-
pean and multinational organisations and
the campaign media partners. The Healthy
Workplaces Campaign is also backed by the
EU Council Presidencies, the European Par-
liament, the European Commission and the
European social partners.
‘Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress’ will
run for two years and will involve hundreds
of organisations from across Europe, involv-
ing a range of activities such as training ses-
sions, conferences and workshops, poster,
film and photo competitions, quizzes, sug-
gestion schemes, advertising campaigns and
press conferences. More information:
www.healthy-workplaces.eu/en. (According
to press information from EU-OSHA)

TWI celebrates
National Women
in Engineering
Day
It was a chance to celebrate being a part VIRO wsi
of a great team when over 40 female engi- Automated, Optical 3D Inspection
neers based at TWI – The Welding Insti- of Brazed and Welded Seams
tute’s Granta Park headquarters (Cam-
bridge/UK) got together to mark National
Women in Engineering Day.
In contrast to the national picture, it us at
V is
where only 6% of engineers are female, TWI
has at least 25% women engineers, quali-
fied or qualifying across all levels, from
2
Ha

Hanover
F1

technician and project leader through to 21–25 Oct.

13
ll

principal project leader and manager , b o oth

grades. And human resources statistics for
» 100 % inspection even with difficult seam geometries
the company‘s UK and international labo- and highly reflective materials
ratories support this sustainable trend
» Efficient optimisation of production with database-
across three years.
supported evaluation software
With over 60 women engineers current-
ly working at the organisation on materials
» Fast, intuitive teach-in of seams and inspection limits
with the new VIROwsi operating concept
joining and engineering projects for mem-
ber companies from industry sectors in- » Field proven and globally used
cluding medical, transport, and oil and gas,
the work environment and culture at TWI
is not only to encourage and inspire new
recruits but also to invest in senior staff www.vitronic.com
with valuable core knowledge.

Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5 263

 NEWS
TWI engineers celebrate National Women in Engineering Day, pictured with Chief Executive Christoph
Wiesner and Research Director Paul Woollin.
Lloyd’s Register Foundation supports education and
research centre in structural integrity
The Lloyd‘s Register Foundation, Lon-
don/UK, has signed a heads of agreement
with TWI, Cambridge/UK to provide £15m
research funding to establish the new Na-
tional Structural Integrity Research Centre
(NSIRC) nearing completion at TWI in Cam-
bridge. The Foundation will become a
Founder Sponsor and Board member of the
newly-established Structural Integrity Re-
search Foundation (SIRF), responsible for
industrial support of NSIRC. The Lloyd‘s
Register Foundation and TWI are now final-
ising the full contractual terms.
The collaboration will work over the
next ten years to inspire and engage the next
generation of marine and energy engineers
by providing fundamental science and in-
dustry-driven research opportunities ali-
gned with a postgraduate education pro-
gramme.
As a Founder Sponsor of the SIRF ini-
tiative, the Lloyd‘s Register Foundation‘s
funding will create up to 83 PhD and EngD
studentships. The research will support the
Lloyd‘s Register Foundation‘s charitable
aims by focusing on improving the safety of
the critical infrastructure that modern soci-
ety relies on, particularly in the energy, ma-
rine and transportation sectors.
264
Research undertaken by the Lloyd‘s Reg-
ister Foundation students into different ar-
eas of structural integrity and new areas of
technology will progress as recognised post-
graduate degree qualifications through
NSIRC‘s established relationships with lead-
ing universities in the UK and overseas.
A number of Lloyd‘s Register group com-
panies are already Industrial Members of
TWI and through the investment the Lloyd‘s
Register Foundation will strengthen links
with the world-class pool of engineering
knowledge and knowhow. It will contribute
to the direction of SIRF activities, including
the unique education hub of NSIRC with its
purpose-built facilities and equipment.
Prof Richard Clegg, Managing Director
of the Lloyd‘s Register Foundation, said,
“Our vision is to be known worldwide as a
leading supporter of engineering-related re-
search, training and education. This funding
agreement is a significant step in the delivery
of our new funding strategy and provides a
model for future investments. We want to
focus on long-term grants with targeted in-
stitutions that deliver both impact and ex-
cellence.“
The Lloyd‘s Register Foundation‘s strat-
egy for 2014-2020 focuses funding on four
Structural integrity project leader Emily
Hutchison said, “I like being an engineer be-
cause I get to make a positive difference to
the safety of structures around the world, as
well as being part of a great team of people.“
This teamwork in research and develop-
ment for its Industrial Member companies
goes hand-in-hand with the work TWI and
its Professional Division carries out with
schools and colleges. Many of the engineers
share their knowledge and knowhow with
school children and young adults, through
fun workshops and specially organised local
science days.
“We hope young women will see what
can be achieved in the world of engineering
– there are so many opportunities open to
men and women alike, and if we can be role
models for future engineers, that makes our
day jobs all the more worthwhile,“ said en-
gineering fracture expert Philippa Moore.
(According to press information from TWI)
strategic themes: Promoting safety and pub-
lic understanding of risk; advancing skills
and education; supporting excellent scien-
tific research; and accelerating the applica-
tion of research. Four research themes have
been prioritised: structural integrity and sys-
tems performance; resilience engineering;
human and social factors; and emergent
technologies.
Christoph Wiesner, Chief Executive at
TWI, added, “We are delighted to be working
with the Lloyd‘s Register Foundation in this
venture and are confident that strong indus-
try partnerships are key to effective educa-
tion programmes. The collaboration will
promote greater understanding of future
technical needs as well as safer, and increas-
ingly efficient, practice in the field of struc-
tural engineering.“
SIRF has won public support from the
Government‘s Regional Growth Fund and
the Higher Educational Funding Council for
England, with lead academic partner Brunel
University, to set up and equip the new fa-
cility for NSIRC. The Lloyd‘s Register Foun-
dation joins oil and gas exploration and pro-
duction organisation BP in providing indus-
trial funding for the new venture. (According
to press information from TWI)
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
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 FROM COMPANIES
New era of oxygen weld monitors
The perfect weld. A universal truth with-
in the welding industry, its achievement is
the sought after ‚prize‘ for welders world-
wide. Sadly, a perfect weld does not materi-
alise on its own. Rather, it is the culmination
of several properly executed steps; one of
which is known as ‚pipe purging.‘ Pipe purg-
ing occurs before any actual welding takes
place and is the process by which inert gases
(e.g. Argon) are introduced into the welding
zone to displace the oxygen and create a
pure welding environment.
Since weld quality is always a primary
concern, welders must be equipped with the
most advanced and reliable technology. The
demand for such technology has led the
Aquasol Corporation to introduce the new
“PRO OX-100“ programmable digital oxygen
monitor. This
state-of-
Upgrade your favorite welding tool
with a Push-Pull from Mechafin.
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Fon 0044 1494 44 11 10
Fax 0044 1494 47 30 49
266
the-art oxygen weld monitor has garnered
international recognition for its advanced
features and low cost.
The pipe purging process
Before welding can begin, it is customary
to purge the weld zone of all oxygen to pro-
tect the root gap from oxidation and ensure
a high-quality weld. Purging is accom-
plished by introducing inert gases, such as
argon, into the weld zone. The argon gas
displaces the existing atmosphere, including
the oxygen, thereby evacuating it from the
weld zone. This process is then continued
until the required level of oxygen is reached
and a pure welding environment is secured. Furnished with a slender stainless probe and
If the root gap is not adequately protect- neoprene extension tubing, the “PRO OX-100“
ed, problems may arise which can threaten can be used for remote monitoring.
the integrity of the weld. Oxidation can
cause discolouration which not only looks ly reduce its resistance to corrosion. Precise
displeasing but also leads to metallurgical monitoring of the oxygen levels can be reli-
imbalances, especially in some stainless ably and efficiently accomplished through
steels. Another threat to weld the use of an oxygen weld monitor.
integrity comes in the
form of gross oxidation Time for a change
which can degrade the Oxygen weld monitors enable welders
mechanical properties to know when sufficient oxygen has been
of a pipe and significant- evacuated from the weld zone so that work
can begin without any fear of threats to the
welding operation such as discolouration,
oxidation or coking. To commence welding,
The oxygen weld
typically the required oxygen level needs to
monitor “PRO OX-
100“ is equipped be reduced to between 0.1 and 0.01%.
with an array of ac- The industry has responded to the need
cessories and capabil- for oxygen monitoring with simplified solu-
ities. tions. First-generation oxygen weld monitors
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5

merely provided a reading of the oxygen lev-
el and have not met the needs of welders to-
day. But as the industry advances, the oxy-
gen monitor can be used as a critical tool in
the quality control process meaning its tech-
nological capabilities must be highly ad-
vanced. The Aquasol Corporation under-
stood the direction in which the welding in-
dustry is moving and introduced the “PRO
OX-100“: a battery powered, rechargeable,
programmable, handheld digital oxygen
monitor that offers the exact solution for to-
day‘s pipe purging needs.
Importance of purge quality
The overall quality of an oxygen weld
monitor is largely dependent on the quality
of the oxygen sensor contained within the
monitor. A superior oxygen sensor leads to
more precise readings which, ultimately,
leads to a higher quality weld. Welders know
that a proper purge is not possible if the oxy-
gen level reading is unreliable. An inaccurate
reading can result in a substandard weld or
the unnecessary waste and cost of inert gas-
es. An improper reading of the oxygen level
could result in too much oxygen still being
present in the weld zone which can lead to
oxidation, corrosion and the possible con-
tamination of joints. These options are not
desirable and therefore it is important that
the manufacturer rigorously test the accu-
racy of the sensors.
Aquasol certifies that their claimed ac-
curacy capabilities are, in fact, supported by
how the “PRO OX-100“ performs in the field.
Each customer is provided with a calibration
certificate acknowledging that the product
has been thoroughly tested and inspected
by an Aquasol engineer to meet claimed ac-
curacy capabilities of 99.995%, Ar +/– 0.01
and to meet the requirements specified by
the National Institute of Standards and Tech-
nology as well as Aquasol‘s own quality as-
surance regulations.
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
Zero defects in
TIG welding
The data logging
capabilities allow
users to export
& cladding
up to 50 data
points to Mi-
crosoft Excel or
plain text format.
The “PRO OX-100“ features an internal Stand-No.
pump that allows for hands-free maneuver- 6 - 449
ing when monitoring oxygen levels. This
pump draws an oxygen sample from the en- 11th - 13th
vironment and the monitor quickly provides November
an easy to read digital LCD display of 0.00-
21.00% oxygen with 0.01% (100 PPM) reso-
lution. Aquasol Corporation Electrical En-
gineer Dipayan Majumder noted that “other
oxygen monitors use a hand aspirator to
sample gas from the root gap. This creates
variable pressure pulses on the sensor. All
oxygen sensors are affected by such pressure
pulses and read incorrectly. Hand aspiration
also brings fatigue to the operators during
long purge operations. The ,PRO OX-100’ w e ldin g & c
uses a constant-flow pump to sample gas it al la
d
b
uniformly and provide the most accurate re-
di
Or
ng
sult.”
Data logging capability
The “PRO OX-100“ allows for increased
accuracy in oxygen monitoring with its
unique data logging capability. Welders can
create permanent records of real time data
(at 15 second intervals) of oxygen levels for
critical welding operations. The user is en-
abled to capture and export up to 50 data
points, with just a few clicks, to Microsoft
ldin g & c
Excel and plain text format. Additionally, we la
d
high-speed data offloading to a PC via a USB
ed
di
is
interface is offered which helps to ensure
an
ng
data integrity at all times and allows welders
M ech
to adhere to any quality control regulations
their company or client might have.
To increase efficiency the weld monitor
is equipped with an audiovisual alarm. Since
oxygen contamination is one of the most
common causes of substandard welds, hav-
ing absolute confidence in knowing when
the desired oxygen level has been reached
is critical. The “PRO OX-100“ allows the user
to program the alarm to a specific O2 PPM
value. Once the target value is reached, the
A member of
alarm reaches both the eyes and ears as it
www.polysoude.com
 FROM COMPANIES
alerts the user by emitting an intermittent
beep simultaneously as a green light flashes.
This feature allows users to perform other
weld preparations while the weld zone is be-
ing purified.
Similar to Aquasol‘s other environmen-
tally-friendly products like the “EZ Purge“
water soluble purge dam or their “SoluGap“
socket weld spacer rings, the “PRO OX-100“
is also environmentally friendly as it leaves
minimal carbon footprint behind after use.
It comes equipped with a rechargeable 9 V
battery and charger. Designed for universal
voltage, it is compatible with different volt-
ages and frequency specifications from
around the world as it operates on 100
VAC/60 Hz, 120 VAC/60 Hz and 220 VAC/50
Hz configurations.
Advanced materials conditioning facility expands
exposure testing opportunities
Six large-volume autoclaves commis-
sioned at TWI are expanding the company’s
existing capability for exposure testing of poly-
meric, composite and metallic test specimens
together with larger components. Early tests,
carried out during a recent joint industry proj-
ect, have demonstrated the new facility’s po-
tential for extended research of materials’ be-
haviour in supercritical environments.
The long-term performance of polymer-
ic, composite, cementitious and metallic
materials in oilfield, construction and auto-
motive applications is of interest to many of
TWI’s Industrial Member organisations. Un-
til now, it has been difficult to test large com-
Stud Welding – The Best Joint
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Quality meets Innovation.
While Aquasol is a U.S. based company,
they recognise that English is not the first
language of much of its international client
base. The “PRO OX-100“ offers a built-in,
multi-language feature with on-screen in-
structions that are available in English, Ger-
man, Portuguese and Spanish. Aquasol de-
buted their “PRO OX-100“ at the interna-
tional trade fair “Schweissen & Schneiden
2013“ in Essen/Germany which featured
1,017 exhibitors from over 40 countries and
55,000 visitors from over 130 countries. This
premier event reinforced the need for
Aquasol to incorporate other languages in-
to the monitor‘s on-screen language capa-
bilities.
Zach Carr, Aquasol Corporation,
North Tonawanda, NY/USA
ponents in a maintained constant test envi-
ronment. Recently, TWI and a subcontractor
designed a new series of autoclaves to ex-
acting specifications. This new facility was
installed in the harsh environment (H2S sour
service and corrosive produced fluids) test-
ing laboratory in Cambridge/UK and ex-
pands the exposure testing opportunities.
The autoclaves have already been used
in a joint industry project on materials se-
lection for transport of supercritical carbon
dioxide (MASCO2T), investigating the con-
ditioning of large polymeric tensile speci-
mens in supercritical CO2 and H2S mixes at
elevated temperatures and pressures. Also
hbs-info.de
References
“Batteries.” RethinkRecycling.com. Accessed
13 June 2014.
http://www.rethinkrecycling.com/residents/
materials-name/batteries
LNG World News Staff. “HFT Introduces New Weld
Purge Monitor for Welding LNG Tube and Pipes
(UK)” LNGworldnews.com. Last modified 29 Febru-
ary 2012.
http://www.lngwordnews.com/hft-introduces-
new-weld-purge-monitor-for-welding-lng-tubes-
and-pipes
Robert Brooks. “New Model Purge Monitor.” Weld-
ing Design and Fabrication. Last modified 20
March 2012. http://weldingdesign.com/equip-
ment-amp-automation/new-model-weld-purge-
monitor
included in the test programme for the proj-
ect was a metre-long section of composite
tube, which could be aged for the customer
for extended periods while keeping the ratio
of fluid reservoir volume to surface area at
25 cm (as specified by oilfield standards in-
cluding ISO 23936).
Five of the autoclaves have an internal
depth of 600 mm and two of these are lined
with C276. A resulting 19.4L volume allows
application of testing standards where the
ratio of the fluid volume to the sample sur-
face area is specified as 25 cm. The sixth
C276-lined autoclave has an internal depth
of 1,000 mm making it ideal for conditioning

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Visit us at EuroBLECH, Hannover (21.-25. October 2014) Hall 13, Booth D35
Visit us at FABTECH, Atlanta/USA (11. -13. November 2014) Booth C3629

268 Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5

 New large-volume autoclaves commissioned at TWI.

tubular components made from thermo-
plastics, fibre-reinforced composite or coat-
ed metal parts. The autoclaves can be run
under conditions up to 190 bar and 180°C.
All six autoclaves can be compartmen-
talised to allow for testing different mate-
rials under similar conditions, using spe-
cially welded leak-proof inserts to prevent
cross-contamination of fluids within the
vessels.
A dual-stage 2L syringe-pump enables
materials conditioning operations with start-
ing feed pressures as low as 20 bar and,
thanks to a specially designed single ther-
mocouple holder, operators can routinely
check internal temperatures throughout the
vertical depth while the autoclave is still un-
der pressure.
At the end of an extended period of con-
ditioning, pressure in the autoclave can be
reduced under operator control to reproduce
a rapid gas decompression (RGD) event. Note
this can be applied even in the largest auto-
clave, significantly enhancing the current
RGD capabilities to larger components, whilst
maintaining high safety and environmental
standards. As pressure reduces, the released
gas is sampled to TWI’s extensive suite of gas
chromatographs, ready for analysis. (Accord-
ing to press information from TWI)

Join together.
In India.
6TH INDIA ESSEN WELDING & CUTTING
OCT. 28 – 30, 2014 MUMBAI
International Trade Fair
Joining Cutting Surfacing
In conjunction with:

VISIT US IN HALL 6 - E72 &

www.india-essen-welding-cutting.com

MESSE ESSEN GmbH

Tel: +49. (0)201. 72 44-649/232
Fax: +49. (0)201. 72 44-435
julia.wermter@messe-essen.de
anna.grannass@messe-essen.de
www.india-essen-welding-cutting.com
 FROM COMPANIES

Welding thick sheets quickly

As part of the joint project “Hybrilas“, can be used to make single-sided, zero-de-
scientists at the Laser Center in Hanover/ fect welds for aluminium sheets up to a
Germany have developed a process that thickness of 12 mm. To achieve this, they
combined a laser beam with two gas metal
arc welding (GMAW) torches.
The “ScanTracker“ of Precitec’s
“YW52“ welding head has an integrated
scanner mirror, thereby allowing the laser
beam to make a pendulum movement
across or along the feed direction. This en-
ables the effective width of the laser beam
to be flexibly set. The welding seam width
is exactly as wide as necessary and permits
the highest possible welding speed.
The joining process achieves high feed
speeds of 5 to 6 m/min and is able to bridge
gap widths of up to 0.4 mm and edge mis-
alignment of up to 2 mm. With steel mate-
rials, sheets up to 23 mm thick can be
welded in a single layer at a speed of 1.5
m/min. The hybrid welding process produces a very nar-
The innovative process is not only very row weld seam on an aluminium sheet (cross-
fast: compared to conventional methods section above, top view below).
with multiple layer gas metal arc welding
processes, the seam geometry is very nar-
The laser hybrid weld-
row and filler material consumption is con-
ing process combines
siderably lower. This creates a high quality
the advantages of the
laser beam and the weld seam. The lower heat input and
metal protective gas hence less severe component distortion
methods. means the combined process has other ad-
vantages over conventional methods. The
hybrid welding process uses a solid-state
disk laser with an output power of 16 kW.
The developed laser
To join a steel sheet with a thickness of
hybrid welding process
can, for example, cut 30 mm, conventional gas metal arc welding
future production costs requires tack welds and approximately six
of liquid gas tanks and filler layers. The hybrid process only needs
pipelines. two to three layers. The first layer is made
using the laser-GMAW hybrid process. It
replaces the tack welds and the first four
layers of the conventional gas metal arc
weld. Subsequently the sheets are subject
to one or two backing runs with the GMAW
process. And so the hybrid welding process
is able to weld a 1.5 m long component
within just 1 min, whereas the convention-
al process takes 12 min.
The joining project “Hybrilas: welding
thick sheets with brilliant laser beam
sources“ was part of an initiative called
“Mabrilas: Material processing with bril-
liant laser beam sources“ and was promot-
ed by the Federal Ministry for Training and
Research and coordinated by the VDI
Technology Center. (According to press in-
formation from Precitec)

270 Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5

New arc process for more efficient welding
Fronius continues to draw on the ad-
vanced technical capabilities of its latest
product range with four new arc variants for
the “TPS/i“ MIG/MAG welding platform: the
“LSC Root“ and “LSC Universal“ character-
istics supplement a new algorithm and fea-
ture reduced spatter and greater arc stability.
New welding parameters form the basis for
functions available in the industry for the
first time, such as the penetration stabiliser.
In addition, Fronius has again made a
significant improvement to its proven arc
length correction and dynamic correction
functions. The advanced versions of “LSC
Root“ and “LSC Universal“ permit, with the
aid of special hardware, the use of longer
hosepacks whilst maintaining consistently
high welding quality. All these innovations
make the operation of the power source sig-
nificantly easier and guarantee good welding
and brazing results, even for less experi-
enced welders.
Cross section of a root seam welded with
“LSC Root“ with the penetration stabiliser dis-
abled (Photos: Fronius International GmbH)
Do you want to save
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your TIG electrodes?
We offer high quality, safe,
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Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
Fronius has developed a completely new
algorithm for “LSC“ (Low Spatter Control).
It makes effective use of the high computing
power, large memory, very fast system bus
and highly dynamic wire feed speed of the
company’s latest MIG/MAG welding plat-
form to ensure an extremely stable and low
spatter arc.
Particularly noticeable are the advances
in root pass welding, for which “LSC Root“
was developed. It guarantees excellent root
formation and a high deposition rate with
reduced energy input. Unlike conventional
MAG welding, it is now for the first time pos-
sible to perform vertical down welding with-
out having to accept poor fusion results. This
makes the root pass significantly easier for
users. Furthermore, shielding gas loss has
been reduced by up to 3% thanks to a new
generation of welding torches.
The “LSC Universal“ arc characteristic
is especially suited to the welding of fillet
“LSC Universal Advanced“: wire diameter:
1,2 mm; filler wire: G3Si1; wire feed speed:
4 m/min.
nd us an E-mail
ail for information
n about a distributor in your a
welds, corner welds, lap joints as well as fill-
ing and capping runs and brazing.
“LSC“ arc users benefit from the new
penetration stabiliser. When activated, it
keeps the fusion penetration constant dur-
ing stick out fluctuations with the help of a
new wire feed speed control, which can be
adjusted as required by the user. This has a
particularly positive effect on fillet welds that
are to be welded in the vertical up position
with an oscillating motion. The stabiliser en-
sures a constant and deep fusion penetra-
tion, even in the event of external interfer-
ence. Very good results can be achieved even
with lower cost solid wires.
Moreover, Fronius has enhanced some
functions that are already supported by
predecessor devices and appreciated by
welders – arc length correction and dynamic
correction. For example, the arc pressure
can now be set via the dynamic correction
in “LSC Root“. Improved functions that en-
sure high seam quality at the problematic
start and end of welding round off the “LSC“
package.
To enable the use of the longer hose-
packs that are commonplace in, for example,
pipeline and container construction and ro-
botic welding, Fronius has developed some
additional hardware that reduces the nega-
tive influence of increased inductance in the
welding circuit. The advanced versions of
the “LSC Root“ and “LSC Universal“ arc char-
acteristics are available for appropriately
equipped power sources. (According to press
information from Fronius International)
Inelco Grinders A/S
Industrivej 3
DK-9690 Fjerritslev
Tel. +45 96 50 62 33
info@inelco-grinders.com
www.inelco-grinders.com
area
271
 FROM COMPANIES
Frequency scanning testing of armour wire provides
data for improved fatigue design
Fig. 1 • TWI facilities used for the FCGR testing
of armour wire
TWI Industrial Member company Exxon
Mobil recently approached TWI, Cam-
bridge/UK to develop a testing programme
to determine the effect of loading frequency
on fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR) of ar-
mour wire in corrosive environment. The
work has produced control data that will al-
low enhanced product design for offshore
applications.
Armour wire in both flexible risers and
flowlines offshore can be subject to corro-
sion fatigue. As corrosion pits may develop
during service, knowledge of the effects of
corrosive environment and loading frequen-
cy on FGCR is essential for fatigue design of
armour wires. TWI developed a frequency
scanning test to investigate these effects.
272
Fig. 2 • Normalised FCGR versus loading frequency.
Single-edge notch bend specimens with
a rectangular cross section of 4 by 11 mm
were machined from armour wires with a
cross section of 4 by 12 mm. FCGR tests in a
simulated sour environment were carried
out under three-point bending using spe-
cialist facilities available in TWI (Fig. 1)
where environmental conditions can be
carefully controlled to represent those in
service.
To determine the effect of loading fre-
quency on FCGR, the team carried out fre-
quency scanning FCGR tests where the load
range was gradually and automatically de-
creased after each small increase in crack
length to keep stress intensity factor range,
DK, constant in each test. The loading fre-
quency was decreased in regular steps after
a certain crack extension.
TWI successfully determined the effect
of loading frequency on FCGR in the sour
environment for the armour wire specimens.
Fig. 2 shows the FCGR in the sour environ-
ment normalised with the FCGR given in BS
7910 for steels in air. It can be seen that the
FCGR of armour wire in the sour environ-
ment increased sharply with decreasing
loading frequency, with a normalised FCGR
value being increased from ~3 at 1 Hz to ~11
at 0.1 Hz and to ~21 at 0.03 Hz [1].
Following the success of the tests in the
sour environment, it is planned to investi-
gate the use of frequency scanning testing
of armour wire specimens in other corrosive
environments. For more information please
contact TWI at integritymanagement@twi.
co.uk (According to press information from
TWI)
[1] Krishnan V K, Asher S, Doynov K and Zhang
Y H, 2014: “Flexible armour wires: fatigue
load frequency effects and an accelerated
pitting methodology”, published in
OMAE2014 Conference, 8-13 June, San
Francisco, Paper No. OMAE2014-24048.
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5

Short Messages
Daihen Varstroj held a grand
opening ceremony in Lendava/
Slovenia
The welding equipment manufacturer
Varstroj d.d. with head office in Lendava/
Slovenia which became an affiliated com-
pany of Daihen Corporation, Osaka/Japan
in February 2014, held a grand opening cer-
emony on 11 June 2014 as a new company
called Daihen Varstroj d.d. The ceremony
had guests Anton Balazek (Mayor of Lenda-
va city), Shigemi Jomori (Japan’s ambassa-
During the grand opening ceremony of Daihen
Varstroj in Lendava/Slovenia (from left to right):
Shigemi Jomori (Japan’s Ambassador in Slove-
nia), Tetsuya Tajiri (Chief Executive Officer of
Daihen Corporation), Anton Balazek (Mayor of
Lendava city) and Matjaz Vnuk (Director of
Varstroj).
dor extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the
Republic of Slovenia), Helena Cumnor
(Counsel to the President of Slovenia) and
about 220 people concerned including deal-
ers, users, people from the education insti-
tutions and Daihen people such as Tetsuya
Tajiri (President and Chief Executive Offi-
cer). The ceremony also included the open-
ing and a tour of the new Technology Center.
Exhibitions and demonstrations of the state-
of-the-art welding machines, cutting sys-
tems and arc welding robots got favourable
comments. Also the Technology Center has
functions to solve customers’ problems in
welding and to train people in state-of-the-
art welding, cutting and robot equipment.
Linde to build a new hydrogen
production unit for Neste Oil
The technology company The Linde
Group and Finnish refining company Neste
Oil have agreed on a long-term on-site hy-
drogen supply contract. According to the
agreement, Linde will build a new hydrogen
production unit for Neste Oil’s Porvoo re-
finery near Helsinki/Finland. The total in-
vestment value from Linde and Neste Oil
amounts to approximately EUR 100 million.
Neste Oil’s Porvoo refinery already has two
hydrogen production units with the older
one now due for replacement by a more ef-
ficient unit. Linde’s Engineering Division
will build the turn-key plant while Linde’s
North European subsidiary AGA will be re-
sponsible for the operation of the new unit
that is planned to come on stream in 2016.
Neste Oil will build the piping between the
new plant and the refinery. The hydrogen
will be produced from natural gas in a steam
reforming process and it will be used at the
Porvoo refinery in many processes and
products. Hydrogen is used to produce,
among other things, sulphur-free diesel fuel
as well as high-quality base oils. The new
contract is an expansion of the two compa-
nies’ existing supply relationship at the Por-
voo site. Linde already provides Neste Oil
with air gases while obtaining in return off-
gas CO2 for subsequent purification.
New General Sales Manager at
Wall Colmonoy
Wall Colmonoy announces the appoint-
ment of Mike Thompson as General Sales
Manager for its European Headquarters in
Pontardawe, Swansea/UK. He brings to Wall
Colmonoy over 25 years‘ experience in the
surface engineering industry. His experience
covers wear resistant coatings, castings, re-
fractory metals, thermal spray powders and
General Sales
Manager Mike
Thompson leads
a team of Key
Account and
Channel Man-
agers covering
various regions
of the UK and
Europe.

G4 PHOENIX Cracks are dangerous !

Fast determination of
diffffusible Hydrogen in welds
according to ISO 3690 & AW WS A4.3.

Hot extraction method with thermal conductivity detection.

Mercur y-free! Thermal Desorption Analysis Option available
for non-weld samples.

www.bruker.com/csonh
www.bruker.com/csonh

ELEMENTAL ANALYSIS
Inno v a tion w it h In t e gr it y

Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5 273

 FROM COMPANIES
coating services for aerospace, oil and steel
industries. Mike is directly responsible for
alloy products and precision components
accounts in Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Is-
rael, Japan, Lithuania, Norway, Republic of
Moldova, Sweden and UK (North). Mike, a
qualified Metallurgist, has a B.S. Honours
Degree in Metallurgy from the University of
Aston in Birmingham. Wall Colmonoy is a
global materials engineering group of com-
panies engaged in the manufacturing of sur-
facing and brazing products, castings and
engineered components across aerospace,
automotive, oil & gas, mining, energy and
other industrial sectors.
Westfalen Gruppe supplies tube
welding machine to the Far East
Georg Schulze-Dürr, Managing Director at 3R
solutions GmbH (right), and Wolfgang Fritsch-
Albert, CEO of Westfalen Gruppe, finalised their
cooperation by signing the corresponding agree-
ment at the “Tube“ specialist fair. (Photo: West-
falen Gruppe)
On the occasion of this year‘s “Tube“
trade fair in Düsseldorf/Germany, Westfalen
Gruppe finalised its biggest deal so far in the
“Ekonor“ field. Originally designed for or-
bital welding, it has established itself in the
sector of special plants in pipeline construc-
tion. Specially tailored to the needs of an
From left to right: Hansrue-
di Wandfluh (National
Council), Andreas Ewald
(Managing Director of
Rofin-Lasag AG), Professor
Ursula Keller (ETH Zurich)
and Thomas Merk (Chief
Operating Officer “Rofin
Laser Micro“ and “Rofin
Laser Marking“) at a cele-
bration of the 40th anniver-
sary of Rofin-Lasag AG.
274
offshore shipyard in Singapore, the welding
plant is integrated into an overall concept
of the software plant developer 3R solutions
GmbH with its company seat in Hamm/Ger-
many. ”In cooperation with our partner we
were able to sell the first phase of a complete
tube production for oil rigs,“ said Ulf Jenter,
head of welding and cutting technology of
Westfalen Gruppe. The centre piece of the
material flow developed by 3R solutions is a
combined WIG-MAG tube welding plant.
The integration of both welding processes
increases the welding speed and thus its pro-
ductivity. The integrated internal tension
system which was developed by Westfalen
Gruppe enables the simple aligning and fas-
tening of the tubes which – in addition –
shortens production time. Further plannings
are already on their way: “Our next goal now
is to do business in cooperation with 3R so-
lutions in the second phase of the project,
too,“ added Jenter.
Swiss veteran in laser technology
The Swiss industrial laser manufacturer
Rofin-Lasag AG celebrated its 40th anniver-
sary this year: The Swiss company Lasag AG
was founded in 1974 as a wholly-owned sub-
sidiary of ASUAG (Allgemeine Schweiz-
erische Uhren AG) to manufacture lasers for
drilling watch jewels. Lasag AG has belonged
to the Swatch Group since 1998, before it
became a member of the Rofin Group in
2010. Today the head office in Thun com-
prises of a team of 48 highly qualified em-
ployees, who develop and sell between 150
to 200 lasers a year for the most varied in-
dustrial precision applications. In several ar-
eas, such as needle and turbine blade
drilling, Rofin-Lasag AG has been the world
market leader for many years. Here the Swiss
company has never rested on its laurels but
has continued to develop its lasers as well
as its processes. This led, in 2009, to the ad-
dition of the first fiber lasers to the estab-
lished solid state lasers, which today make
a significant contribution to their revenue.
In June 2014, Rofin-Lasag AG celebrated the
company’s anniversary with three separate
celebrations. As well as customers and sup-
pliers, guests from politics, science, employ-
ees and their families all came together at
various events.
Lorch opens new premises in
India
From left to right: Indrajit Mookerjee (Managing
Director of Lorch India Welding Products Pvt.
Ltd.), Bernhard Steinrücke (Director General of
the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce), Fr
Corlis Gonsalves (Director of the Don Bosco Cen-
tre), Fr Elson Barretto (Manager of the Don
Bosco Development Office), Wolfgang Grüb
(Managing Director of Lorch Schweißtechnik
GmbH) and Cataldo Sposato (Lorch Sales Direc-
tor International). (Photo: Lorch)
Lorch Schweißtechnik GmbH, Auen-
wald/Germany, has inaugurated a new
Welding Technology Competency Centre in
Pune/India with its subsidiary Lorch India
Welding Products Pvt. Ltd., Calcutta. With
the official inauguration, Lorch India now
has a second permanent presence in India
alongside Calcutta. Pune is a centre for car
manufacturers and their suppliers as well
as the manufacturing industry. Lorch has
invested in the construction of a Welding
Technology Competency Centre there. Con-
sultations, demonstrations, service and
spare parts of the highest quality can now
be provided from the new base. The Lorch
Don Bosco Welding Technology School of
Excellence, another project supported by
Lorch, is directly attached to the Competen-
cy Centre. Wolfgang Grüb and the Director
General of the Indo-German Chamber of
Commerce Bernhard Steinrücke opened the
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
 new premises in a multi-cultural ceremony. The PC-controlled
Young Indians from the poorest social class- Kardex warehouse de-
es will be given the opportunity to train as vices enable employees
welders there. To train the prospective to ensure picking un-
der optimum condi-
welders using the latest welding technology,
tions.
the centre with a total area of approx. 450
m2 will be provided with 20 fully equipped
welding booths and the latest Lorch ma-
chines and tools.

New Castolin Central Warehouse

East opened
On 28 April 2014 the new Castolin Cen-
tral Warehouse East (CWE) in the German
municipality of Kriftel got down to work.
Customers in central, northern and eastern
Europe are supplied directly from this loca-
tion. The central warehouse is managed by
Peter Garrad, Customer Service and Logis-
tics Manager, Castolin Eutectic Ireland Lim-
ited. The new European location will cover
to the entire Castolin product range of weld-
ing, cutting and coating equipment. To date,
the stock of finished goods have been trans-
ferred from Dublin to the European central
warehouse, and daily production is being
routed through Kriftel several times a week.
Moreover, the goods from other national
subsidiaries are also concentrated in the
central warehouse. Well prepared for future
requirements, including the shipment of up
to 100,000 packages per year, the European
central warehouse is also equipped with
state-of-the-art technology for picking and
packing, for example three Kardex ware-
house devices for the storage of high value
parts and small parts (7 m high, 4 m wide, 4
m deep). Each module has up to 60 ware-
house shelves.

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 WELDING PRACTICE

Joining welding of a pipe with a pipe and of

a pipe with a sheet
Welding positions
according to DIN
EN ISO 6947.

PH, PJ and PK
welding positions
– a: The arrow in-
dicates the weld-
ing course and the
welding direction;
b: For special pur-
poses (e.g. during
the welder qualifi-
cation test), this
position is regard-
ed as the main
position.

The EN ISO 6947 standard stipulates
the welding positions for welding in fabri-
cation and for test pieces. The direction of
the welding is an essential parameter for
determining the welding position, e.g. ver-
tical-up or vertical-down. The welding po-
sition is independent of the geometrical
arrangement of the joint, e.g. butt-welded
or fillet-welded joint, or of the semi-fin-
ished product such as sheet or pipe. This
covers welds of all types and in all direc-
tions. In addition to the PA to PG welding
positions, there are three others for the
joining welding of a pipe with a pipe and
of a pipe with a sheet:
• PH for vertical-up welding
• PJ for vertical-down welding
• PK for orbital welding in which all the
welding positions are passed through
successively in a weld executed all
around; nowadays, the welding in the
PK position is carried out in a predom-
inantly automated process.
A poster with the welding positions can be
downloaded free of charge from http://
www.die-verbindungs-spezialisten.de/in-
dex.php?id=2629.

How to set up compressed

gas cylinders so that they do not
fall over and are thus more
accident-proof
Several cylinders connected with each
other cannot topple over as easily as cylin-
ders standing alone. This deliberation
caused a gas filling plant to come up with
the idea of connecting four rings with each
other using chain links in the way shown
on the picture. The diameter of the rings
is smaller than the cylinder diameter.
Therefore, the ring fittings mounted on the
top connect four cylinders with each other
in each case. The handling of the cylinders
is hardly disturbed and the rings with the
welded-on lugs and the chain links fas-
tened to them can be manufactured by ways available wherever they are needed.
skilled tradesmen in the plant. The ring fit- (According to RKW Kurznachrichten
tings can be replaced quickly and are al- 851/78)

276 Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5


Cooling and care of devices for
arc welding
Welding devices for arc welding have
ventilating ducts for cooling purposes. When
setting up the devices, it must be ensured
that the ventilating ducts are not blocked by
any other objects. Moreover, no tarpaulins
should be hung over the device so that the
cooling air can enter and emerge from the
provided openings without hindrance. Oth-
erwise, the cooling effect is disturbed and
this leads to interruptions in the work or to
damage caused by the overheating of the
device. On the other hand, the cooling air
which is drawn into the interior of the weld-
ing power source contains dust – possibly
Determination of the fillet weld throat thickness
with a gauge fan
On the left picture above, the weld
gauge is applied in order to measure the
fillet weld throat thickness. However, the
gauge is not applied absolutely correctly
there. Its legs located at a right angle in re-
lation to each other must both be support-
ed by the workpiece. If that is not possible
(as with the example on the picture), an
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
also metal dust from grinding or oil-covered
dust particles.
The penetration of large dust quantities
into the device must be avoided since the
dust collects on the internal components
such as the transformer windings, the coils,
the cooling fins and similar parts. Grinding
dust which is particularly metallic and thus
electrically conductive is damaging for the
device. This leads to the deficient cooling of
the internal components, possibly to voltage
flashovers or leakage currents. In order to
avoid this, the power sources should be
blown out with dry and oil-free compressed
Application of the weld
gauge for measuring
the fillet weld throat
thickness.
adjustment plate in the thickness of the
piece which is too short must be placed
underneath. The actual fillet weld throat
thickness results from determining that
sheet strip from the fan with which the
rounded-off tip touches the surface of the
fillet weld perpendicularly. However, the
fillet weld throat thickness a which can be
air at least at the regular intervals provided
for in the operating instructions – in most
cases, every six months. This should be suf-
ficient with the normal accumulation of
dust. Depending on the operating condi-
tions, it is needed more frequently. The de-
vice is opened for the blowing-out operation
– pull out the mains plug beforehand! The
blowing-out operation should be executed
“with feeling“ so that the dust is not blown
into contactor relays or switches. The blow-
ing operation must not take place towards
electronic components from too short a dis-
tance away because they might be damaged.
A lot of manufacturers recommend careful
extraction from printed circuit boards and
electronic components with a vacuum
cleaner. [According to Aichele, G.: 140 work-
ing rules for gas-shielded arc welding]
Gauge fan made of sheet metal
in order to establish the weld
throat thicknesses a of flat and
concave fillet welds.
read off the punched-in number is only
correct with flat or concave welds. In the
case of convex welds, it is necessary to es-
timate the height of the convexity or the
fillet weld throat thickness must be estab-
lished in a different way, i.e. by determin-
ing the leg lengths of the weld and calcu-
lating the value of a.
277
 EVENTS
Welding and cutting technology
at EuroBLECH 2014 –
Announcements from exhibitors
From 21 to 25 October 2014 the interna-
tional sheet metal working industry will meet
again for its leading industry fair EuroBLECH
2014 in Hanover, Germany. More than 1,400
exhibitors from 41 countries have already
booked their stands, covering 86,500 m2 of net
floor space across eight halls of the Hanover
Exhibition Centre. This represents a 3% in-
crease in exhibition space compared to the
previous show which took place in 2012.
Major exhibitor countries next to Ger-
many are Italy, China, Turkey, the Nether-
lands, Spain, Switzerland, Austria and the
USA. Half of all exhibiting companies come
from outside Germany. This high percentage
of international exhibitors once again con-
firms EuroBLECH’s position as the leading
exhibition for the sheet metal working in-
dustry. It also demonstrates that the industry
sector continues to focus on international
business contacts in order to be successful
with their products in the long run.
278
“The sheet metal working industry is
currently facing an economic environment
of diverse regional market situations within
our globalised world,“ explains Nicola
Hamann, Exhibition Director EuroBLECH
on behalf of the organisers, Mack Brooks Ex-
hibitions. “In addition, there is a demand
for an ever-growing choice of products
which needs to be met by using innovative
and flexible fabrication processes. In this
challenging but highly promising environ-
ment, it is essential for companies in the
sheet metal working industry to invest in in-
novative technologies and tailor-made ma-
chines and systems. Intelligent process
chains and efficient networks are indispen-
sable.”
As the technological showcase and busi-
ness barometer of the sheet metal working
industry, EuroBLECH offers its audience a
comprehensive overview of the prevailing
technological trends. For companies in sheet
metal working looking to find suitable ma-
chinery and smart solutions for modern pro-
duction, the exhibition is the key global
event. Visitors can find an extensive product
range, from conventional systems through
to advanced, high-tech processes and also
gain an overview of what is available world-
wide.
The show profile of the 23rd Internation-
al Sheet Metal Working Technology Exhibi-
tion represents the entire sheet metal work-
ing technology chain: sheet metal, semi-fin-
ished and finished products, handling, sep-
aration, forming, flexible sheet metal work-
ing, joining, welding, tube/section process-
ing, surface treatment, processing of hybrid
structures, tools, quality control, CAD/CAM
systems, factory equipment as well as re-
search and development.
EuroBLECH 2014 will once again be held
in halls 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 27 at the
Hanover Exhibition Grounds. The exhibition
will be open from Tuesday, 21 October to
Friday, 24 October 2014, from 09.00 to 18.00
and on Saturday, 25 October 2014, from
09.00 to 15.00. More information is available
online at www.euroblech.com.
Arranged in alphabetical order of the ex-
hibitors’ names, the following texts provide
a foretaste – with a main focus on joining,
cutting and related technologies – of what
is being presented in Hanover. However, the
report (based on company information) can
only give a small excerpt from the an-
nounced spectrum.
Automated welding solutions
The focus of the exhibition booth is,
among others, on automated welding solu-
tions for the most different industries (Fig.
1). Cloos will present the further developed
“Tandem Weld“ for very quick and comfort-
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5

Fig. 1
able welding. Another highlight will be the
presentation of the new generation of in-
verter power sources for manual welding.
In future, the company will offer welding
technologies from entry to high-tech and
from the manual machine to the automated
welding system as a full liner.
Carl Cloos Schweißtechnik GmbH, Haiger/
Germany, www.cloos.de, Hall 13, Booth D25
Safe welding and grinding
workplaces
Fig. 2
Cepro is a specialist in the safe fit-out
of welding and grinding workshops and of-
fers an extensive package of products and
services (Fig. 2: welding booths). All prod-
ucts are the result of many years of experi-
ence in the design and fit-out of safe work-
places. In addition to its own product
range, the company has long standing re-
lations with a great number of skilled sup-
pliers of other facilities for welding work
areas.
Cepro Deutschland GmbH, Duisburg-Rhein-
hausen/Germany, www.cepro.de, Hall 13, Booth
D39
Gas-cooled welding torches
Dinse will exhibit together with ESS
Welding who are member of Dinse group
since 2014. Dinse is specialised in profes-
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
Fig. 3
sional torch technology and precise wire
feeding while ESS provides long-time know-
how in high-performance power sources.
The product presentation at the fair is fo-
cused on gas-cooled welding torches with
new ideas in ergonomics and cost-effective-
ness as well as a new fume extraction tech-
nology (Fig. 3: manual welding torch “DIX
MS 340“). For industrial welding Dinse and
ESS will show technologically advanced so-
lutions for MIG/MAG, WIG and laser beam
welding.
Dinse GmbH, Hamburg/Germany, www.dinse.eu,
Hall 13, Booth C64
Rotary table-welding machine
The five-station medium-frequency
round table machine “5-RTSA-MF“ (Fig. 4)
was developed for welding cable sets and
contact units for the automobile industry.
The machine has one insertion station,
three welding stations and one automatic
Fig. 4
component removal station with a separate
discharge lock for “OK“ and “Not OK“
parts. There are five changeable compo-
nent supports on the round table. Short
cycle times are realised with the simulta-
neous assembly, welding and ejection of
components. The welding stations are
equipped with two precision welding
heads each. The electrode force is accu-
rately set using proportional valves, direct-
ly on the welding control system. A sepa-
rate welding programme can be assigned
to every welding head. The maintenance
times for the electrode change are min-
imised using a quick-change system.
Elektro-Schweißtechnik-Dresden GmbH, Dres-
den/Germany, www.est-dresden.de, Hall 13,
Booth B41
Welding equipment and
consumables
ESAB is one of the world’s largest man-
ufacturers of welding and cutting equipment
and welding consumables. The company
showcases a range of innovative products
and processes, including the latest in mech-
anised cutting equipment and welding
products that meet today’s welding chal-
lenges, from inverter-based, multi-process
equipment to the latest in welding consum-
ables and other solutions for industry.
ESAB GmbH, Solingen/Germany, www.esab.com,
Hall 13, Booth E46
New developments for thermal
cutting
ESAB Cutting show-
cases the latest in mech-
anised cutting equip-
ment from new com-
pact, cost-effective CNC
machines to the ad-
vanced “Suprarex HD“
for integrated, automat-
ed production. The com-
pany also introduces the
“SGX“, a compact CNC
plasma/oxy-fuel cutting
machine. A rugged gan- Fig. 5
try ensures optimum
performance and longevity. Dual-side, high-
speed AC drives and a fast torch lifter reduce
positioning time for shorter overall cycle time
and increased productivity. Also on display
is the new portable oxy-fuel/plasma CNC cut-
ting machine “Crossbow“. Using plasma, it
cuts mild steel or aluminium up to 20 mm
and stainless steel up to 15 mm (Fig. 5). Using
oxy-fuel, it cuts mild steel up to 100 mm thick
and handles cutting lengths up to 3,100 mm.
A fully integrated CNC eliminates the need
for the user to add a controller.
ESAB Cutting Systems GmbH, Karben/Germany,
www.esab-cutting.de, Hall 13, Booth D10
Refined “Multimatrix“ technology
for arc welding
EWM’s presence at the trade fair will be
dedicated to its “Multimatrix“ range. Ac-
279
 EVENTS
Fig. 6
knowledged as one of the major technology
drivers, the company focuses on an all-in-
clusive system range, with components
completely developed in-house with high
vertical integration which are synonymous
with optimum quality. In consequence,
EWM will be showcasing the entire “Multi-
matrix“ range and new elements such as en-
hanced system components, a quality as-
surance software application and new
MIG/MAG solutions for automation and ro-
bot welding. Fig. 6 shows the multiprocess
inverter welding machine “alpha Q 551“.
EWM AG, Mündersbach/Germany, www.ewm-
group.com, Hall 13, Booth D40
Vacuum clamping system for
manual and robot welding
Förster welding systems will present the
newly developed vacuum clamping system
“Vacufix“ for manual and robot welding of
sheet metal structures (Fig. 7). Patented high-
temperature vacuum chucks make it possible
to fix sheets and profiles by vacuum quickly,
safely and freely. In addition, welds are not
hidden by clamping arms and can be con-
tinuously welded. In addition, the company
presents the new “Ergofix“ manipulator
Fig. 7
280
which can be used optimally in conjunction
with the vacuum clamping system “Vacufix“.
The “Ergofix“ is height adjustable, tiltable up
to 45° and can be rotated by 360°. Thus, it al-
lows the user an ergonomic posture and op-
timal position of the weld on the module.
Förster welding systems GmbH, Hohenstein-
Ernstthal/Germany, www.forster-welding-
systems.com, Hall 13, Booth A72
Modular welding appliance
platform
Fig. 8
With the modular welding appliance
platform “TPS/i“, users benefit from using
individually customisable and upgradeable
appliances that stand out for their extensive
functionality (Fig. 8). The “TPS/i“ platform
comes with a host of new developments that
will significantly simplify welders’ daily
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
work. The “AccuPocket“ is the first MMA
welding system with a high-performing lithi-
um-ion rechargeable battery and a low over-
all weight of only 11 kg, giving users un-
precedented freedom of movement in man-
ual electrode and TIG welding.
Fronius Deutschland GmbH, Neuhof-
Dorfborn/Germany, www.fronius.com,
Hall 13, Booth E76
Mechanisation and automation of
welding and cutting
Gullco is a specialised manufacturer of
equipment used for the mechanisation and
automation of welding and cutting. “KAT“
and “Moggy“ tractor systems (Fig. 9) are
used worldwide. The company also manu-
factures portable plate bevelling machines.
The use of ceramic weld backings allows sin-
gle side welding, whilst eliminating costly
defects and rework. Gullco’s goal is to pro-
vide flexible automation to increase quality
and reduce costs.
Gullco International (UK) Ltd, Appley Bridge,
Lancashire/UK, www.gullco.com, Hall 13, Booth
A63
Fiber laser cutting machine
“Xcaliber“ (Fig. 10) surpasses the limit
of many existing fiber laser cutting ma-
chines. This is the technology-intensive
model of the new concept of Hankwang Co.,
Ltd. The installation time is short and the
footprint is very small compared to other
existing machines. This energy efficiency
machine doesn’t need any optics and laser
gas because it is a fiber laser machine. It is
not only remarkable for maintenance costs
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
but also strong in high reflecting materials
like cooper and brass.
Hankwang Co., Ltd., Gyeonggi-do/Korea,
www.hk-global.com, Hall 16, Booth G34
Nut and stud welding technology
Fig. 11
HBS is one of the world’s leading com-
panies in the nut and stud welding technol-
ogy sector. Their expertise extends to various
process technologies, such as capacitor dis-
charge and drawn arc welding, but also
short-cycle stud welding with drawn arc and
nut/pad welding. From the inexpensive en-
try-level device upward to semi- and fully-
automatic welding systems – together with
various stud-feeding systems on to cus-
tomer-specific, turnkey projects – HBS pro-
vides everything from a single source, all
matched perfectly to one another (Fig. 11).
HBS Bolzenschweiss-Systeme GmbH & Co. KG,
Dachau/Germany, www.hbs-info.de, Hall 13,
Booth D35
Mobile stud welding station
The award-winning mobile stud welding
station “Hesomatic-9“ (Fig. 12) combines
energy source, control and feeding unit in
one compact housing. The fully automatic
welding of weld studs from 3 to 8 mm in di-
ameter of 8 to 40 mm in length is greatly fa-
cilitated due to 50% less space requirements
and a user-friendly operation. As there is no
elaborate cabling between the units, the risk
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
Fig. 12
of error and the susceptibility to damage are
significantly minimised.
Heinz Soyer Bolzenschweißtechnik GmbH,
Wörthsee-Etterschlag/Germany, www.soyer.de,
Hall 13, Booth E08
Online monitoring of the welding
quality
HKS will present a completely new gen-
eration of devices for the monitoring and
analysis of welding processes (Fig. 13). The
“WeldAnalyst“ for the analysis of the welding
process will come up with sample rates up to
1 MHz. The new “WeldScanner“ with touch-
screen for the documentation and calibration
conforms to the demands of the standard
DIN EN 1090 even better than until now. For
resistance welding a newly developed drift-
compensated process sensor will be shown,
which is characterised by even higher meas-
uring exactness. Not least the monitoring sys-
tem “WeldQAS“ will impress with a number
of new functions and a new design.
Fig. 13
HKS Prozesstechnik GmbH, Halle (Saale)/
Germany, www.hks-prozesstechnik.de, Hall 13,
Booth C21
Cutting technologies
Several cutting technologies will be
demonstrated at the fair including Hyper-
Fig. 14
therm’s “HyPrecision“ waterjet cutting prod-
ucts that includes pumps ranging from 15
to 150 horsepower, precision cutting heads
and abrasive delivery equipment. In addi-
tion, the company will demonstrate several
of the latest enhanced capabilities for its
“HyPerformance HPRXD“ product line, giv-
ing end users more options and flexibility
for multiple cutting applications including
its advanced technologies “True Bevel“,
“Rapid Part“ and “True Hole“. Fig. 14 shows
the waterjet cutting of aluminium with the
„HyPrecision“ technology.
Hypertherm Europe BV, Roosendaal/The Nether-
lands, www.hypertherm.com, Hall 13, Booth D50
Robot system with thirteen axes
The system shown combines thirteen
interpolated axes on a minimum footprint:
eight robot axes, one sensor axis, two pe-
ripheral axes and two manipulator axes (Fig.
Fig. 15
281
 EVENTS
15). The coordinated movement of all axes
with the integration into a compact robot
cell is demonstrated with a two-axes rotary
tilting table. As a key element of the robot
control system, the new teach pendant “K6“
enables access to all control functions. The
lightweight teach pendant includes a 8.4”
touch screen, a USB plug on the back is pro-
vided for memory sticks. The heavy-duty
joystick is mounted directly on to the teach
pendant “K6“ and allows to move the robot
in a quick and simple way.
igm Robotersysteme AG, Wiener Neudorf/Aus-
tria, www.igm-group.com, Hall 13, Booth A20
Filtration of welding and cutting
pollutants
Fig. 16
During the fair Kemper will show its ver-
satile product range for the extraction and fil-
tration of welding and cutting pollutants. This
includes cutting tables, central suction and
filter units and mobile units. The new mobile
filter unit “MaxiFil” (Fig. 16) combines a large
filter capacity with contamination-free filter
change. With its high mobility and an oper-
ating radius of 360°, it is ideal for regular use.
Applications with moderate smoke and dust
emissions are easily mastered. The effective
capture hood and the easy manoeuvrability
of the exhaust arm guarantee an operator
friendly use. Different exhaust arm lengths
and voltages are available.
Kemper GmbH, Vreden/Germany,
www.kemper.eu, Hall 12, Booth B06
Welding management concept
At the fair, Kemppi will present its new
concept “Total Welding Management
(TWM)“ (Fig. 17). “Kemppi ARC System 3“
282
Fig. 17
is a new modular software solution for im-
proved welding management. The tailored
toolbox enables the customer to choose
modules for developing any part of the pro-
duction process, e.g. quality, project man-
agement or productivity. The offering has
recently been completed with “WeldEye“, a
welding quality and documentation soft-
ware by Norwegian Weldindustry AS, ac-
quired by Kemppi in December 2013.
Kemppi Oy, Lahti/Finland, www.kemppi.com, Hall
13, Booth E24
Cutting, welding and wear
protection
On 200 m2 exhibition space Kjellberg will
present products and solutions for cutting,
welding and wear protection. The exhibition
is focusing on the presentation of a new
product series for plasma cutting and the
“HiFocus neo“ plasma cutting technology
(Fig. 18). Visitors can witness the precision
and flexibility of the plasma cutting units
during live demonstrations. Furthermore, a
new fiber laser system will be presented. The
high-performance TIG welding technique
“InFocus“ offers an economic alternative to
laser beam welding and is flexibly suitable
Fig. 18
for processing thin sheets and foils, non-fer-
rous metals or for keyhole welding. Various
approaches for surface welding and wear
protection will be presented under the name
“Fidur”.
Kjellberg Finsterwalde Plasma und Maschinen
GmbH, Finsterwalde/Germany, www.kjellberg.de,
Hall 13, Booth B46
CNC and portable cutting
machines
Fig. 19
Koike will exhibit a variety of CNC and
portable cutting machines. The flexible
“Deltatex“ machine (Fig. 19) is intended for
cutting with oxy-fuel and precision plasma.
This torsion-free and compact gantry ma-
chine was developed with particular regards
to long-term operation in demanding pro-
duction environments. “Monotec“ is a ro-
bust high-quality CNC controlled cutting
machine, suitable for economical and good
quality cuts from 0.5 mm up to 20 mm (de-
pending on the machine configuration). It
is a ’plug and cut’ machine, rail and cutting
table are one integral construction. Another
highlight in the product range is the new
portable “PNC-12 Extreme“. It is based on
the demands from the market for a simple,
affordable and versatile CNC cutting ma-
chine and is suitable for both oxy-fuel and
plasma cutting.
Koike Europe B.V., Zaandam/The Netherlands,
www.koike-europe.com, Hall 13, Booth D56
Welding automation
From friction stir welding, arc welding
and laser welding to Magnetarc welding and
friction welding: Kuka will be showcasing
its technological competence and process
know-how with select exhibits. Highlights
include an application showing friction stir
welding technology with a live demonstra-
tion of work pieces being joined by frictional
heat from a rotating welding pin (Fig. 20).
In addition, various scalable control tech-
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
nologies will be on display. Whether it’s sim-
ple cell control, the programming and user-
friendly operation of complex production
systems or the company’s own software ar-
chitecture “miKuka”: Kuka Systems’ experts
implement the appropriate human machine
interface according to the individual task at
hand.
Fig. 20
KUKA Systems GmbH, Augsburg/Germany,
www.kuka.de, Hall 13, Booth B76
Laser safety enclosures
Lasermet’s “Laser Castle“ laser safety en-
closures (Fig. 21) protect personnel from the
dangers of laser beams by absorbing the
laser power in the specially designed walls
and ceilings. These modular, Class 1, room
sized laser enclosures for high power lasers
are tested and certified to EN 60825-4 and
can be rapidly designed, built and installed
by Lasermet. They are supplied with the
company’s interlock control system, illumi-
Fig. 21
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
nated LED signs and CCTV system. The pas-
sive enclosure can be upgraded to an active
enclosure by specifying the patented “Laser
Jailer” Active Laser Guarding System.
Lasermet, Bournemouth/UK, www.lasermet.com,
Hall 12, Booth A02
Technical gases for welding,
cutting and heating
Fig. 22
Linde presents solutions related to the
use of technical gases for welding, cutting
and heating (Fig. 22). Its portfolio of MAG
shielding gases for welding has been ex-
panded to include the low-active shielding
gas “Corgon 2S3He18“. This mixture guar-
antees perfect penetration due to the addi-
tion of helium. The inert noble gas content
is 18 vol.-%. In terms of active components
the mixture contains 2.0% of carbon dioxide
and 3.1% oxygen. The remainder of just un-
der 77% consists of argon. This optimum
balance of gas components effectively pre-
vents welding spatter. At the same time it
substantially increases welding speed. In ad-
dition, with “Lasgon S3“ Linde presents a
new process gas for laser welding of coated
and uncoated sheet steel body parts.
Linde AG, Hamburg and Pullach/Germany,
www.linde-gas.de, Hall 13, Booth B36
Products, systems and services for
the metalworking industry
Messer Cutting Systems will be pre-
senting the newest fibre laser technology
alongside modular solutions for all aspects
of material logistics and how productivity
can be increased by raising the level of au-
tomation (Fig. 23). Further machines with
oxyfuel and plasma technology can be seen
on partner stands. In addition experts will
be giving information about the conse-
quences of the new standard EN 1090 on
steel constructions for buildings. Made to
measure software solutions, the environ-
Fig. 23
mental technology matching the equip-
ment and combination torches for weld-
ing, brazing, heating and flame cutting
complete the program.
Messer Cutting Systems GmbH, Groß-Umstadt/
Germany, www.messer-cs.de, Hall 1, Booth C46
Milling rings and weld root
openers
Milling rings and double-sided milling
rings (weld root openers) save time and
money and improve the quality during the
processing of non-ferrous metals, plastic,
GRP/CFRP and wood (Fig. 24: angle grinder
with milling ring). The removal rate is sig-
nificantly increased, grinding dust disap-
pears and it does not retain any abrasive
Fig. 24
residues in the material. The milling rings
are used for bevelling, smoothing welds
and general scrubbing, while the double-
sided milling disc is used to open butt- and
fillet welds. Especially with aluminium
there is no smearing of the material, there-
by welding defects are visible immediately.
The workpiece remains largely cold and
residuals of abrasives are avoided. As
residues remain solely chips. The tools can
be used with commercially available elec-
trically or pneumatically operated hand an-
gle grinders with a speed of 12,000 rev/min
and are available in diameters of 70, 116
and 125 mm.
MIG Weld GmbH International, Landau/Ger-
many, www.migweld.de, Hall 13, Booth G30
283
 EVENTS
New welding helmet
Fig. 25
The new welding helmet “e684“ (Fig. 25)
closes the gap between human and machine
so that both can perform at their best. The
adaptive shade autopilot is based on a newly
developed sensor concept, which measures
the brightness of the welding arc and auto-
matically adjusts the shade level (protection
level 5 to 13). The patented “twilight“ func-
tion opens the darkening filter very gently
so that the welder’s eyes are not adversely
affected by sudden light state. The silver hel-
met design is timeless and at the same time
ensures that welders always keep cool
thanks to the heat-reflective lacquer.
optrel AG, Wattwil/Switzerland, www.optrel.com,
Hall 13, Booth G63
Welding and process control
system
The “B 5000-NC“ welding system (Fig.
26) combines the strengths of two systems:
on the one hand, the proven “B 5000“ weld-
ing control system for op-
timum adaption, adjust-
ment and monitoring of
the welding performance
for a large variety of tasks,
and on the other hand the
highly flexible “VariCon-
trol VC 1“ machine and
process control system.
This provides maximum
freedom when program-
ming NC axes, such as for
welding gripper opera-
tions, forming movements
or material feeds. The “B
5000-NC“ allows the im-
Fig. 26
284
Fig. 27
plementation of individual movements in-
dependent of press stroke and press speed
– for example the closing movement of the
welding electrode of contact welding equip-
ment.
Otto Bihler Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG,
Halblech/Germany, www.bihler.de, Hall 27,
Booth D54
Laser beam cutting
Produtech increased its products range
Fig. 28
with the “Iseo A2“ laser line (Fig. 27). This
model has an additional Xa axis allowing to welding of structural beams (Fig. 28) and
reach a higher cutting speed and precision stationary or mobile Column & Booms for
by interpolating the sheet Xp and the trans- welding of pipes and tanks.
versal Y axis. All the axes are moved by linear
and torque motors guaranteeing a precise Promotech S.p. z.o.o., Białystok/Poland,
motion, a total absence of wear and a scarce www.promotech.eu, Hall 16, Booth E91
necessity of maintenance. By matching the
laser technology for metal cutting and the More economical welding with
use of coil, it is possible to develop a non- made-to-measure processes
stop work cycle. Produtech lines also cut “Economical Welding” – that is Rehm’s
highly reflective metals, such as aluminium, Motto at EuroBLECH 2014. The newly com-
copper and brass. The laser line “Iseo A2“ pleted “Invertig.Pro“ range covers everything
can be supplied with a 0.4, 1, 2 or 3 kW laser which professionals expect from a TIG tech-
source. nology. The precision welding process con-
trol keeps the arc stable in every position.
Produtech srl, San Paolo d’Argon/Italy, www.pro- All power classes from 240 to 450 A are char-
dutech.it, Hall 11, Booth H70 acterised by high flexibility as well as the
Programmable welding and
cutting carriages
Promotech will present their compre-
hensive family of programmable welding
and cutting carriages including seven dif-
ferent models for multiple applications as
well as a range of large-sized welding au-
tomation machines. Tractors create consis-
tent, high-quality groove and fillet welds and
help deliver savings on any job that de-
mands continuous welds in a fraction of the
time required by hand welding. Reliable
traction and consistent speed enable a weld
bead geometry to the customers’ exact spec-
ifications, reducing costly over-welding and
decreasing filler metal consumption. Pro-
motech also offers a range of customised
gantry welding systems for the longitudinal Fig. 29
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
best ignition characteristics and can, if re-
quired, be equipped with the unique “digi-
tal” menu guidance. The MIG/MAG welding
unit “Mega.Puls Focus“ convinces users in
practice with made-to-measure processes
for thick or thin mild steel, stainless steels
and aluminium/copper alloys. Fig. 29 shows
different machines from the “Invertig.Pro“
and “Mega.Puls Focus“ range.
Rehm GmbH u. Co. KG Schweißtechnik, Uhin-
gen/Germany, www.rehm-online.de, Hall 13,
Booth B 40
Torches for TIG welding
safety at work including welding protection,
noise protection, fume extraction and per-
sonal protective equipment, especially re-
sistant gloves from Kimberky Clark. The
“TransLux“ rigid screen material (Fig. 31) is
made of polycarbonate and has a broad
thermal application range and exceptional
optical qualities. It is the ideal solution for
viewing screens approved according to DIN
EN 1598. For the first time the company will
be presenting a newly developed slewable
arm. Despite low height, the arm has a high
load bearing capacity and is especially suit-
ed for telescopic rails.
Sinotec GmbH, Rödermark/Germany,
www.sinotec.de, Hall 13, Booth F18

CNC cutting machines

Fig. 30
Rohrman Schweisstechnik, the specialist
for welding torches and welding equipment,
offers TIG-torches for different jobs, e.g. mi-
cro-TIG-torches for welding in confined ar-
eas and high performance TIG-torches (Fig.
30 shows the “Speedway 320“ and “450“
models). The company also offers many dif-
ferent spare parts, e.g. long gas nozzles or
mini-gas lenses.
Rohrman Schweisstechnik GmbH, Viersen/Ger-
many, www.rohrman.de, Hall 13, Booth A57
Safety at work
Sinotec offers a high quality range of
products and solutions across the field of
Stako is a Dutch manufacturer of CNC
controlled cutting machines. The machines
for all cutting processes like plasma, oxy-
fuel and fiber laser are well known in the
Fig. 32
metal industry all over the world. At this
year’s EuroBLECH the company informs, in
addition to the regular product range, about
customer-specific systems with a special fo-
cus on bevel cutting, using plasma and oxy-
fuel. With regard to bevel cutting, Stako pres-
ents the latest version of the newly devel-
oped “Pantograph“ cutting head (Fig. 32)
and the three-torch bevel unit.
Stako B.V., Wijchen/The Netherlands,
www.stako.nl, Hall 13, Booth F60
Fig. 33
um system and is, in total, equipped with
eight cartridges. Thanks to its binary action,
the unit can run in permanent operation.
While one filter module is disconnected dur-
ing the automatic cleaning, filter change or
discharge of dust, the other one keeps op-
erating at the same pace. The modules offer
a new user-friendly and safe dust disposal
system. Through the unfastening of a chuck-
ing lever the barrel in which the dust is col-
lected can be taken out and be sealed with
a lid. This way the operator never gets in
contact with hazardous substances.
Teka Absaug- und Entsorgungstechnologie GmbH,
Velen/Germany, www.teka.eu, Hall 13, Booth E20
Equipment and consumables for
plasma, oxy-fuel and laser cutting
In plasma cutting, Thermacut is manu-
facturer and provider of torches, leads and
consumables. With its own development de-
partment, the company presents its “Silver
Pro“ electrode, which stands out by its longer
lifetime and with that reduces costs. Another
focal point is the increase of productivity be-
cause of higher cutting speed, for which the
“Silver Ex“ electrode has been developed

Extraction and filter unit

The extraction and filter unit “Filter-
cube“ (Fig. 33) is available in a new double
module unit version meeting the demands
of high and continuous pollutant outputs
during welding, grinding and cutting oper-
ations. The unit precisely takes in fumes and
dust and purifies the air to more than 99.9%.
Fig. 31 It is available as a low-, mid- and high vacu- Fig. 34

Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5 285

 EVENTS
(Fig. 34). Furthermore, Thermacut provides
consumables for oxy-fuel cutting as well as
laser cutting like nozzles, nozzle holders,
lenses and laser service parts like filter ele-
ments and bellows for the most common
models.
Thermacut GmbH, Wilnsdorf/Germany,
www.thermacut.de, Hall 13, Booth A28
Laser cutting of tubes
The Trumpf Group will be showing a large
number of innovations along the entire length
of the sheet metal process chain. For example,
the “TruLaser Tube 5000“ (Fig. 35) will be
shown. This productive all-round machine
for laser tube cutting was introduced earlier
Fig. 35
Call for Papers:
4th International Congress on Aluminium Heat
Exchanger Technologies for HVAC&R
10 and 11 June 2015, Hotel Radisson Blu Scandinavia, Düsseldorf/Germany
Stringent environmental requirements
for increasing energy efficiency and re-
ducing emissions are the greatest chal-
lenges the heating, ventilation, air condi-
tioning and refrigeration industry
(HVAC&R) faces. The 4th International
Congress on “Aluminium Heat Exchanger
Technologies for HVAC&R“ is dedicated
to these challenges. It will take place on
10 and 11 June 2015 in Düsseldorf/Ger-
many.
The two-day industry get-together is
divided in seven sections:
• Overview about the current market
and its future
• Applications
• Testing & Design
• Corrosion
• Standards
286
this year. It substitutes for four conventional
manufacturing procedures: sawing, drilling,
milling and deburring. That slashes the
amount of organisational effort needed. In
the laser cutting systems built by Trumpf, the
lasers themselves, beam guidance, mechani-
cal components, software and automation
equipment all stem from the same develop-
ment setting. This makes sure that all the de-
tails of the machine’s central components are
fully coordinated one with another.
Trumpf GmbH + Co. KG, Ditzingen/Germany,
www.trumpf.com, Hall 11, Booth B30/1-3
Solutions for automated welding
Yaskawa presents leading-edge solu-
tions for automated welding with Motoman
robots. A special focus is placed on the new
“DX200“ control generation (Fig. 36). It en-
hances the present successful model
“DX100“ to include further options such as
safety features and offers over 120 applica-
tion-specific functions. Function packages
additionally support the application-specific
solution and programming of robotic tasks.
Furthermore, the new “DX200“ is being
• HVAC&R and HX products
• Research and Development
This variety of topics covers different
aspects of the market environment.
Changes in the global environmental pol-
icy as well as the choice of materials raise
new questions that require answers – es-
pecially in material selection. Research,
test methods and new standards which
influence design and manufacturing are
the focus of this event. Both the heat ex-
changer manufacturers and their cus-
tomers are required to respond. A two-
day exhibition held in the foyer of the ho-
tel will be an integral part of the “HVAC&R
2015“.
Interested authors are invited to submit
their abstracts (max. 200 word in English)
for oral presentations by 20 November 2014
Fig. 36
launched on the market together with a
whole array of new manipulators. It comes
with new bus systems and integrated safety
controller, making it a complete functional
safety unit (FSU) of Category 3.
Yaskawa Europe GmbH, Allershausen/Germany,
www.yaskawa.eu.com, Hall 13, Booth E30
online at ww.dvs-ev.de/hvacr2015. All sub-
mitted abstracts will be reviewed and se-
lected by the HVAC&R Programme Com-
mittee. Authors will be informed if their
contributions have been accepted.
All manuscripts must be written in Eng-
lish and submitted electronically. The man-
uscript deadline will be 6 March 2015. The
contributions will be published in the con-
ference proceedings which will be available
at the conference. Presentation time will
be 30 minutes (20 minutes presentation,
10 minutes discussion).
Fore further information please contact
Britta Wingartz (organisation), DVS Media
GmbH, e-mail: britta.wingartz@dvs-hg.de
or Michael Weinreich (specialist informa-
tion) DVS – German Welding Society,
e-mail: michael.weinreich@dvs-hg.de.
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
 EVENTS
“Fabtech 2014“
has Georgia on its mind
“Fabtech 2014“ will be held on 11 to 13 November in Atlanta/USA (Photo: Georgia World
Congress Center)
“Fabtech“ is flying south for November:
North America’s largest metal forming, fab-
ricating, welding and finishing event is ex-
pected to attract over 27,000 attendees and
1,400 exhibiting companies to the Georgia
World Congress Center in Atlanta/USA on
11 to 13 November.
Exhibits will include live equipment
demonstrations, offering visitors the oppor-
tunity to see, touch and compare products
side-by-side and find cost-saving solutions.
Special events at “Fabtech 2014“ will include
a keynote presentation on “Creating U.S.
Jobs and Bringing Manufacturing Back
Home” by Walmart VP for U.S. Manufactur-
Correction
In the “Events“ section of “Welding and Cut-
ting“ issue 4/2014 on page 215 it was reported
about the 6th “India Essen Welding & Cutting“
fair which will be held in Mumbai from 28 to 30
October 2014. The first sentence of the last para-
graph should read as follows:
288
ing Cindi Marsiglio and a special “Fabtech“
Industry Night at the new College Football
Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
This year’s expo comes against the back-
drop of the continued resurgence of manu-
facturing in the U.S. Recent data shows that
manufacturers contributed $2.08 trillion to
the economy in 2013, up from $2.03 trillion
in 2012. Offering a one-stop shop to source
the best products and services from the U.S.
and all over the world, “Fabtech“ is an in-
valuable resource to the continued growth
of the sector.
“With 14 million pounds of equipment
over 500,000 net square feet of floor space,
This international trade event from the
“Schweissen & Schneiden“ trade fair family is
also being supported by the IWS (Indian Welding
Society) and the Welding Research Institute,
Tiruchirappalli, India.
‘Fabtech 2014’ will be more than
25% larger than it was in 2010,
the last time the show was held
in Atlanta,” said John Catalano,
show co-manager at SME.
“We’ve had record numbers of at-
tendees at each of our last two
shows in Chicago and Las Vegas
because there is simply no better way to see
new products and technologies than at
‘Fabtech’.“
“Beyond the world-class exhibits at this
year’s show, attendees can add to their
‘Fabtech’ experience by registering for more
than 100 educational sessions and expert-led
presentations,” said Mark Hoper, show co-
manager at Fabricators & Manufacturers As-
sociation International. “These sessions have
become extremely popular, so we encourage
attendees to sign up early if they are interest-
ed in learning more about the latest industry
trends and technology in the metal forming,
fabricating, welding and finishing industries.”
The five “Fabtech“ co-sponsors repre-
sent a wide variety of expertise and include:
the American Welding Society (AWS), the
Fabricators & Manufacturers Association,
International (FMA), the Precision Metal-
forming Association (PMA), the Chemical
Coaters Association International (CCAI)
and SME. Together, these associations bring
unmatched technical proficiency and indus-
try insight to the 2014 “Fabtech“ exposition.
More information about the show, the
special events and the educational sessions
can be found online at www.fabtechexpo.
com. (According to press information from
“Fabtech“)
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5

Friction stir welding focus in China
The “10th International Symposium on
Friction Stir Welding“ took place at the China
National Convention Center in the heart of
the Olympic Green, Beijing, from 20 to 22
May 2014. This was the first time the sympo-
sium had been held in China and the event
attracted over 190 delegates from around the
world.
The technical programme contained
over 90 papers, presented by specialists on
all aspects of friction stir welding technology.
The higher proportion of research papers,
compared to previous years, reflected China‘s
comparative recent and fast adoption of the
process. Friction stir welding in steel (in var-
ious forms) featured in almost a third of pre-
sentations with another popular topic for in-
dustry and academia being the joining of
dissimilar materials, driven by the need for
light-weighting in the automotive industry.
The three-day event was complemented
by a well-attended exhibition of friction-stir
welded products and services. Delegates also
enjoyed a social evening held in a traditional
setting plus an industry visit to the Chinese
Friction Stir Welding Centre to learn about
19th “Beijing Essen Welding &
Cutting“ was a huge success
The “Beijing Essen Welding and Cut-
ting 2014“ confirmed its position as Asia’s
most important trade fair of the joining,
cutting and surfacing industry: Held on 10
to 13 June 2014 in Beijing/China, it attract-
ed a total of 916 exhibitors from 27 coun-
tries. Almost one in five travelled expressly
from Europe and America. The participat-
ing companies were assured major inter-
national interest: more than 22,400 trade
visitors from some 60 countries used the
fair to gain a comprehensive overview of
the market.
“These impressive figures show what
trust the ’Beijing Essen Welding and Cut-
ting’ enjoys in the industry,“ says Oliver P.
Kuhrt, Chairman of the Management
Board of Messe Essen. “And they confirm
our strategy of establishing the know-how
of the world’s leading fair in Essen, the
“Schweissen & Schneiden“, in markets of
the future and therefore of opening up new
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
the country‘s rapid take-up and to see a
range of equipment, tooling and welded
samples.
The symposium was run on behalf of the
Friction Stir Welding Licensees Association
by TWI – The Welding Institute, Cam-
bridge/UK, and sponsored by the Chinese
Over 190 delegates from all over the world attended the “10th International Symposium on Friction
Stir Welding“ in Beijing/China.
sales opportunities for joining, cutting and
surfacing technology.“
Focus on robot and automation
technology
The trade fair, held every year alter-
nately in Beijing and Shanghai, presented
the latest industry trends in seven halls of
the New China International Exhibition
Centre. The offering ranged from complete
plants, control systems and testing facilities
to workplace equipment. One special focus
this year was robot and automation tech-
nology. Both exhibitors and visitors were
satisfied with the trade fair, which was or-
ganised jointly by Messe Essen, the Ger-
man Welding Society (DVS), the China
Welding Association and the Chinese Me-
chanical Engineering Society (CMES).
Joint stands from all over the world
highlighted the international significance
of the fair. Under the roof of the German
Friction Stir Welding Centre. The Friction
Stir Welding Licensees Association would al-
so like to thank TWI (China) for its assistance
in organising the event.
The symposium is held every two years
and the next event is planned to be held in
Cambridge/UK in May 2016. For more in-
formation about the Symposium, visit
www.fswsymposium.co.uk. (According to
press information from TWI)
pavilion, 30 manufacturers and suppliers
presented quality products, high tech and
services “Made in Germany“ on 600 m2.
The German participation was sponsored
by the Federal Ministry for Economic Af-
fairs and Energy at the request of the DVS.
The “Beijing Essen Welding and Cut-
ting“ offers the opportunity to exchange
views on technical issues in various forums.
Experts held papers, for example, on new
advanced laser welding technology in the
field of automobile manufacturing and cost
factors in plasma automated cutting. The
next fair is being held in Shanghai from 1 to
4 June 2015. More information: www.bei-
jing-essen-welding-cutting.com (According
to press information from Messe Essen)
289
 EVENTS
Positive assessment of “ITSC 2014“
in Barcelona
The “International Thermal Spray Con-
ference & Exposition“ (ITSC) has highlight-
ed its significance as the leading interna-
tional sectoral meeting place on the sub-
ject of thermal spraying. On 21 to 23 May
2014, around 1,000 experts and decision
takers from all over the world were drawn
into the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya
conference centre in Barcelona/Spain.
There, the visitors obtained information
about the latest applications relating to all
aspects of thermally sprayed coats in more
than 200 lectures delivered by high-rank-
ing speakers and from 63 exhibitors from
18 countries.
Combination of conference and
exhibition
The organisers of the conference, DVS –
German Welding Society and the ASM Ther-
mal Spray Society (ASM/TSS), and of the ex-
hibition, Messe Essen GmbH, are making a
positive assessment. “ITSC has once again
shown that it is the most important network-
ing platform for the key technology of ther-
mal spraying anywhere in the world. The
combination of a conference and an exhi-
bition has created ideal conditions for the
exchange of knowledge. Exhibitors, speakers
and visitors alike are confirming that to us,“
according to Dr.-Ing. Roland Boecking, Gen-
eral Manager of DVS, and Oliver P. Kuhrt,
Chairman and CEO of Messe Essen.
Under the title of “Not Fiction: Thermal
Spray the Key Technology in Modern Life!“,
the three-day conference focused on the
newest findings and solution approaches for
thermal spraying processes in the fields of
aviation, energy generation and the auto-
mobile industry. Moreover, the next gener-
ation in thermal spraying introduced its pa-
pers in a Young Professionals session.
The fully booked accompanying exhi-
bition was successful as well. On an exhibi-
tion area of 2,500 m2, the entire product
range for thermal spraying was presented
to the trade public. In the Industrial Forum,
leading companies showed their innova-
tions and examples of practical applica-
tions.
Renowned prizes and awards
Various renowned prizes and awards
which were conferred during the three-day
290
event provided “ITSC 2014“ with addition-
al splendour. During the opening ceremo-
ny, the honours started with the induction
of Mitch Dorfman, Fellow of ASM and Fel-
low of the Sulzer Metco company, into the
Thermal Spray Hall of Fame. This mark of
distinction was justified by Dorfman’s in-
novations for the utilisation of thermal
spraying in turbine construction, his ex-
ceptional industrial and non-profit-making
contributions as well as his particular com-
mitment to the promotion of the next gen-
eration in spraying technology.
From a German viewpoint, quite a few
experts and one company were able to be
pleased about a mark of distinction. For
example, Rhein-Ruhr Beschichtungs-Ser-
vice GmbH from Rheinberg received the
internationally renowned “René Wasser-
man Award 2014“ from Christopher
Wasserman, President of TeroLab Surface
Group SA, Lausanne/Switzerland. Every
three years when “ITSC“ takes place in Eu-
rope, the “René Wasserman Award“ which
is endowed with 10,000 Swiss Franks is pre-
sented to an innovative company from the
field of thermal spraying which must meet
various economic and social criteria.
Furthermore, Alexander List from
TuTech Innovation GmbH in Hamburg was
convincing with his contribution entitled
Dr.-Ing. Roland Boecking, General Manager of DVS – German Welding Society, welcomed the
participants of “ITSC 2014“ (Picture: DVS)
“Cold spraying of amorphous Cu50Zr50 al-
loys“ during the series of lectures delivered
by young professionals. For this, he re-
ceived the “Sulzer Metco Young Profes-
sionals Award“ which, amongst other ben-
efits, includes the invitation to visit one of
Sulzer Metco’s registered offices. The pres-
entation ceremony took place within the
framework of the banquet on the second
day. During that evening, Dr.-Ing. Sven
Hartmann, Technical Director of obz in-
novation gmbh, also received the Plaque
of Honour of the Standards Committee for
Welding and Allied Processes (NAS) from
the hands of Dr.-Ing. Bärbel Schambach,
General Manager of NAS in DIN.
Moreover, Rico Drehmann (Chemnitz
University of Technology), Lidong Zhao
(RWTH Aachen University), Seiji Kuroda
(NIMS, Japan) and Nadin Schlegel
(Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH) were
distinguished for the “Best Paper Presen-
tation“. Lutz-Michael Berger (IKTS, Dres-
den) and Jarkko Metsäjoki (VTT, Finland)
received the prize for the “Best Poster Pres-
entation“. The “JTST Best Paper Award“
went to Georg Mauer and Robert Vaßen
(Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH) as well
as to Christian Coddet (PERSEE, IRTES-
LERMPS/UTBM, France).
The next “ITSC“ will take place in Long
Beach, California/USA on 11 to 14 May 2015.
Then, ASM will bear the main responsibility
for staging the “International Thermal Spray
Conference & Exposition“. (According to
press information from Messe Essen / DVS)
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
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“Aluminium Brazing“ had record
number of visitors in 2014
250 participants took part in the “8th Interna-
tional Congress Aluminium Brazing and Exhibi-
tion“. (Pictures: Michael M. Weinreich)
For the second time, DVS – German
Welding Society with the support of DVS
Media GmbH, had been the organiser of
the “8th International Congress Alumini-
um Brazing and Exhibition“. From 3 to 5
June 2014, 250 participants and 13 ex-
hibitors from 28 countries had made their
way to Dusseldorf to the Radisson Blu
Scandinavia Hotel and thus set a new
record number of visitors for the event.
“This congress is the only event with a
focus on aluminium brazing,“ emphasises
Dr. Hans-Walter Swidersky, Manager Tech-
nical Marketing & Sales at Solvay Fluor
GmbH in Hanover. Solvay Fluor is also the
conceptual partner of “Aluminium Braz-
DVS Student Group visited Manitowoc
On 17 July 2014, the DVS Student Group
at the Jade University in Wilhelmshaven
swapped the lecture hall for the 200,000 m2
production area of Manitowoc Cranes in
Wilhelmshaven. The students had organised
the excursion to the market leader for crane
solutions and were accompanied by a DVS
employee. There had already been intensive
contacts to Manitowoc – the company with
292
Dr. Hans-Walter Swidersky is Manager Technical
Marketing & Sales at Solvay Fluor GmbH in
Hanover.
its headquarters in Manitowoc, Wiscon-
sin/USA, offers students the possibilities of
working in Wilhelmshaven during the holi-
days between terms and completing their
Bachelor dissertations there. At present, one
student from the Jade University is working
there in the mechanical fabrication field.
First of all, the welding engineer Michael
Hüneke, Fabrication Manager at Manitowoc,
ing“. He sees reason to celebrate because:
“The record number of participants, 250 –
this means an increase of about 30% in
comparison to 2012 – points to the very
good acceptance of the event.“
22 lectures shed light from different
sides on the world of brazing of aluminium
materials. A wide range of topics from re-
search and practice had been offered to
the visitors, starting from the materials top-
ic through applications, devices, process
and quality control, up to research and de-
velopment. The participants largely came
from industry, and they assessed the lec-
tures for the most part as being very in-
formative. The majority of them also in-
tend to attend the congress again in 2016.
The accompanying exhibition offered
the participants the opportunity to inform
themselves in detail about the current
product range and service offer of the com-
panies present. At the same time, the over-
all event was the ideal platform in order to
refresh industry contacts and to establish
new ones. Above all, the international as-
pect of the “8th International Congress
Aluminium Brazing and Exhibition“ was
of particular importance for many visitors
and exhibitors. For instance, one exhibitor
commented that the congress kept getting
more and more international interest,
something that is important from her per-
spective.
From 19 to 21 April 2016, the “9th In-
ternational Congress Aluminium Brazing
and Exhibition“ intends to continue with
this year’s successful event. The DVS will
announce the necessary information on
this in good time.
provided the students with information
about the company’s activities and history.
The factory in Wilhelmshaven goes back to
the German company Krupp-Ardelt which
was founded after the Second World War. In
1995, the company was taken over by the
Grove Manufacturing Company which was
then acquired by Manitowoc Cranes seven
years later. Since then, the German sub-
sidiary of the conglomerate with worldwide
activities has been fabricating Grove mobile
cranes with four to seven axes and hoisting
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
capacities of 80 to 450 t in Wilhelmshaven
with no fewer than 1,000 employees, includ-
ing approx. 100 welders.
The introduction was followed by a tour
of inspection around the various stations at
which mobile cranes are assembled and
welded. Hüneke explained the individual
steps in a graphic way, above all the hybrid
laser beam welding of high-strength fine-
grained structural steels in vehicle construc-
tion in fabrication conditions. Other
processes like metal active gas and tungsten
inert gas welding as well as welding with
flux-cored wire are utilised too. The prospec- The DVS Student Group at the Jade University, Wilhelmshaven, visited the mobile crane manufacturer
tive academics were also given an insight Manitowoc in Wilhelmshaven.
into non-destructive testing.
The expectations of the students were at the Jade University, got to the heart of the because, as one of the large employers in
more than met. They obtained information visit to Manitowoc: “Most of us would like Wilhelmshaven, the firm is very interesting
about the utilisation of the various welding to work in welding technology later on, for for us.“ For some students, this visit to the
technologies as well as an insight into the example as welding engineers in the field of crane manufacturer will thus certainly not
construction of heavy machinery. Patrick automation and robotics. Therefore, an ex- have been the last one.
Nürge, Chairman of the DVS Student Group cursion to Manitowoc is nearly an obligation

First Practical Seminar of DVS and BGHM

Together with the Employers’ Liability In-
surance Association for Wood and Metal
(BGHM), DVS staged the first DVS/BG Prac-
tical Seminar on the subject of the “Safe and
healthy designing of welding workplaces“ in
June 2014. A new general limiting value of
1.25 mg/mM on dust and the minimisation
precept for carcinogenic hazardous sub-
stances are just two essential reasons for in-
tensively dealing with the workplace situation
and the measures for optimisation during
welding.
40 people took part in the pilot event in
the Sennfeld Educational Centre in
Adelsheim-Sennfeld – interested entrepre-
neurs, welding coordinators as well as welders
from small and medium-sized enterprises.
The event was exclusively for DVS members
and free of charge. It was divided into one the-
oretical part and one practical part. The con-
tents in the morning were defined by an in-
troduction to the subjects of hazards and pro-
tective measures during welding, the impart-
ing of basic knowledge as well as information
about reducing hazardous substances by util-
ising modern welding power sources.
Equipped with the corresponding
background knowledge, the participants
moved on to the practical part in the af-
ternoon. Here, it was primarily a case of
“designing yourself“. After an introduction
to appliance technology, the participants
had the task, at the three different stations
for “manual metal arc welding in a tank“,
“preheating and metal active gas welding“
and “tungsten inert gas welding and plas-
ma cutting“, of simulating typical welding
workplaces and workplace situations
which were to be arranged optimally with
regard to occupational health and safety
aspects. Thus, they were able to gather
DVS members dur-
ing the first DVS/BG
Practical Seminar
which was carried
out in one theoreti-
cal part and one
practical part (see
Figure).
their own experience with optimised pro-
tective measures which were then docu-
mented too. EWM, Kemper, Abicor Binzel
and 3M provided the corresponding appli-
ances for the workstations.
The objective of the first DVS/BG Prac-
tical Seminar was to impart the setting-up
of safe and healthy welding workplaces in
the daily working routine to the welder and
to the people responsible in the plant. The
organisers and the participants think that
this objective has been attained and another
DVS/BG Practical Seminar is being planned.

Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5 293

 REPORTS
Brazing tungsten carbide – Part 2: Brazing filler
materials and fluxes for use with tungsten carbide
The most popular families of alloys for
the brazing of tungsten carbide are those
that contain silver. Such materials have the
benefit of low working temperatures, excel-
lent wetting characteristics, high shear and
tensile strength and, depending on their
composition, outstanding fatigue properties.
In addition, they are readily available in the
form of rod, wire, strip, foil (with and without
an interlayer of copper, a copper-nickel alloy
or a woven nickel mesh), pastes and the
multitude of specialised preform shapes de-
manded by the end users.
Table 1 • The eleven filler materials that are widely used for the brazing of tungsten carbide inserts
to a backing piece (ISO 17672).
294
Both cadmium-bearing and cadmium-
free materials had been available in the
countries of the European Union since the
middle of the 20th Century, however, and
due to the known carcinogen effect of cad-
mium oxide fumes, brazing materials that
contain cadmium are no longer available for
sale within the EU. In short, the choice facing
the engineers working within the EU is not
quite as wide as it used to be. Table 1 lists
the eleven materials that are currently the
most widely used filler materials for the
brazing of tungsten carbide since the ban
Fig. 1 • Carbide-tipped
hammer drills that are
ready for brazing. Note
the presence of a cop-
per-base filler material
paste at the tip of each
drill. (Photo: Courtesy
Mahler GmbH, Plochin-
gen, Germany)
on the sale of cadmium-bearing filler mate-
rials came into force on 10 December 2011.
Even only a cursory glance at Table 1 will
immediately show that nickel is present in
approximately 64% of the brazing materials
listed. Recent research work has shown, be-
yond any reasonable doubt, that the pres-
ence of nickel and/or manganese in a braz-
ing material provides enhanced wetting by
that alloy on cemented carbide. It is believed
that this is because of the close similarity
between the physical and chemical proper-
ties of nickel and the cementing element
cobalt in the tungsten carbide while man-
ganese forms manganese carbide when in
contact with tungsten carbide. Because of
these effects there is a high inter-solubility
of each of these metals during the brazing
process, and as mentioned in Part 1 of this
series (see “Welding and Cutting“ issue
4/2014), the phenomenon of wetting is in-
extricably bound up with the mutual disso-
lution and/or diffusion of the filler material
and the parent metal.
Eight manganese-bearing alloys are also
included in Table 1. These are normally the
first choice of filler metal in those cases
where, either by accident or design, there is
a relatively high free carbon content in the
carbide when it is at brazing temperature.
As we saw in Part 1 of this series, when
considering the brazing of parts containing
free carbon, there is strong evidence to sug-
gest that the manganese and the free carbon
react with each other to produce particles
of manganese carbide. These particles are
wetted by the molten brazing alloy.
Two proprietary manganese-bearing,
high-temperature brazing alloys suitable for
the brazing of tungsten carbide that might
experience elevated temperatures in service
are also available. These are the 86% cop-
per-manganese-nickel alloy, which has a
melting range of 965 to 995°C, and the 86%
copper-manganese-cobalt alloy that has a
melting range of 980 to 1,030°C. These ma-
terials are used almost exclusively for the
brazing of rock-drilling tools (see Part 3 of
this series which will follow in issue 6/2014).
However, and accompanying the growth
of the off-shore oil industry, there is increas-
ing use of tools tipped with tungsten carbide
found on oil rigs and other equipment used
in a marine environment. In some situa-
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
tions, particularly in vane pumps where a
mixture of oil, sand and sea-water is being
pumped, the corrosion- and erosion-resis-
tance of the pump vanes is a paramount
consideration in regard to the length of their
working life.
In the early days of the ‚off-shore‘ indus-
try, some manufacturers decided that to im-
prove the corrosion resistance of their pump
vanes it would be a sensible move to use
stainless steel as the vane material, and to
increase their resistance to erosion, they
would cover the surface that would be ex-
posed to the water-oil-sand mixture with
tungsten carbide. This was to be achieved
by brazing tungsten carbide platelets to
those parts of the vane that would be ex-
posed to these harsh conditions.
Unfortunately this did not immediately
solve the problem: the designers were un-
aware of a corrosion mechanism, known as
interfacial corrosion (sometimes described
as ‚crevice corrosion‘ in the brazing litera-
ture) that promotes the relatively rapid fail-
ure (i.e. often within two to three days) of
joints brazed to a stainless steel with the
more popular low-melting temperature,
free-flowing, silver-bearing filler materials
when those joints are exposed to water, or
even moisture, in service.
Fortunately the majority of the major
suppliers of brazing filler materials are aware
of this phenomenon, and materials that are
immune to this form of failure are available.
We will take a brief look at this matter later
in this article after we have examined the
brazing and simultaneous hardening of
hammer drills, but before we consider the
fine details of the filler materials that are rec-
ommended for use when extraneous, and
unusual conditions are unlikely to be pres-
ent when the tools are used.
Simultaneous brazing and
through hardening of tungsten
carbide tipped hammer drills
One of the problems that users of car-
bide tipped hammer drills had until about
15 years ago (see Fig. 1) was the relatively
early failure of the drill because the portion
of the tip that was carrying the brazed tung-
sten carbide insert became detached from
the drill body. This was established as being
due to the fact that during the then existing
manufacturing operation such drills were
pre-hardened, and then the carbide tip was
subsequently flame- or induction-brazed in-
to position as a second operation. Naturally,
the second brazing operation ‚annealed‘ the
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
Fig. 2 • A schematic representation of the brazing and simultaneous hardening of carbide-tipped
hammer drills: a) furnace arrangement, b) loading pattern of carbide tipped drills on the belt during
brazing (note that the carbide tip is the last point of the assembly to enter the hot zone and so also
the last part to leave it. See text for the reason why this is the case), c) the form of the drill showing
the location of the tungsten carbide insert.
tip of the drill material, and relatively early temperature that is very much below the
subsequent failure occurred through the an- brazing temperature when it reaches the
nealed portion of the drill at a point imme- gas-quenching station: this avoids the risk
diately below the location of the tungsten of it shattering that would have been the
carbide tip in the majority of cases. This was case had it been directly quenched from
due to the high torque loading that the tip 1,105°C.
experienced in service. This was clearly un- A further improvement was achieved by
satisfactory, and an alternative method of changing the pure copper filler material that
manufacture was sought. A detailed process had been used in the past to the Copper-3%
audit was undertaken by the author in con- nickel alloy conforming to ISO 17672: 2010
junction with a major UK producer of ham- Type Cu 186. The melting range of this ma-
mer drills and Mahler GmbH, a respected terial is 1,085 to 1,100°C, but on account of
German manufacturer of protective atmos- its nickel content, its wetting characteristics
phere continuous-conveyor furnaces. on tungsten carbide are superior to those of
It was jointly agreed that since the drill pure copper, together with the fact that it
body would needed to be hard, and because will also fill joint gaps in the range 0.025 to
it would be heated to the brazing tempera- 0.200 mm. However, on the other hand pure
ture of 1,105°C, it ought to be possible to copper is specifically recommended for gaps
carry out the hardening process as an inte- in the range from 0 to 0.075 mm.
gral part of the brazing operation by means
of gas-quenching the drill bodies as they Brazing tungsten carbide to stain-
left the hot zone of the furnace, and this less steel where the joint will be
proved to be the case. A schematic of the exposed to water in service
overall system of operation is illustrated in As mentioned earlier, particular care
Fig. 2. must be taken in the selection of filler ma-
It is significant that the carbide tip is the terials for the brazing of stainless steels that
last part of the drill to enter the hot zone might be exposed to oxygenated moisture
and, of course, also the last part of it to leave in service. In these conditions failure of the
the hot zone. This means that when gas- joint can result from a specific form of in-
quenching of the drill body is undertaken terfacial corrosion that appears just a few
at the exit end of the hot zone, heat is ‚sucked microns into the steel beneath filler
away‘ from the area where the brazed tip is metal/stainless steel interface. In the exam-
located and, in consequence, the tip is at a ination of joints that have failed by this
295
 REPORTS
Fig. 3 • A schematic cross section through a joint that has been brazed with a tri-metal filler material.
Table 2 • The significance of the difference in the expansion coefficients between tungsten carbide
and steel when heated from room temperature to 690°C.
Material Room Temperature
Dimension (mm)
Carbon steel 25 x 25
Tungsten carbide 25 x 25
Difference nil
Table 3 • The selection of filler materials for different sizes of carbide ‚plates’.
Maximum length of tungsten
carbide face to be brazed (mm)
Up to 5
6 to 12
12 to 20
Over 20
mechanism it is usual to find that the mating
surfaces of it appear bright and un-pitted,
as though the joint had never been properly
brazed. A further distinguishing character-
istic feature of this mode of failure is the ap-
pearance of a thin ‚deposition‘ of ‚rust‘ at
portions of the periphery of the filler metal
fillet. Unfortunately, once initiated the con-
dition is irreversible!
Interfacial corrosion failure is much
more likely to occur in martensitic and fer-
ritic stainless steels than it is in austenitic
materials. However, it is important to recog-
nise that if stainless steel is to be joined by
brazing, a useful ‚insurance policy‘ is always
to assume that it will be exposed to service
conditions that can lead to interfacial cor-
rosion failure occurring, and proceed ac-
cordingly.
Research carried out in the mid-1970‘s
in both the United Kingdom and Europe
showed that if joints had been made with a
filler metal that contained either one or both
of cadmium and zinc, base-metal rich phas-
es were produced during the heating stage
296
Coefficient of Linear Dimension at Brazing
Expansion temperature (mm)
10-6 mm/°C
12.2 25.204 x 25.204
(635.242 mm2)
4.0 25.067 x 25.067
(628.54 mm2)
8.2 6.89 mm2
Recommended cadmium-free filler
material to be used (see Table 1)
1st choice: Ag 449
2nd choice: Ag 155
st
1 choice: Ag 449
2nd choice: Proprietary alloy;
40% Ag – Cu – Zn - Ni
1st choice: Proprietary tri-metal foil
2nd choice: Ag 449
Only the proprietary tri-metal foil
of the joining process. During the brazing
process, diffusion processes result in the for-
mation of these phases across the joint in-
terface and, essentially, they are copper-
zinc-cadmium-iron or copper-zinc-iron. It
is clear that the iron content of these phases
is coming from the stainless steel while the
brazing filler material is providing the other
base-metal constituents.
It has been established that the diffusion
of these phases into the stainless steel is lim-
ited to a depth of only a few microns. How-
ever, when this diffusion layer is exposed to
oxygenated moisture a corrosion cell is gen-
erated, and this inevitably results in the
base-metal phases being preferentially dis-
solved, this leading to relatively rapid failure
of the entire joint. It can also be shown that
if brazing is carried out with alloys that are
free from zinc and cadmium joint failure by
the mechanism of interfacial corrosion is
avoided.
Consequently, if a joint between tung-
sten carbide and any type of stainless steel
is likely to be exposed to water or moisture
in service there are two filler materials avail-
able that are universally known to be im-
mune to failure by the mechanism of inter-
facial corrosion. These are:
• The filler material that conforms to ISO
17672:2010 Type Ag 456a
• A proprietary material having the fol-
lowing composition: 64% Ag, 26% Cu,
2% Mn, 2% Ni, 6% In. Melting range:
730 – 780°C
While both materials are available in the
form of rod, the proprietary material is also
available in the form if a tri-metal foil which
contains a copper interlayer in order to assist
in the absorption of the inevitable stresses
that arise due the effects of differential ex-
pansion and subsequent contraction that
arise during the brazing process. Conse-
quently, if tungsten carbide platelets are to
be brazed to the surface of a piece of stain-
less steel, the best choice of filler material is
probably the tri-foil version of the propri-
etary material.(See #6 in Table 1)
The tri-metal materials
In situations where the joint gaps may
be too large, difficulty may be experienced
during the brazing process with the filling
of them with molten filler alloy and then re-
taining that alloy in the gap. As we have seen
earlier, when using filler materials of rela-
tively high fluidity the basic theory of brazing
calls for using as small a joint gap as possi-
ble. This ensures the development of maxi-
mum strength in the joint. However, when
the brazing of tungsten carbide is being un-
dertaken, the ‚flow‘ parameter is only of spe-
cific relevance to the brazing of small lathe
tools and masonry drills: different consid-
erations apply to larger tools! This is because
of the large difference in the amount of dif-
ferential expansion and contraction that oc-
curs between the parts. In general terms, the
brazing process is best employed where the
joint gap presented is 0.2 mm or less. If a
joint needs to be wider than this to absorb
the stress, one of the proprietary tri-metal
materials can be used (i.e., brazing filler ma-
terial metallurgically bonded to either side
of a copper, or copper-nickel, or a woven
nickel mesh interlayer (Fig. 3)).
As a general rule, the ratio of brazing
filler material thickness to the interlayer is
one part alloy, two parts interlayer and one
part alloy (i.e., 1:2:1); this is the standard
product ratio for this type of filler material
up to a thickness of 0.75 mm. At this dimen-
sion the thickness of the brazing alloy layers
will be about 0.20 mm. When molten this
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
amount of material can just about be held
in a capillary gap. If thicker joints are needed
to accommodate the applied levels of con-
tractional stress, materials with ratios of
1:4:1, and in extreme cases 1:6:1, are obtain-
able from a number of different suppliers of
brazing filler materials who operate inter-
nationally.
Using the tri-metal materials
Where carbide plates are to be joined
to steel backing pieces, the dimension of
the carbide is instrumental in deciding
which particular type of brazing material
is to be employed. As we have already seen,
the expansion coefficient of steel can, de-
pending on its composition, be between
three and four times that of the tungsten
carbide. The full implication of this factor
is detailed in Table 2. Using this table as
an example, it is clear that at the instant
the joint is made the steel covers an area
that is 6.89 mm2 larger than the tungsten
carbide. Once the heat source is removed
and the part begins to cool, the component
parts of the joint will attempt to contract
to their original starting sizes. Contraction
is resisted by the presence of the solidified
brazing filler material in the joint and some
quite severe contraction-induced stresses
can arise. Using a thickened joint line, with
the proprietary tri-metal material included
as #6 in Table 1 being the one most fre-
quently chosen. This is because that ma-
terial is the one that will take account of
the worst excesses of this problem during
the subsequent brazing operation.
Recommendations concerning the se-
lection of the appropriate type of brazing
filler material for a range of sizes of tung-
sten carbide plates are given in Table 3.
Flux selection
All of the metals that are commonly used
in engineering are covered with oxide films
at room temperature, and such films are
known to inhibit wetting and flow by a
molten brazing filler material. It is therefore
vital to the success of all brazing operations
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
Table 4 • The fluxes in wide use for the brazing of tungsten carbide.
Specification in Form Working range Residue removal
BS/EN 1045 (°C)
FH 10 Powder 550 – 800 The residues are generally soluble in hot water
Paste 575 – 825 Immersion for up to 30 minutes is recommended,
followed by brushing the joints in a stream of warm water
FH12a Paste 550 – 800 Residues are soluble in hot water.
Powder 600 – 875 Immersion for up to 30 minutes is recommended,
followed by brushing the joints in a stream of warm water
FH12a Powder 600 – 900 Residues are insoluble in water and they are best removed
by mechanical methods. e.g. shot-blasting etc
FH21 Powder 750 – 1200 Only mechanical methods of removal are effective
Paste 750 – 1200
a
These are the so-called ‚black fluxes‘ that are so eminently suited for brazing tungsten carbide. Their brown/black
colouration is due to the presence of elemental Boron in the product. However, even when molten they are opaque and
so it is difficult to see when the filler material flows to make the joint.
Providing that the filler material that is to be used has a working temperature that lies within the working range of the
flux selected, excellent results will be achieved with all of the fluxes in the Table. The best results, however, will be
achieved by the use of the appropriate ‚black flux‘
that the oxide films that are present on the perature of the brazing alloy being
parts at room temperature, and those that used.
are formed during the brazing cycle, are con- • It must remain active, continuing to
tinuously removed until the filler material dissolve oxides, at a temperature that
melts, flows and makes the joint. is at least 50°C higher than the li -
This objective is very often achieved by quidus of the brazing material being
using a fusible chemical which is common- used.
ly known as ‚the flux‘. Fluxes are generally • When molten, it must be capable of
mixtures of the alkali-metal salts. These wetting and remaining on vertical sur-
are solid at room temperature and need to faces.
become molten before they can begin to • Its residues should be capable of being
dissolve the oxide films that are present. removed easily from the work-pieces
The flux must remain sufficiently fluid, at the conclusion of the brazing cycle.
even when heavily laden with dissolved No single flux satisfies all these require-
oxides, so it can be flushed out of the cap- ments and a comprehensive range of fluxes
illary gap by the advancing front of the have been developed to complement the
molten brazing filler material. In conse- wide range of brazing filler alloys that are
quence, the ideal flux for a particular ap- available. Full details of the fluxes that are
plication will have the performance char- specifically recommended for the brazing
acteristics that are summariased below: of tungsten carbide, including suggestions
• It must be capable of dissolving any related to the removal of their residues, are
oxide that is in or formed in the joint given in Table 4. Depending on the brazing
area. filler material used, all of the fluxes in that
• It must retain high fluidity when con- Table will give excellent results. The boron-
taining appreciable quantities of dis- loaded black fluxes are generally giving the
solved oxides. best results.
• It must become active and start dis- P. M. Roberts, Delphi Brazing Consultants,
solving oxides at a temperature that is Congleton, Cheshire/UK
at least 50°C below the solidus tem-
297
 REPORTS
SRM stud welding – a new arc stud welding variant
In SRM stud welding (welding in a radi-
al-symmetric magnetic field), a radial-sym-
metric magnetic field in combination with
a shielding gas atmosphere protects the arc
from external influence. This results in high-
er efficiency due to repeatable, high welding
quality without arc blow problems. In prac-
tice, this means very even and defined par-
tial melting of stud and sheet with consid-
erably reduced energy input into the welded
connection, reduced spatter formation and
a small bead.
The arc is protected in the area of the
welding point. Without this additional pro-
tection, there are often blow effects on the
arc considerably disturbing the application
of the drawn arc stud welding procedures
resulting in incomplete bead formation
and/or undercutting. So the user has to deal
with additional expenses in the ongoing pro-
duction monitoring, however also in regu-
larly required work tests and/or procedure
qualifications according to DIN EN ISO
14555.
298
The new stud welding in the radial-sym-
metric magnetic field can make an impor-
tant contribution to the improvement of the
arc stud welding efficiency by repeatable,
good welding quality, basically without blow
effect problems. A characteristic feature of
SRM stud welding is an extremely even and
defined partial melting of stud and sheet
with a considerably reduced energy input
into the welded connection, reduced spatter
formation and a small bead.
Transferring the advantages to
larger stud diameters
Arc welding using the SRM technology
results from first experience in 2005 [1] for
studs up to a diameter of 10 mm at alloyed
steel. In 2009, Heinz Soyer Bolzen-
schweißtechnik GmbH, Wörthsee/Ger-
many, presented this technology to an in-
ternational audience on the occasion of the
“Schweissen & Schneiden“ Fair in Essen.
The reaction to the welding results of the
SRM technology with simultaneous use of a
patented special welding stud of
type “HZ1” by Soyer was already
very positive. For studs with a di-
ameter of more than 10 mm, how-
ever, no empirical values were
available then. In the industry,
there were requests regarding the
applicability, especially with larger
stud diameters, and for out-of-po-
sition welding to both the Welding
Training and Research Institute
SLV Munich and the machine
manufacturer.
In the further development of
the SRM technology, it has in the
meantime been possible to trans-
fer its advantages regarding the use
of the comparatively little energy
input and the small, however very
even weld penetration geometry to
studs of sizes M12 and M16. At
these diameters, as well, optically
Fig. 1 • Sleeve or nut welding with the
support of a magnetic field for the even
movement of the arc at the ring-shaped
hollow section: welded sleeve connec-
tion at alloyed steel with good bead ap- as well as weld penetration shape.
pearance (top), a magnetic field sur-
rounds the welding point and together Very simple device extension
with the shielding gas, results in the arc
movement (bottom).
appealing welded connections could be pro-
duced, hardly causing any rework due to dis-
turbing bead accumulation and spatters.
The determination of relevant characteris-
tics and the optimisation of the welding and
boundary conditions were completed within
the scope of a research project of Bayerische
Forschungsstiftung (Bavarian Research
Foundation), Munich.
The benefit of the SRM technology was
discovered in 2005 rather accidentally. Be-
fore, magnetic fields were used in stud weld-
ing primarily for the even movement of the
arc at a hollow section, similar to MBP weld-
ing (pressure welding with magnetically
moved arc) (Fig. 1). This technology devel-
oped as sleeve or nut welding [2, 3] has been
used with an additional fixture for the cre-
ation of the magnetic field and the shielding
gas cover in the market for years. The shield-
ing of the welding point by a magnetic field
in order to reduce unintended arc deflection
has also been known for years; it has, how-
ever, only established itself in individual cas-
es, for example with alloyed materials.
The SRM technology is an extension of
drawn arc stud welding for common, unal-
loyed and alloyed steel materials that are
suitable for stud welding. The weld pool pro-
tection is implemented by means of com-
mercially available shielding gases (argon
or mixed gases with CO2) in combination
with magnetic arc influencing. A ceramic
ring is not necessary. The SRM technology
distinguishes itself by the following features:
• high welding quality with smooth bead
surface, little weld penetration depth
and high carrying capacity,
• welding process with little blow effect,
• good repeatability,
• little welding energy and thus only min-
imum distortion of the component,
• all welding positions possible (down-
hand position, vertical wall, overhead).
For studs of sizes M12 and M16, welding con-
ditions for the creation of highly loadable stud
welds were determined after development of
the suitable shielding gas magnetic field ad-
ditional device; these conditions comply with
the current requirements of DIN EN ISO
14555 with regard to bending and tensile load
Fig. 2 shows the course of the SRM weld-
ing procedure as variant of drawn arc stud
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
Fig. 2 • Procedural process in SRM welding as variant of drawn arc stud welding: The magnetic influence on the arc leads to the even partial melting of
the entire front face even with full cross-sections with identifiable rotation effects during the main current phase.

a) b)

Fig. 3 • Additional fixture with different degassing concepts to create magnetic field and shielding
gas cover: a) small size up to M12, b) larger fixture for M16 with changed gas flow direction.
welding. Except for the actuation of the ra-
dial-symmetric magnetic field, the welding
process exactly corresponds to drawn arc
shielding gas stud welding. Before the be-
ginning of the main current phase, the addi-
tional magnetic field is activated which sub-
sequently influences the arc with regard to
its movability of the arc starting points at stud
and sheet even with complete cross-section.
The entire front face of the stud is evenly par-
tially melted within a shorter period than in
the drawn arc procedures known until now.
In this phase, partial rotations of the arc
around the stud axis with increasing rotation
radius are identified.
The device extension for the SRM stud
welding is very simple. Depending on the di-
ameter, you use the commercially available
“PH-3N” welding gun for M12 or “PH-4L” for
M16, which are in each case equipped with
an optimised SRM shielding gas magnetic
field fixture according to Fig. 3. For the M12
studs, there is a small, compact fixture (Fig.
3a) that is hardly larger than a common
shielding gas fixture. For M16 studs, the fix-
ture according to Fig. 3b was enlarged ac-
cordingly, whereas the gas flow direction and
the degassing concept have been changed.
With the “BMK-16i” (up to M12) and “BMK-
30i” (currently up to M16) inverter power
sources by Heinz Soyer Bolzenschweißtech-
nik, the magnetic field is activated by an SRM
module which can be retrofitted. These in-
verter power sources are especially suitable
for stud welding using the SRM technology.
SRM welding does not require special
training of the users. The stud welding pa-
rameters are basically set at the welding
guns, welding heads and at the power source,
as usual. In addition, you only need to set
Fig. 4 • SRM welding gun for M16 studs – the
connection of the magnetic field shielding gas
fixture to the support feet of welding guns and
welding heads is also easily possible with sta-
tionary handling.
the current intensity for the SRM magnetic
field to up to 1.5 A depending on the mag-
netic coil.
Fig. 4 shows the adapted magnetic field
shielding gas fixture at the support feet of
the “PH-4L” welding gun with additional
electrical connection to supply the magnetic
coil. This is basically also possible when us-
ing welding heads with stationary operation.
As shielding gases, you can – in addition to
pure argon – particularly use mixed gases
with 2.5, 10 or 18% CO2 share. The mixed
gas Ar + 10% CO2 has proven of value in case
of high requirements regarding bead ap-
pearance and carrying capacity of the SRM
welded connections.

Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5 299

 REPORTS
a)
b)
Fig. 5 • View and weld penetration shape of a
SRM welding connection with M12 stud made
of S235 material (stability class 5.8); the tensile
test resulted in a fracture position in the stud
after contraction in the thread – a) complete
bead formation, fracture position in the stud,
breaking force 50.5 kN, b) even, thin melting
zone, little weld penetration depth in the sheet,
no weld defects visible.
Similar welding result for M12 and
M16 studs
Results for M12 studs
The effect of the influenced arc in SRM
stud welding becomes particularly clear in
the weld penetration geometry. The very
even partial melting is similar to that in the
capacitor discharge stud welding procedure
in which the sheet only shows little weld
penetration depth. The carrying behaviour
of stud welding connections is proven using
a simple bending test (site test) or a static
tensile test according to DIN EN ISO 14555.
Fig. 5 shows the view and weld penetra-
tion shape of an SRM welding connection
with M12 studs made of S235 material which
has a tensile strength of about 560 MPa in
stability class 5.8. Fig. 5a documents the frac-
ture position of studs in tensile tests required
according to DIN EN ISO 14555. In this ex-
ample, the stud breaks at a load of 50.5 kN
after contraction in the thread. In the section
(Fig. 5b), you can clearly see the typical, even,
thin melting zone as faultless link between
stud and sheet. The weld penetration depth
in the sheet is about 0.5 mm. In the area of
300
the bead, the weld pool depth slightly in- box/plot presentation are at the same level
creases. This weld penetration geometry is between 50.3 and 50.6 kN.
hardly susceptible to pore and crack forma- Fig. 7 contains the welding dates used
tion if unalloyed steels suitable for stud weld- regarding the individual welding variants. It
ing are used. When dipping the stud into the shows views and weld penetration shapes of
weld pool, only a small amount of melt is M12 studs that were welded using different
displaced whereas a smooth bead surface drawn arc variants from Fig. 6. For this com-
with almost fillet weld shaped bead geometry parison, the ceramic ring stud welding was
results. performed with a welding energy of about 6
Fig. 6 contains statistic data for the com- kJ, the shielding gas stud welding with about
parison of the results of tensile tests at M12 5 kJ and the SRM stud welding with about 4
welds for the SRM, ceramic ring and shield- kJ. In contrast to the SRM welds, stud welds
ing gas stud welding variants when using with the ceramic ring and shielding gas vari-
materials from the same production batch. ants frequently fail in the welding zone if the
Every variant is based on 20 tests at studs low welding energy of 4 kJ is used. This “low-
made of the stud material S235 (stability class energy concept” of SRM stud welding par-
5.8), welded at 10 mm thick sheets made of ticularly distinguishes itself by the small bead
S355. In all welded connections, the fracture and the little weld pool thickness. It can be
position was within the stud. Using the dia- determined as result of this examination
gram, you can thus only evaluate the distri- without doubt that with regard to the carry-
bution of the stud material used in an overall ing behaviour with static bending and tensile
distribution range between 49 and 52 kN. As loads and with regard to the repeatability,
mean values, the medians in the selected SRM stud welding can be used as innovative
Fig. 6 • Statistics of com-
parative tensile tests at
M12 stud welding con-
nections – 20 tests per
variant, fracture position
in the stud in all welded
connections, stud material
S235 (stability class 5.8)
from the same batch;
welding data see Fig. 7;
repeatability and process
reliability of SRM stud
welding is equal to the
conventional stud welding
procedures.
Fig. 7 • Comparison of different drawn arc variants with M12 studs made of material S235 (stability
class 5.8); all studs were made of the same batch; sheet material S355, 10 mm thick. In another test
series, the basic sheet material broke due to bad Z quality. The procedure requires good surface
preparation and good adjustment of shielding gas and welding parameters. If this is not done care-
fully, failure of SRM stud welds in the welded connection cannot be excluded.
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
alternative to the conventional stud welding
procedures (ceramic ring or shielding gas).
Results for M16 studs
In the examined SRM welds with M16
studs, the bending tests were passed without
problems if suitable welding and boundary
conditions were used. Fig. 8 shows view and
section of an SRM stud weld at M16 studs
made of material S235 with a welding energy
of 6.0 kJ. With regard to appearance and weld
penetration shape, the welding result resem-
bles the previous experience with M12 studs.
The welding times don‘t have to be extended
as compared to smaller diameters. To ensure
sufficient partial melting, only the current
intensity is slightly increased from about 900
A to 1,200 A and the coil current of the larger
SRM fixture according to Fig. 3b is increased
to 1.1 A. In a ceramic ring stud weld with
comparable design, a welding energy of
about 18 kJ is used with this diameter.
The reduced and even weld penetration
results in considerably reduced distortion of
the component. With regard to the blow ef-
fect, the even weld penetration can e.g. also
be achieved with unilateral ground connec-
tion. In static tensile tests, M16 stud welds
under the shielding gases argon and Ar +
18% CO2 break in the basic stud material at
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
a)
b)
Fig. 8 • View and weld penetration shape of an
SRM welding connection with a stud M16 x 60
at a sheet made of S355; a) condition bending
angle of more than 60° satisfied, b) thin melting
zone, slightly increased partial melting in the
centre due to the influence of the shielding gas;
welding conditions: current intensity: 1,170 A,
welding time: 220 ms, lift: 2.8 mm, penetration
depth: 0.6 mm, SRM field: 1100 mA, welding
energy: 6.0 kJ, shielding gas: M21 – ArC – 18
breaking tensions of about 560 N/mm2 of the
stud batch used. It can be determined based
on the results for M16 studs that SRM stud
welding also offers potential for the econom-
ic use with larger diameters than 12 mm.
High process reliability also in
out-of-position welding
One special advantage of the SRM tech-
nology becomes apparent in out-of-position
stud welding, particularly at a vertical wall
(PC position). Fig. 9 shows an SRM stud
welding connection of an M12 stud out-of-
position (PC) under shielding gas M21 – ArC
– 18 with magnetic field additional fixture,
carried out in the same form at unalloyed
sheet steel. If you compare upper side and
lower side of the weld in Fig. 9, you can see a
similar and complete bead formation. From
the section, you can hardly see any influence
of the PC welding position as compared to
PA (downhand position = sheet horizontal).
Fig. 10 shows SRM stud welding connec-
tions with M16 studs that have been welded
out-of-position (PC) (at vertical wall) under
shielding gas M21 – ArC – 18. In the welding
connection in Fig. 10a, SRM results in a com-
plete bead formation at the upper side of
the welding. The bending test is passed. The
welding connection in Fig. 10b, however,
Fig. 9 • SRM stud
welding out-of-posi-
tion, PC (at vertical
wall), under shielding
gas M21 – ArC – 18
with magnetic field
additional fixture,
stud: M12, S235,
sheet: S355, welding
conditions: current in-
tensity: 900 A, weld-
ing time: 170 ms, lift
2.0 mm, immersion
depth: 0.5 mm,
shielding gas: M21 –
ArC – 18
301
 REPORTS
a)
carried out without SRM magnetic field but
for the rest identical welding parameters,
shows an incomplete bead formation at the
upper side. With this welding, the bending
test is not passed. At the break position in
the welding zone, you can see undercutting
at the upper side.
The SRM welding process distinguishes
itself by good repeatability of the welding
results which is particularly due to the little
blow effect. This could be confirmed by
means of tests with partially unilateral
ground connection. So the SRM stud weld-
ing can – with regard to process reliability –
at least be used on the same level as estab-
lished stud welding procedures. First users
from vehicle construction confirm the out-
standing process reliability of this technol-
ogy.
Permanently advanced
technology
With good repeatability for M12 and
M16 steel studs made of unalloyed and al-
loyed materials being suitable for stud
welding, the SRM welding procedure sat-
isfies the acceptance criteria of DIN EN
ISO 14555 even with extensive quality re-
quirements. This could be proven by
means of corresponding bending and ten-
sile tests as well as using metallographic
examinations.
302
b)
Due to the low-energy concept, the SRM
stud welding connections distinguish them-
selves by very even bead and weld penetra-
tion shapes. The radial-symmetric magnetic
field effectively protects the arc from blow
effects, also during out-of-position welding.
The shielding gases pure argon and argon
with up to 18% CO2 share are suitable for
stud welding with the SRM procedure up to
M16 (unalloyed steel). The SRM procedure
requires an effective magnetic field shielding
gas fixture as well as careful adjustment of
the welding parameters to the boundary
conditions.
The device extension is in many cases
possible even with existing welding invert-
ers. At the welding guns and/or welding
heads, the necessary shielding gas field cre-
ating unit is attached to the existing support
equipment without problems.
The SRM technology as innovation of
stud welding, which already received nu-
merous awards, is continuously advanced.
Apart from the potential of welding larger
stud diameters, research is currently fo-
cussing on questions regarding the carrying
capacity under fatigue load with cyclic load-
ing and thus regarding vibration resistance.
One part of the results explained in the
contribution was determined within the
frame of a current research and develop-
ment study regarding SRM stud welding
Fig. 10 • Views of SRM stud
welding connections with
M16 studs made of S235 at
a sheet made of S355 out-
of-position, PC (at vertical
wall), under shielding gas
M21 – ArC – 18 before and
after the bending test;
a) with SRM technology:
even bead formation at up-
per and lower side of the
stud, bending test with
bending angle of more than
60° passed; b) without SRM
technology: bead formation
at upper side incomplete,
fracture position partially in
welding zone with identifi-
able undercutting at the up-
per side; welding conditions:
current intensity: 1,380 A,
welding time: 200 ms, lift:
2.7 mm, shielding gas: M20
– ArC – 10 (Figures: Soyer
(1b, 2, 3), SLV Munich)
which is promoted by Bayerische
Forschungsstiftung (Bavarian Research
Foundation), Munich.
Heidi Cramer, Andreas Jenicek and Marc
Müller, GSI Gesellschaft für Schweißtech-
nik International mbH, Niederlassung SLV
München, Munich/Germany,
Günter Forster, Karsten Hartz-Behrend
and Jochen Schein, Universität der Bun-
deswehr München, Neubiberg/Germany,
Heinz Soyer, Heinz Soyer Bolzen-
schweißtechnik GmbH, Wörthsee-Etter-
schlag/Germany
Literature
[1] Cramer, H.; Jenicek, A.: Hubzündungs-
bolzenschweißen – neues Verfahren re-
duziert Fehler. Metallbau 16 (2005), no. 9,
pp. 40-43.
[2] N. N.: Research report no. 5105/2000:
Schweißen zylindrischer Hohlkörper auf
ungelochte und gelochte Bleche mittels
magnetisch bewegtem Lichtbogen.
Schweißtechnische Lehr- und Versuch-
sanstalt SLV München, subsidiary of GSI
mbH, Munich 2000.
[3] N. N.: Research report no. 5124/2003: Licht-
bogenschweißen von zylindrischen
Hohlkörpern (Buchsen, Muttern, etc.) mit
magnetisch bewegtem Lichtbogen an Alu-
miniumwerkstoffen, AiF project no. 12.753.
Schweißtechnische Lehr- und Versuch-
sanstalt SLV München, subsidiary of GSI
mbH, Munich 2003.
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
 NEWS
Editorial
Professional Development and Continued Competence
Qualifications, skills and experience are gained by every individ-
ual in our industry, at various times throughout their careers and
through formal and informal education, training courses, and on-
the-job learning. Many learning opportunities outside of school,
college or university are job-related vocational courses that are
funded by the individual or their employer as training for a spe-
cific role or application of technology. Whilst all learning has the
potential to contribute to professional development, relatively few
courses lead to professionally recognised outcomes, and the com-
bination of courses able to efficiently build towards professional
recognition is often unclear.
As a licensed professional engineering institution, The Welding
Institute applies the UK Standard for Professional Engineering
Competence (UK-SPEC) to both recognise the achievements of in-
dividuals through their registration as Engineering Technicians,
Incorporated Engineers, and Chartered Engineers, and to create
structured pathways for Initial Professional Development (IPD)
through mapping of education and training courses against the
competence requirements. This structuring of unstructured op-
portunities helps to recognise job-related training as part of a pro-
fessional development pathway.
Registration as a professional technician, technologist or engineer
in accordance with the competence requirements of UK-SPEC also
demands demonstrated professional behaviours and maintenance
of currency and recency of practice, and The Welding Institute pro-
vides Rules of Professional Conduct and Continuing Professional
Development (CPD) activities and events to support continued
compliance. Membership of The Welding Institute is designed to
create and deliver professional development opportunities, with
Associate membership providing access to events and information
services for all those interested in gaining knowledge and experi-
ence of welding and joining of materials, Technician membership
to support Engineering Technicians in maintaining and progress-
ing their competence, and Member to support the professional sta-
tus and career progression of Incorporated and Chartered
Engineers.
The recent decision of the Professional Members of The Welding
Institute to simplify the membership grades has reinforced the
recognition of welding and joining professionals and clarified the
structure of the Institute. Like Professional Members, Associates
of The Welding Institute (AWeldI) are able to network and attend
lectures at Branch and Technical Group events or, especially for
international members out of reach of a physical Branch of the In-
stitute, participate in web-based Global Branch events. AWeldI
members also have access to information resources through TWI
websites and library services that can assist them in achieving
their Professional Development Plan (PDP). The ‘mycareerpath’
online professional development tool is provided to all members
to help them to plan, record, and report their IPD and CPD activ-
ities, to provide evidence of compliance with Professional Mem-
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
September
October
2014
The Newsletter of The Welding Institute
bership and Engineering Council registration requirements, and
support CSWIP renewal and recertification.
With Technician (TechWeldI) forming the largest and fastest grow-
ing membership grade within the Institute, the simplification will
enable greater focus to be brought to delivery of resources in sup-
port of IPD and CPD for EngTechs. Much effort has already been
expended in mapping exercises to ensure that CSWIP certificate
holders are not only competent for their specific roles but also gain
professional recognition for their achievements, the latest of which
was to support welding tutors by enhancing the CSWIP Welding
Instructor requirements to fully satisfy UK-SPEC for EngTech
TechWeldI registration and membership. To better address the in-
creasing requirement for competent welding coordination person-
nel, the next such activity will be to develop the CSWIP Welding
Supervisor scheme to address more of the tasks identified in ISO
14731 and also satisfy UK-SPEC, to deliver more CSWIP Regis-
tered Welding Supervisors who are also EngTech TechWeldI pro-
fessionals. The Trailblazer 3 proposal for a new welding
apprenticeship has been submitted to the UK Government Depart-
ment for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the outcome of
its assessment is awaited; if successful, The Welding Institute will
support industry in defining the formal pathway for welding tech-
nicians of the future.
The removal of divisions within the Membership grade support-
ing CPD and professional development for IEng and CEng regis-
trants has eliminated barriers to entry and progression, and will
enable greater emphasis to be placed on providing employers with
appropriate competence assurance for compliance with current
standards, such as ISO 3834 and EN 1090. The Institute’s Accred-
itation Licence from the Engineering Council will enable the ex-
cellent work that has created a progression route to Level 5, using
the TWI Diplomas as part of the TWI/Open University Founda-
tion Degree in Materials Fabrication and Engineering, to be ex-
tended through additional learning options and accredited
degrees to Level 6 (BEng) and Level 7 (MEng/MSc), providing di-
rect routes to registration as IEng MWeldI and CEng MWeldI.
The Welding Institute serves the professional development and
continued competence of all welding and materials joining pro-
fessionals, from those starting out on their IPD as AWeldIs,
through CPD and progression of EngTech TechWeldIs, IEng
MWeldIs, to CEng MWeldIs, and recognises those who contribute
most to furthering our profession as Fellows of The Welding In-
stitute (FWeldI). For more than 90 years, The Welding Institute has
focused on developing and maintaining the competence of weld-
ing and materials joining professionals, and more welding and
materials joining professionals than ever before are choosing to
have their competence recognised by The Welding Institute, ‘The
Engineering Institution for Welding and Joining Professionals’.
Eur Ing Chris Eady BSc(Hons), MSc, CEng, MRAeS, FWeldI
Associate Director Professional Affairs, The Welding Institute
303
TWI NEWS ··· TWI NEWS ··· TWI NEWS ··
Eastern Counties The supporting cast included George Bulmer, John Weston and the
Annual Dinner and Presentation Staff of the Golf Club. Ray Butcher gave background support with
The Noise of Ice – Antarctica display boards and his Loyal Award.
by: Enzo Barracco
Friday 11th March 2014 The major prize winners were:
• C Punshon, TWI, the Ken Lar-
Madingley Hall, a 16th century wood Memorial Salver
country house set in beautiful gar- • T Davies, Indians, the Weldabil-
dens and owned by Cambridge ity-SIF Challenge Cup (handicap
University, was the venue for the ≤18)
Courtesy of Enzo Barracco
Eastern Counties Branch Annual • P Fisher, Cowboys B, the Elga
Dinner. Our meal was followed by Challenge Cup (handicap 19 to
a fascinating presentation by Enzo 28)
Barracco, an Italian artist and fash- • Simon Grant, John Turner, Peter
ion photographer who lives in Grubb, Welding Alloys III, the
London and works between here, AM Golfers Team Trophy.
Tokyo and New York. • David Sayer, Peter Fisher, David
His project on Antarctica, inspired Pull, Cowboys B, the PM TWI
by the legendary expedition un- Team Trophy
dertaken by Ernest Shackleton and (Left to right) Simon Grant, John Turner, Loyalty was again recognised when
Peter Grubb, Welding Alloys III
sponsored by Nikon, was under- sponsor R Butcher presented long-
Courtesy of Enzo Barracco taken in 2012. term supporter and player Tony Lake with a certificate, a bottle of
It provided an opportunity and wine, and a sponsored day of golf.
platform to promote a commitment to environmental protection,
with a focus on the fascinating and unique ecosystem of Antarctica, * East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) is a registered charity which
a place key to understanding the importance of balance to the sur- exists to maximise the quality of life for life-limited children and their fam-
vival of our planet. ilies. For further information see www.each.org.uk.
Enzo commenced his presentation by showing a selection of his
Antarctica photos. These were used to support his explanations of
the technical aspects of the photography and of difficulties faced in
taking each shot. He was working at the very limits of both the New members
equipment and his body. These conditions were particularly severe Name Member Grade Branch
when working underwater and under the ice.
As well as viewing a further series of amazing photographs, Enzo Khalid Nor Member London
Stuart Luke Member London
treated us to some equally amazing video clips. Keith Thornicroft Member Eastern Counties
His work investigated and showed nature in all its majesty and Ben Attwell Member London
fragility and had the purpose of raising collective action for us all Neil Clayton IncMember Highlands and Islands
Vaibhav Vishnu Technician Overseas
to be more attentive and respectful to the environment. Venkatesh Ramadoss Technician Overseas
Enzo has presented his work at a number of exhibitions, notably at Mohammed Yaseen Pasha Technician Overseas
the Royal Geographical Society in London during 2013, and it is Thomas Scott Caldwell Technician Scottish
R Magesh Senthil Raja Technician Overseas
shortly to be presented in book form (see www.enzobarracco.it ).
Gary Journeaux Technician South Western
Vincent Bruce Lacey Technician South Western
Neal Sean Rawnsley Technician East Midlands
Vincentius Henricus Maria Reus Technician Overseas
Miguel Latruwe Technician Overseas
Eastern Counties Branch Mario Van Leeve Technician Overseas
Annual Golf Day Rajendran Rangaswamy Technician Overseas
Ryan Page Technician East Midlands
Bungay & Waveney Valley Golf Club Mark Graham Technician Teesside
Thursday 19 June 2014 Keren Moodley Technician Overseas
Stephen Andrew Waton Technician Overseas
Alistair Robert Mills Technician Overseas
A great day for the 29th occasion of this event, held for 14 years at Pattanapong Panyakaew Technician Overseas
the Bungay and Waveney Valley Golf Club who once again looked Wenceslao S Concepcion Jnr Technician Overseas
after us very well. It was a good day for the participants, as we had James Taylor Technician Highlands and Islands
Mohd Yusoff Bin Ahmad Technician Overseas
fine weather, and a good day for East Anglia's Children's Hospices* Byju Pullanhiyotan Technician Overseas
as our fundraising reached £1000. (The total to date is £16,565.) Wilfred Simon Saibi Technician Overseas
Thirteen teams of three competed. Sponsorship came from: Andrew Paul Skinner Technician South Western
Raymond Naicker Technician Overseas
Individuals: A Johnson, P Grubb, P Mudge, G Bulmer, R Butcher
Christopher Alan Towell Technician Teesside
and J Weston Rashid Ibrahim Elsayed Elfaki Technician Overseas
Golf clubs: Thetford, Heydon Grange, Bourn and Bungay & Suseendran Pillai Technician Overseas
Waveney Valley Darren John Ritchie Technician Overseas
Jerry Ceppy Mulliady Simanjuntak Technician Overseas
Companies: Weldability-SIF Lake & Nicholls Engineering, TWI, Ravichandran s/o Periasamy Technician Overseas
Welding Alloys and our players. Wei Lih Koh Graduate Overseas
Alan Lawrence Senior Associate West Midlands

304 Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5


Designing thin sheet joints executed with little heat in
a way appropriate for operation
The investigations show that it is possible to design joints brazed with little
heat in a way appropriate for operation. Not only similar steel joints but
also mixed joints consisting of steel and aluminium can be executed by
selecting the correct brazing parameters. The selection of a suitable com-
puting concept must be accompanied by the deliberation about what scope
of work should be performed. The optimised nominal stress concept with
the consideration of the seam geometry and the extended notch stress
concept with real seam radii have proven to be suitable. The users now
have at their disposal concepts depending on the chosen combination of
the joining members and a suitable brazing material. According to the ap-
plication, it is now possible to carry out designing in a way appropriate for
operation. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that all the fabrication in-
fluences have already been taken into account by using the component-
like specimens.
1 Introduction
There are numerous areas of application for gal-
vanised steel materials: For example, they play an impor-
tant role in the field of lightweight vehicle construction.
The corrosion resistance of components is increased many
times over as a result of coating. The coating build-up and
the coating thickness can be adjusted to the application
and are essentially associated with the galvanisation
process. The bright steel surface is protected by the ca-
thodic protective effect of the zinc up to a distance of ap-
prox. 1 mm. Furthermore, zinc coverings have the advan-
tage that slight, locally limited damage to the zinc coating
can be tolerated. This results in a few challenges for ther-
mal joining. Zinc has a melting temperature of approx.
420°C and a boiling temperature of 907°C.
For example, temperatures above the liquidus tem-
perature of steel materials (over 1,500°C) are reached dur-
ing welding. This destroys the zinc coating in the entire
welding zone. Furthermore, zinc vaporises like an erup-
tion when steel materials are welded, thus leading to a
spattering process. The evaporating zinc also causes pores
in the seam which affect the strength of the joint to a cru-
cial extent. However, the heat control and the resulting
time/temperature course during thermal joining also exert
effects on the structural condition and thus on the opera-
tional strength and service life of the joint.
Brazing as an alternative joining technology for gal-
vanised steel materials is being investigated in the project
entitled “Calculation methods and designing criteria for
dimensioning brazed joints made of steel materials as
well as mixed joints in a way appropriate for operation
taking account of innovative process strategies“. In the
case of brazing, the process temperature can be decreased
and the formation of intermetallic phases avoided. In or-
der to keep the heat input as low as possible, brazing ma-
terials which contain zinc and have low melting temper-
atures are being utilised in the investigations. Further-
more, these are suitable even for the processing of mixed
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
SPECIALIST ARTICLES
THE AUTHORS
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alfons Esderts is the director of
the Institute of Plant Engineering and Fatigue
Analysis at the Clausthal University of Technology
in Clausthal/Germany.
Dipl.-Ing. Christian Wilmes is a scientific em-
ployee in the Fatigue Department at the Institute
of Plant Engineering and Fatigue Analysis at the
Clausthal University of Technology.
Dr.-Ing. Driss Bartout is a senior engineer in the
Joining and Coating Technology Faculty at the In-
stitute of Machine Tools and Factory Operation at
the Berlin University of Technology in Berlin/Ger-
many.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rainer Stark is the provisional di-
rector of the Joining and Coating Technology Fac-
ulty at the Institute of Machine Tools and Factory
Operation at the Berlin University of Technology.
Dr.-Ing. Thomas Nitschke-Pagel is an academic
councillor at the Institute of Joining and Welding
Technology (ifs) at the Brunswick University of
Technology in Brunswick/Germany.
Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Prof. h. c. Klaus Dilger is the
director of the Institute of Joining and Welding
Technology (ifs) at the Brunswick University of
Technology.
joints consisting of steel and aluminium since zinc exhibits
a high solubility for aluminium.
2 The brazing process
The DX 56D Z140 and DC 04 ZE 75/75 steels as well
as the AA 6016 (AlMg 0.4 Si 1.2) aluminium are used as
base materials. These are materials which have applica-
tions predominantly in bodymaking in the vehicle in-
dustry. Two zinc-based wires (ZnAl15 and ZnAl5Cu3.5)
were utilised as filler materials. Zinc is most frequently
alloyed with aluminium and copper. Aluminium increas-
es the strength to a greater extent than copper and lowers
305
SPECIALIST ARTICLES
Table 1 • Sheet combinations and filler materials.
the viscosity of the liquid molten material. The creep be-
haviour of the alloy is improved by copper. Short arc
brazing with the “CMT“ (cold metal transfer) process
proved to be successful for the brazing of the steel/steel
and aluminium/steel joints with the selected zinc/alu-
minium filler materials. In the case of the specimens ini-
tially manufactured with laser beam brazing and the
“coldArc“ short arc process, the zinc coating was dam-
aged in widespread areas. This was associated with the
high energy input and affected the joint strength to an
extreme degree.
In the case of the CMT process, a highly dynamic in-
verter circuit reduces the power peaks during the reigni-
tion of the arc and thus permits the low-power and spat-
ter-free transfer of droplets. The damage to the zinc coat-
ing is avoided by the reduced heat input. Therefore, it was
not possible to guarantee any continuous protective effect
across the seam and the heat-affected zone.
Exactly defined stitch seams (the parameters used
for this purpose are listed in Table 1) are produced for
fabricating the specimens not only of the similar joints
(DC/DC) but also of the mixed joints (DC/AA and
DX/AA). The continuously homogeneous brazed seam
course without any lack of fusion serves to achieve a
good reproducibility and thus to reduce the variation in
the results. Furthermore, the alteration in the torch tilt
from the neutral position to the plunging position gives
306
rise to an improvement in the seam quality with regard
to the porosity, Fig. 1.
The analysis of the resulting lap joints has indicated
that the tensile strengths of the similar joints are up to 70%
of the strengths of the base materials (DX56 and DC04) on
average. The strength values varied by as much as 20%.
Because of the relatively extreme variation in the phase
distinctness within a seam, it was also difficult to stipulate
or find out whether the different DX56 and DC04 materials
exhibit any significant differences in the resulting phase
border thicknesses. In addition to the brazed seam geom-
etry, the deviations were also in the range of the process
and positioning tolerances. In the case of the mixed joints,
the adjustment of the process parameters partly serves to
completely suppress the formation of the intermetallic
phase border. In this respect, sufficient dilution occurred
in the region of the aluminium edge. No differences were
registered with regard to the wetting properties depending
on the galvanisation type. One example of a mixed joint,
executed with ZnAl5Cu3.5, is portrayed on Fig. 2. Here, it
is possible to observe the different degrees of melting of
the aluminium edge along a brazed seam.
3 Experimental investigations
The endurance of the executed joints were established
with the aid of cyclic experimental investigations. This
was the basis for the subsequent procedures for the com-
putational estimation of the endurance. Taking account
of the brazing parameters, it was thus possible to indicate
a connection between the cyclic life expectancy and the
utilised brazing process.
Fig. 1 • Process
optimisation by
changing the
torch tilt; left:
neutral (0), right:
plunging (23°).
Fig. 2 • Light mi-
crographs of a
brazed DC/AA
seam (start of the
seam: first third
– 1; end of the
seam: last third
– 2; filler materi-
al: ZnAl5Cu3.5).
Fig. 3 •
H-specimen.
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
 Fig. 4 • clamped with a special adapter with which they were
Test setup. screwed. The adapters were provided with a recess which
guides the force flux so that this was uniformly applied to
all six stitch seams.

3.3 Test execution

3.1 Utilised specimens
Component-like specimens were to be investigated.
An H-specimen with stitch seams with reference to [1] is
appropriate for taking account of the entire fabrication
influence, Fig. 3. With this specimen shape, it is possible
to check all the influences which also arise in an applica-
tion on a real component. The base sheet of the specimens
consisted of a sheet which was made of DX56 or DC04
and was formed into a u-shape. In the case of mixed joints,
the side sheets were made of AA 6016 in each case.
3.2 Test setup
An electromagnetic resonant test system was used in
order to perform the tests, Fig. 4. The H-specimens were
The endurance limit ranges of the specified joints were
investigated. The method of consecutive load step is ap-
plied in order to reduce the scope of the specimens. For a
good compromise between the testing time and the num-
ber of specimens, there were 15 specimens for each series
of tests [2, 3]. The tests were carried out at a stress ratio of
R = 0.1. The number of termination stress cycles was 107
stress cycles [4]. An incipient crack was rated as a defect.
A drop of 1.5 Hz in the frequency was chosen as the crite-
rion in order to detect this.
4 Calculation concepts
In order to exploit the test results for a general appli-
cation, it is necessary to provide the user with computing
concepts. In each case, the objective is a master SN-curve
which can be used for estimating the service lives even
on more complex geometries. In all the tests, the brazing
material turned out to be the failure location.
4.1 Nominal stress concept
The simplest of the specified concepts is the nominal
stress concept. The simplest cal-
culation of the nominal stress σno-
minal stress
which a force F produces
perpendicular to the brazed
seam is carried out using the
load-bearing length of the brazed
seam L and the sheet thickness
d of the base material:

σnominal stress = F / Aseam (1)

with Aseam = d · L (2)

Fig. 6 • Determination of
the load-bearing width.
Fig. 5 • Nomi-
nal SN-curve.

Fig. 7 • Seam
structural
SN-curve
(standard
deviation
Slog(S) = 
0.07, range of
variation
T(S) = 1 : 1.5). Fig. 8 • Structural stress concept according to [3].

Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5 307

SPECIALIST ARTICLES
The nominal SN-curve established from the FN-curve are
portrayed on Fig. 5. The indicated variations are all located
in a scope customary for welded and brazed seams [5].
4.2 Seam structural stress concept
The model considered until now is independent of the
real geometry of the brazed seam. Investigations were in-
tended to show whether an approximation using the load-
bearing brazed seam width taken from the real specimen
achieves more precise simulation results. In this respect,
the load-bearing width was determined in the way stipu-
lated in [6], Fig. 6. Here, the calculation was carried out an-
alytically and could be estimated more precisely with the
aid of a finite element (FE) calculation. It had to be borne
in mind that, in contrast with a welded joint, the base ma-
terial is partially melted but there is no penetration. The
seam height is thus always dependent on the sheet thick-
ness and the gap between the base sheet and the side sheet:
σseam structural stress concept = F / (L · I) + Mb / (L · I2)
where L is the length of the brazed seam, M the moment
at the brazed seam, F the force perpendicular to the brazed
seam and I the load-bearing width of the brazed seam.
On Fig. 7, it is shown that this concept leads to a substan-
tial decrease in the variation.
4.3 Structural stress concept
Another practicable possibility of estimating the service
life consists of the application of the structural stress concept.
This constitutes a concept which does not depend on the
geometry. On the basis of two measured or simulated points,
the stress at the seam interface is determined depending
on the sheet thickness, Fig. 8. The stress in the seam root
cannot be established with this concept. In this case, the
local excessive stress (hot spot) was calculated by means of
stress extrapolation on the surface. For this procedure, the
model was set up as a shell model. The brazed seam was
modelled using a support. The materials and the different
sheet thicknesses were assigned to the elements. The IIW
guideline [4] indicates that the perpendicularly upright main
stresses σMS are detected at a certain distance away from
the brazed seam and are extrapolated to the brazed seam:
σMS = 1.67 · σ0.4 t - 0.67 · σ1.0 t (4)
The numerical values specified in the index (0.4 and 1.0)
indicate the distance of the stresses to be evaluated away
from the seam depending on the sheet thickness. Accord-
ing to the chosen sheet thickness and the material com-
bination, this permits a conclusion about the excessive
increase in the stress in the notch. The master SN-curve
established from the structural stress concept is suitable
for an estimation to a limited extent only. In this case, the
variation is too great, Fig. 9.
4.4 Notch stress concept
The notch stress concept constitutes a concept with
which the geometries of the brazed seams are portrayed
308
Fig. 9 • Structural
SN-curve (stan-
dard deviation
Slog(N) = 0.2, range
of variation
T(S) = 1 : 1.6).
(3)
most precisely of all the concepts. A linearly elastic FE cal- Fig. 10 • Meshing
culation is used in order to convert the test results into a of the notch
local stress which is independent of the external geometry. stress concept
with local en-
For this calculation, a suitable FE model had to be set
largement.
up first of all. To this end, the geometries of the brazed
seams were determined for every tested variant. For this
scanning, 1,000 measurements were taken along the
brazed seam 0.02 mm apart. In order to provide a higher
accuracy, these measurements were taken on different
brazed seams using the same process and were averaged
out. After the specimen geometry had been established,
an FE model including the real seam geometries was set
up for each series of tests. A quarter-model was used in
order to minimise the computing time and to keep the
number of utilised elements as low as possible. With the
aid of boundary conditions, the clamping condition and
the free clamping length were adjusted to those of the real
specimens, Fig. 10. The meshing was carried out according
to [7]. For sheet thicknesses under 8 mm, the seam inter-
faces were rounded off with a substitute radius of 0.05 mm.
Since this constituted very fine meshing, the jumps in the
mesh were not allowed to turn out to be too great. For this
reason, a submodel was incorporated into the course of
the brazed seam with a composite contact. During the ex-
ecution of the tests, it turned out that the incipient crack
always originates from a brazed seam at the edge of a sheet.
For this reason, only such a brazed seam was also executed
with a submodel. The remaining structure was provided
with correspondingly larger meshing.
The applied boundary conditions reflect the con-
straints of fixed clamping in the test stand, as described
in 3.2. The different brazed seam geometries resulted in
different factors with which the test results could be con-
verted into a local notch SN-curve, Fig. 11.
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
 Fig. 11 • rowest range of variation. However, it must be borne in
Notch SN-curve mind that this concept is the most complicated.
(standard devia-
tion Slog(N) =  Literature
0.6, range of [1] DIN EN ISO 18592 “Widerstandsschweißen – Zerstörende
variation Prüfung von Schweißverbindungen – Verfahren zur
T(S) = 1 : 1.8). Schwingfestigkeitsprüfung von Mehrpunktproben“ (Edi-
tion May 2010).
[2] Hinkelmann, K., et al.: Zur Auswertung von Schwigfes-
tigkeitsversuchen im Zeitfestigkeitsbereich – Teil 1: Wie zu-
verlässig können 50%-Wöhlerlinien aus experimentellen
Daten geschätzt werden? Materials Testing 53 (2011), Issue
Fig. 12 • Master 9, pp. 502/12.
SN-curve with [3] Hinkelmann, K., et al.: Zur Auswertung von Schwigfes-
real seam radii tigkeitsversuchen im Zeitfestigkeitsbereich – Teil 2: Wie zu-
(standard devia- verlässig kann die Standardabweichung aus
tion Slog(N) = 0.5, experimentellen Daten geschätzt werden? Materials Testing
range of variation 53 (2011), Issue 9, pp. 502/12.
T(N) = 1 : 1.5). [4] Hobbacher, A.: Recommendations for fatigue design of
welded joints and components. IIW Doc. XIII-1539-69/
XV-845-96 (2008).
[5] FKM Guideline “Rechnerischer Festigkeitsnachweis für
Maschinenbauteile“. 6th revised Edition. Forschungskura-
torium Maschinenbau, VDMA-Verlag, Frankfurt/Main
2012.
[6] Willen, C.: Lebensdauerabschätzung von Kehlnähten in
Feinblechstrukturen aus Stahl. ISBN 978-3-89720-970-1,
Papierflieger-Verlag, Clausthal-Zellerfeld 2008.
[7] Eibl, M., et al.: Fatigue assessment of laser welded thin sheet
aluminium. Int. J. Fatigue 25 (2003), No. 8, pp. 719/31.
4.5 Adjusted notch stress concept with real radii [8] Fricke, W.: Guideline for the fatigue assessment by notch
The measurements establish not only the parame- stress analysis for welded structures. IIW Doc. XIII-2240-08*
ters of the seam width and the seam height but also the XV-1289-08 (2008).
real interfacial radii. As a comparison with the classical
notch stress method, these were also taken into consid-
eration within the framework of the research project.
The model was set up in analogy to the model setup of
the classical notch stress concept. A quarter-model with ONLINE AUCTION
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5 Concluding remarks
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Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5 309

SPECIALIST ARTICLES
Study on the effect of hot spots generated by induction
heating to prevent hot cracking during laser welding of
the aluminum alloys AA6082T6 and AA5754H22
This work is devoted to the research of hot spots generated by induction
heating in order to prevent hot cracks during laser welding of aluminium
samples. Plates were used which were made from aluminium alloys
AA6082T6 and AA5754H22 with a thickness of 2 mm. The article shows
the results of numerical modeling of temperature fields and stress fields
formed during the process of induction heating. The results of experimental
validation of the simulation are also demonstrated.
1 Introduction
Aluminium alloys are widely used in various fields of
engineering, due to their good strength characteristics in
combination with their low weight [1]. Thus, they have a
competitive advantage compared to other materials used
THE AUTHORS
Dipl.-Ing. Stefan Holland-Moritz, born in 1986
in Erfurt/Germany, studied materials science at the
Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena/Germany from
2006 to 2012. He currently works as a research as-
sistant at the Institute of Cutting and Joining Ma-
nufacturing Processes at the University of
Kassel/Germany. His research interests lie in the
field of laser beam welding, the properties of some
materials and how to make targeted changes.
Vladislav Somonov, born in 1985 in Leningrad/
Russia, is currently working as leading engineer at
the Russian-German Center of Laser Technology of
Saint-Petersburg State Polytechnical University.
From 2002 to 2008 he studied at the Saint-Peters-
burg State Polytechnical University, Faculty of Tech-
nology and Research of Materials, department
“Welding and Laser Technology” and has a di-
ploma of specialist. From 2011 to 2014 he was a
graduate student at this department. His research
interests are laser and hybrid technologies proces-
sing of materials.
Dipl.-Ing. Stephan Völkers was born in 1983 in
Kassel/Germany. After finishing school in 2001 he
completed a vocational training as a metalworker.
Then he graduated from technical school in Lipp-
stadt in 2007 and studied mechanical engineering
at the University of Kassel with a focus on produc-
tion technology. Since June 2014 he has been wor-
king as a research assistant at the Department for
Cutting and Joining (tff), Institute for Production
Technologies and Logistics (IPL) at the University
of Kassel/Germany. His research interests lie in the
field of beam technology, particularly laser wel-
ding, laser cutting and welding simulation.
310
in industry. They are also highly resistant to corrosion [2]. It
is advantageous to use the insertion of heat-treated alu-
minium alloys in lightweight aluminium constructions – as
this can reduce the total weight of the product while main-
taining its strength. The usage of aluminium welded struc-
tures that are manufactured via the method of butt joints is
significantly limited, due to its ability to form cracks during
the welding process [3, 4].
Today, modern lasers, such as fiber lasers, are increas-
ingly used to weld aluminium products. They provide a rel-
atively high penetration with a low heat input [5]. This re-
duces the strain and minimises further processing, reducing
the stages of production. When laser welding aluminium
Dipl.-Ing. Markus Geyer, born in 1984, is cur-
rently working as a welding specialist in the indu-
strial engineering department of the automotive
supplier Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co KG. He
studied mechanical engineering at the Technical
University of Braunschweig/Germany from 2003 to
2009 and continued his career at the Institute for
joining and welding technique at the TU Braun-
schweig as a research assistant. After eight
months he moved to the University of Kassel and
until March 2014 built up the welding research
group at the department of cutting and joining
technologies. His main research fields have been
laser beam welding, friction stir welding and ma-
gnetic pulse welding.
Professor Dr.-Ing. Stefan Böhm, born in 1967,
holds the Professorship of cutting and joining
manufacturing processes at the University of
Kassel/Germany. He studied electrical enginee-
ring at the Technical University Darmstadt. After-
wards he did his doctorate at the Rheinisch-
Westfälische Technische Hochschule Darmstadt
in the simulation of electron beam welding. After
eight years holding the Professorship of packa-
ging of integrated circuits at the Technical Uni-
versity Braunschweig, he started his professor-
ship at the University of Kassel in the year 2010.
His research interests are cutting, sawing, machi-
nig, tooling machines, laser and electron beam
welding, electromagnetic pulse welding, friction
stir welding, adhesive bonding, destructive and
non-destructive characterisation of joints, micro
electron beam welding, micro adhesive bonding
as well as the application of adhesive bonding
for MEMS technology.
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
alloys, similar problems related to their ability to form cracks
occur. The high-speed cooling of the melt during the laser
welding process is one of the causes of the cracks.
The aim of the research was to prevent the formation of
hot cracks in the aluminium alloys during the process of
laser welding. The authors created heating fields in the heat-
affected zone with two coaxial coils. This leads to a stress
field in the weld pool, which will reduce hot cracking.
2 Study of the problem of hot cracking during
laser welding of aluminium alloys
Hot cracks are brittle intercrystalline fractures of the
weld metal and heat affected zone formed in the solid–
liquid state at the end of the crystallisation and also in
the solid state at high temperatures at the stage of the
main development of the intercrystalline deformation.
Cracks in the aluminium materials are mainly formed
during the solidification of the weld, caused by shrinkage
and by the crystallisation in the eutectic phase in the mid-
dle of the weld [6]. Pellini and then Clein and Davis in
their researches argue that the susceptibility to hot crack-
ing in alloys of these groups is related to the “critical in-
terval“: the distance between oppositely directed growing
dendrites during the crystallisation of the joint [6, 7].
Foyrer suggested that cracks are formed in the “soft“
(quasi-equilibrium two-phase) zone, if the rate of the cool-
ing of the interdendritic liquid is less or equal to the rate
of shrinkage [8]. The approach to cracking of Piwonka and
Fleming is based on the equation of Poysseul. It describes
how the pressure gradient causes the fluid to flow in an
“interdendritic way“. [9] All these theories are related to
the method of the crystallisation of alloys. The suscepti-
bility to hot cracking can be determined by obtaining the
cooling curves for thermal calorimetry. Typical S-shaped
curves test some binary alloys. The susceptibility to crack-
ing is caused by the content of dissolved elements [10].
The first quantitative description of the formation of
cracks was proposed by Prokhorov in the middle of 20th
century [11...13]. Prokhorov argued that mechanical ten-
sile strain is a cause of cracking. He did not take into ac-
count the metallurgical condition in the “soft zone“ and
did not consider the microstructural formation during the
solidification of the two-phase region. Prokhorov did not
quantify the criteria for predicting susceptibility to crack-
ing. Most of the works on solidification cracking in welds
are based on the approach of Prokhorov. But they do not
consider the accumulation of strain and a defective mi-
crostructure. His criteria only consider some of the me-
chanical conditions, such as critical stress or strain rate.
Rappatsa and other authors describe the cooling of
the interdendritic liquid and solid tensile strain as normal
to the direction of the growth of dendrites. In their opinion,
hot cracks are formed by cavitation pressure above a crit-
ical value of stresses. It can be calculated according to the
physical-chemical properties of the alloy and microstruc-
tural dimensions of the material [14]. The possibility of
hot cracking during the welding process has traditionally
been measured for every individual case when the stress
changes during the process or deformations occur. For
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
example, Coniglio based his research on the concept of
weldability. He believes that the susceptibility to cracks is
determined by the critical speed of deformation during
welding. He studied the dependence of the formation of
cracks from the content of Si in the Al alloys [15].
Recently, two models for the formation of cracks have
come up. They are based on the integration of the locali-
sation of the cracking. The first of these was proposed by
Shibahara [16, 17]. He proposed to build on the physical
mechanism of the formation of cracks in fracture me-
chanics of solids. The value of stresses in a liquid–solid
were taken as criteria for the formation of cracks. He used
the finite element method for the modeling of cracking.
The assumption of the existence of metallurgical condi-
tions in the two-phase region is not taken into account.
The stresses in the system are compared with the critical
value of stress obtained in advance by the correlation with
the surface energy of the melt. The surface energy is a
known quantity. It has a unique value for the temperature.
Shibahara considers this as an aspect which generates lo-
cal cracks. This approach has several disadvantages:
• Experimental determination of the surface energy at
high temperatures is a very complex task.
• The surface energy of the melt is strongly influenced
by any changes in the chemical composition.
• A very small amount of active elements on the surface
in the melt can lead to excessive change in the surface
energy, more than ten times as much.
• The calculated stress in the two-phase region is sen-
sitive to mechanical properties at high temperatures.
Large systematic errors were detected in the meas-
urements on the basis of such properties as a limit
of fluidity. Subsequently, it can lead to significant er-
rors in the calculation.
The second approach of modeling cracks was developed
by Hilbinger [18...20]. It is based on the theory of Pellini
[6]. Modeling of hot cracking as in the previous approach
is implemented using the finite element method. Locali-
sation of tensile stresses in the liquid film in the rest of
the melt is taken into account by introducing a “liquid“
element in the middle of the weld. These elements have a
very low flow in temperature range of liquidus–solidus.
As criteria for the formation of cracks the maximum al-
lowable deformation of the “liquid“ element in the two-
phase region is taken. Critical deformation parameters
are established experimentally. The approach of Hilbinger,
as well as the method of Shibahara, gives a visual repre-
sentation of the origin and propagation of cracks.
A specific combination of certain values of the factors
listed below generally lead to hot cracks:
• Temperature interval of fragility (TIF) means the tem-
perature interval during crystallisation that forms a
structure which increases the tendency towards hot
cracks
• Minimum plasticity (δmin) in TIF which cannot com-
pensate the tensions that arise during crystallisation
• High rate of welding deformation α. [20]
Several ways to prevent the formation of hot cracks in
laser welding are presented in publications: for example,
311
SPECIALIST ARTICLES
the introduction of filler material, preheating of the sam-
ples in the furnace, using protective flux during welding,
parallel laser preheating of smaller capacities to compen-
sate the tensile stresses in the weld. The magnetic field
also affects the process of laser welding. As already said,
the depth of the penetration can be increased, the cross-
section can be changed and periodic defects of the weld,
called humping, can be suppressed by a magnetic field
[21, 22].
The use of induction heating during laser welding has
a positive effect on the technological strength of the weld.
It improves the weld geometry, regulates the form of the
keyhole and reduces the tendency to form hot cracks and
other defects in the weld during crystallisation [23].
3 Modeling the process of induction heating
the plates of aluminium alloys
The use of the computer to simulate the process en-
ables the reduction of the costs of development of de-
fect-free technologies sharply by decreasing the amount
of experimental investigations. Today, in manufacturing,
there is also the need to create algorithms with an opti-
mal mode of parameters for laser welding on the basis
of computer models of the specific process, which allows
obtaining welds without defects [24]. In the investigations
before beginning the experiments, the process was sim-
Fig. 1 • Simula-
tion of the tem-
perature field in a
distance of 30
mm to the weld
seam.
Fig. 2 • Simulated
stresses: orthogo-
nal (left) and tan-
gential (right) to
the weld seam.
312
ulated by the computer program package SYSWeld 2012.
Many different software packages and modeling tools
exist currently. They are divided into specialised and
universal programs. Specialised packages are used in
the simulation of a limited number of systems and
processes. In most cases, universal programs are com-
mercial developments. They allow a wide range of ap-
plications, modeling a large number of physical process-
es and systems with complex geometry. One of these is
the universal program SYSWeld.
SYSWeld is a software package that implements a finite
element calculation scheme. It is used in static and dy-
namic analysis of structures subjected to physical and
geometrical problems (two-dimensional and three-di-
mensional problems). SYSWeld also solves the problem
of linear and nonlinear stability of structures; simulates
electromagnetic fields, hydro-gasdynamic, acoustic and
other processes.
The main objective of the research was to improve
the technology of laser welding of aluminium alloys by
preventing or reducing the formation of hot cracks. This
was achieved through thermally induced compressive
stress in the weld area. This was generated by induction
heating of the plate surface, running parallel with the laser
welding. In the course of the simulation of the heating of
the samples, the level of emerging internal thermal stress-
es was monitored
[25].
The temperature
fields and thermal
stress, arising as a re-
sult of induction
heating of the sam-
ples, were investigat-
ed with the help of
numerical models
created in SYSWeld.
When building the
model, the authors of
this paper took into
account the tradi-
tional method of in-
duction heating of
metal parts in a vari-
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
 Fig. 3 • Overview
over the experi-
mental stand with
the inductor (left)
and details of the
fastening of the
inductor and the
plate unit (right).

Table 1 • Chemi-
cal composition of
the investigated
aluminium alloys
according to GOST
4784-97.

Alloy Russian analogue Si Fe Cu Mn Mg Cr Zn Ti Other elements Al

5754 AMG3 0,5-0,8 0,5 0,1 0,3-0,6 3,2-3,8 0,05 0,2 0,1 - Others
6082 AD35 0,7-1,3 0,5 0,1 0,4-1,0 0,6-1,2 0,25 0,2 0,1 - Others

Alloy Type of processing σ0,2%, MPa Tensile strength, MPa Shear strength, MPa Elongation, % Hardness by Vickers, HV

6082 T4 170 260 170 19 75

T6 310 340 210 11 100
0 60 130 85 27 35

5754 0 100 215 140 25 55

H22 185 245 150 15 75
H24 215 270 160 14 80

able electromagnetic field, the efficiency of the setup does
not exceed 60% [26]. The process of induction heating
from one side of the plate of the aluminium alloy in the
course of its movement was modeled. The preparation of
the file for the calculation included the creation of a 3D
geometrical model of the sample with characteristics of
the source of induction heating, cooling conditions, con-
ditions of fixing and parameters of the heating process.
Fig. 1 shows the simulated temperature field. The distance
between the inductor and the weld seam was 30 mm. The
temperature field was simulated as a Goldack source and
was brought close to a square cross-section with the di-
mensions of the inductor. The parameters of the simula-
tion are as follows:
• Feed: 50 mm/s (3 m/min)
• Heating surface of the inductor: 118 mm × 31 mm
• Linear energy: 25 J/mm
• Efficiency: 0,6
• Time of the simulation: 5,495 sec after the start of
the inductor and the feed
• Simulated temperature: 100°C
Fig. 2 compares the stresses that arise under different dis-
tances of the inductor to the weld seam. These stresses
were simulated with the parameters shown in Fig. 1. The
coordinate system in Fig. 1 shows that the negative stresses
that are orthogonal to the weld seam are compressive
stress and press the weld seam together. Positive stresses
that are tangential to the weld seam signify compressive
stress.
Fig. 2 shows that, as regards orthogonal stresses, the Table 2 • Me-
distance of the inductor to the weld seam can be varied chanical proper-
between 10 mm and 50 mm without significantly changing ties of the alu-
the stresses. The development of stress tangential to the minium alloys.
weld seam is completely different. If the distance of the
inductor to the weld seam is between 10 mm and 20 mm,
tensile stresses occur that lengthen the weld seam. How-
ever, if the distance is 30 mm, then compressive stresses
occur directly behind the inductor, but tensile stresses oc-
cur further away. The situation is similar when the dis-
tance between the inductor and the weld seam is 40 mm,
with the exception that the compressive stress is higher
and in a larger area. If the distance of the inductor to the
weld seam is 50 mm, compressive stresses occur in the
entire heated area.
4 Materials
In the experiments, flat samples were used with the
dimensions 600 mm × 150 mm × 2 mm, two types of
aluminium alloys AA6082T6 (AlMgSi1) and AA5754H22
(AlMg3) were used. Chemical composition and mechan-
ical properties of the materials are presented in Tables 1
and 2. Before starting the experiments, the plates were
cleared from grease and dirt with acetone.
5 Experimental research
A specially designed experimental stand was used for
this study (Fig. 3). It has a coaxial inductor KI-112-U-30o
(IFF GmbH, Germany). The components of the stand, to-

Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5 313

SPECIALIST ARTICLES

Fig. 4 • Measuring
arrangement.

Fig. 5 • Point of temperature measure-

ment (red) over the inductor (left) and
behind the inductor (right).

gether with their characteristics, are presented in Table 3. inductor with constant feed. The pre-heating phase was
The plate is fastened to a linear unit and driven over the undertaken with a frequency of 12,5 kHz, a pulse width
permanently installed inductor. modulation of 750 ‰ and a duration of between 1 to 5
The plate heats up and moves at a speed equal to sec. After that, the plate was driven over the inductor
the speed of welding, which was calculated with the with a feed rate of 50 mm/sec and was then heated with
help of the computer simulation. The temperature was the frequency of 13,0 kHz and a pulse width modulation
measured with the infrared thermometer Raynger MX4, of 700 ‰. First, the temperature of the plate was meas-
produced by the company Raytek. At first, the plate was ured directly over the inductor and then the temperature
heated up standing still and then it was driven over the was taken behind the inductor. Fig. 4 shows the meas-
uring arrangement and Fig. 5 shows the points of tem-
Components: Range of perature measurement. The results of the temperature
parameters measurements with varying pre-heating periods are
shown in Fig. 6.
1) Linear drive manufactured by Oriental Motors: The highest temperature was achieved during the
Maximum travel speed, mm / sec, 2,000
plus frame of stand, built from aluminum profiles
pre-heating phase and was between 120 and 232°C. The
length of the pre-heating phase did not influence the
2) Equipment for the production of induction heating IFF GmbH: temperature during the feed motion, the temperature
Pulse generator EW100W: over the inductor was constantly at about 80°C. Behind
Maximum power, kW 10,0
pulse width modulation, ‰ 0-750
Pulse frequency, kHz 8-20
Chiller: Operating temperature, °C 18-30
Coaxial coil Kl-112-U-30°:
Table 3 • Components of the experimental
Maximum time of process by using maximum power of pulse, sec 0-100
Gap for using coil, mm 0.2-0.5 stand for the investigation of the effect of
Temperature of heating, °C 0-300 induction heating on compressive stresses in
aluminium alloys.

314 Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5

Fig. 6 • Temperature measurement over the inductor (left) and behind the inductor (right).
Fig. 7 • Picture of the temperature field, taken with the thermographic
camera FLIR SC5600-M.
the inductor, the temperature was about 110°C. Thus,
welding should be performed behind the inductor as
the induced temperatures and, therefore, the stresses
are higher than those directly over the inductor.
To establish the temperature field, the plate was first
pre-heated for 5 sec and then heated according to the pa-
rameters mentioned above. The distance between the in-
ductor and the weld seam was 40 mm. The temperature
field was measured with the thermographic camera FLIR
SC5600-M. The temperature field is shown in Fig. 7.
The measured temperature field equals the simu-
lated temperature field very well. One can clearly see
that the temperature directly over the inductor is lower
than behind the inductor. Behind the inductor, the plate
has been driven over the inductor with the entire sur-
face, instead of only a part of it. This explains the higher
temperature. Fig. 7 also shows that the heated area only
reaches the weld seam behind the inductor, which
means that the highest temperature and the resulting
higher stresses occur here. For this reason, when weld-
ing, the laser beam should follow the inductor.
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
Fig. 8 • Measuring arrangement, 3D deformation analysis.
An optical analysis of deformations was implemented,
using the ARAMIS measuring system produced by the
company GOM. The expansion that was caused through
the induced heat could be measured optically. The meas-
uring arrangement is shown in Fig. 8. The period of the
pre-heating phase was 2 sec and the distance of the in-
ductor to the weld seam varied between 30 and 50 mm.
Fig. 9 shows the expansions and deformations three-
dimensionally. The results in Fig. 9 were achieved with a
distance of the inductor to the weld seam of 40 mm. The
black line represents the weld seam. Online measure-
ments were taken. After the pre-heating phase, the plate
was driven over the inductor at a constant speed of 50
mm/sec. The plate was driven over the inductor for half
of its length and then a picture was taken during motion.
This picture was then compared with a picture that was
taken before heating, allowing to measure the expansions
and deformations caused by inductive heating. As the
camera system could not record the entire 600 mm width
of the plate, it was installed so that 50 mm on the right
and left hand side were not recorded. At the time of meas-
315
SPECIALIST ARTICLES
urement, the inductor was under the centre of the plate
(X coordinate: 0 in Figs. 10 and 11).
The position of the inductor during the measurement
process can be seen clearly in Fig. 9. The magnetic field
of the inductor presses the plate upwards for the length
of about 0.3 mm, as shown in Fig. 9 (bottom).
The data for the expansion of the weld seam were
measured on the black line. To improve the depiction, the
curves were smoothened with the method of the moving
average. The graphics were straightened with a simple
FIR-Filter. The results are shown in Fig. 10. Here, positive
expansions signify expansions and negative expansions
signify compression. It is striking that the expansions along
the line of movement of the inductor, i.e. along the long
Fig. 9 • Expansions caused by
induced heat, distance of in-
ductor was 40 mm, tangential
to the weld seam (top), orthog-
onal to the weld seam (middle)
and deformations in hight
(bottom).
316
side, are bigger than those vertical to the direction of the
movement. The expansions that occur orthogonally to
the weld seam depend more on the distance of the in-
ductor to the weld seam. The closer the inductor is to the
weld seam, the higher the resulting expansion. The ex-
pansions that happen orthogonally to the weld seam are
the largest in the area of the pre-heating phase, behind
the inductor they form a plateau. The expansions decrease
directly over the inductor and sink as far as zero in front
of the inductor, they are even slightly negative in this not-
yet-heated area. Thus, the plate compresses slightly in
front of the inductor. The expansions that occur tangen-
tially to the weld seam develop quite similarly. However,
they are bigger and the differences caused by the varying
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
Fig. 10 • Measurement of the expansion caused by induced heat.
Fig. 11 • Stresses caused by the inductor.
distances of the inductor are smaller. The expansions in
front of the inductor that are tangential to the weld seam
are zero. With the help of the modulus of elasticity of the
aluminium alloy AA6082T6, the expansions were convert-
ed in stresses in order to be able to compare the results
with the simulation.
According to the simulation, the stresses that occur
orthogonally to the weld seam form a plateau. The optical
deformation analysis could confirm this. At a distance of
the inductor to the weld seam of 40 to 50 mm, the intensity
of the stresses was also according to the simulation. How-
ever, at a distance of 30 mm the stresses were significantly
higher than those predicted by the simulation. The simu-
lation also said that tensile stress would occur behind the
inductor, this could not be confirmed. The reason for this
could be the problem with the edges during the simula-
tion. That low tensile stress occurs in front of the inductor
could be confirmed, though the plate compresses slightly
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
in this area. The stresses tangential to the weld seam are
different from those predicted by the simulation, the
stresses point to the laser welding process and therefore
to the right direction to induce compressive stress into
the weld seam.
6 Conclusions
The process of induction heating of aluminium plates
made of AA6082T6 and AA5754H22 alloys was examined.
The temperature fields and stress distributions were sim-
ulated and could be confirmed experimentally to the
largest part.
The authors could show that the induced heat during
the welding process is independent from any influence
from the pre-heating phase. It could also be shown that
the temperature is higher behind the inductor than di-
rectly above it. The measurement of the temperature field
demonstrated that the induced heat and the caused ther-
317
SPECIALIST ARTICLES
mal stress reaches the weld seam behind the inductor.
For this reason, the welding and the crystallisation process
should happen in this area. Optical analysis of deforma-
tions could confirm the results from the stress simulations.
The induced heat creates a temperature field that works
against the tensile stress that occurs during the crystalli-
sation process of the weld seam. The optical analysis of
deformations shows that thermally caused expansion
compresses the weld seam orthogonally and tangentially
which leads to the conclusion that hot cracks in endan-
gered aluminium alloys should be avoided.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The IGF Project 17.264 N / DVS-
Number 06.076 of the research
association „Forschungsvereini-
gung Schweißen und verwandte
Verfahren des DVS, Aachener Stra-
ße 172, 40223 Düsseldorf“ was,
on the basis of a resolution of the
Lower House of the German Par-
liament, promoted by the German Ministry of Economic Affairs
and Technology via the Industrial Research Alliance (AiF) within
the framework of the programme for the promotion of joint in-
dustrial research and development (IGF). This assistance is gra-
tefully acknowledged.
The Department for Cutting and Joining Manufacturing Processes,
University of Kassel, would also like to thank the accompanying
committee for their excellent support.
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[13] Prokhorov, N: The Technological Strength of Metals While
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ing criterion. In: Metallurgical and Materials Transactions,
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[15] Coniglio, N.: Aluminium Alloy Weldability: Identification of
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Experimental Technique and Model Development. BAM-
Dissertationsreihe, Vol 40. Berlin 2008.
[16] Shibahara, M., Serizawa, H. and Murakawa, H.: Finite Ele-
ment Method for Hot Cracking Analysis under Welding
Using Temperature Dependent Interface Element. In: Mod-
eling of Casting, Welding and Advanced Solidification
Processes IX (ed. Sahm, PR et al). Shaker-Verlag, Aachen
2000, pp 844-851.
[17] Shibahara, M., Serizawa, H. and Murakawa, H.: Finite Ele-
ment Method for Hot Cracking Analysis Using Temperature
Dependent Interface Element. In: Mathematical Modeling
of Weld Phenomena 5 (ed Cerjak et al). IOM Communica-
tions Ltd, London 2001, pp. 253-267.
[18] Bergmann, H., and Hilbinger, R.: Numerical Simulation of
Centre Line Hot Cracks in Laser Beam Welding of Alu-
minium Close to the Sheet Edge. In: Mathematical Model-
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Communications Ltd, London 1998, pp. 658-668.
[19] Hilbinger, R., Bergmann, H., Köhler, W. and Palm, F.: Con-
sidering of Dynamic Mechanical Boundary Conditions in
the Characterization of a Hot Cracking Test by Means of Nu-
merical Simulation. In: Mathematical Modeling of Weld
Phenomena 5 (ed Cerjak et al). IOM Communications Ltd,
London 2001, pp. 847–862.
[20] Hilbinger, R.: Heißrissbildung beim Schweißen von Alu-
minium in Blechrandlage. Universität Bayreuth. Herbert
Utz Verlag, München 2001.
[21] Vasil‘ev, V., Il‘yashenko, D. and Pavlov, N: Introduction to
the basics of welding. Tomsk 2010.
[22] Lindenau, D.: Magnetisch beeinflusstes Laser-
strahlschweißen. Dissertation Universität Stuttgart. Herbert
Utz Verlag, München 2007.
[23] Göbel, G.: Erweiterung der Prozessgrenzen beim Laser-
strahlschweißen heißrissgefährdeter Werkstoffe. Disserta-
tion. Dresden 2007.
[24] Rapoport, E.Ya.: Optimization of processes of induction
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[25] Grigor‘yants, A., Shiganov, I. and Chirkov, A.: Hybrid laser
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[26] Korshikov, S., Zaikin, N. and Rybalko, G.: Simulation of tem-
perature fields and thermal stresses during heating alu-
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Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5

Investigating the indentation, degrading and
deterioration of electrodes using carbon and stainless
steel welds in resistance spot welding
This article presents the results of an experimental analysis of RWMA’s
(Resistance Welding Manufacturing Alliance, a standing committee of AWS
– American Welding Society) class-two electrode caps using mild and stain-
less steels in resistance spot welding. The electrode cap was used to weld
metals for up to 900 weld pairs and was cleaned once in the meantime for
the welding process using an electrode dresser, specifically after achieving
around 400 weld joints. Although this paper is aimed at discussing the
electrode deformation due to wear and tear factors, it is also supported
with the weld geometry of carbon and stainless steels which were affected
by the degrading of chromium-copper electrodes. A simulation of the weld-
ing process was developed prior to the real experiments in order to un-
derstand the weld regions and differentiates the macrostructural and mi-
crostructural changes vividly. The electrodes’ mushrooming growth was
also analysed in the metallurgical study. Finally, it was noticed that some
internal cracks developed on the upper electrode after 900 weld attempts
were accomplished. The final outcome shows that a mushroomed electrode
cap leads to the deformed sort of weld surfaces and results in improper
weld formations with higher weld indentations.
1 Introduction
RWMA’s class-two alloys are universally recommend-
ed for the spot welders as they have superior resistance,
heat toleration and high corrosive resistance. With such
qualities, it was planned to weld 900 pairs of metals in
this research. Basically, variations in the process param-
eters (welding current, welding time and electrode force)
are inevitable methods of developing spot welds for vari-
ous materials or for different thicknesses. By doing so, the
spot welds can be sufficiently developed, according to the
needs of the thicknesses as well as the material types. This
kind of variation of process variables would cause various
amounts of heat generation during the welding process
and ultimately lead to the electrode tip’s deterioration.
Electrode tips become the sole contact points between
metal sheets from the secondary path of the welding trans-
former. Hence, they are directly exposed to the heat de-
velopment across metal sheets while the welding process
Table 1 • Properties of CMW copper-based alloys.
CMW alloy (Class 2) C18200
Principal elements Copper 99.1% , iron 0.10%, chromium
0.60%, silicon 0.10% and lead 0.05%
Yield strength (KSI) 55
Electrical conductivity % IACS@68F 80
Rockwell hardness (HRB) 70
Tensile strength (KSI) 70
Thermal expansion (/K) 9.8 x 10-6
Elongation % in 2 inch 21
Thermal conductivity (W/m.K (min)) 187
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
SPECIALIST ARTICLES
THE AUTHORS
Nachimani Charde graduated with the Bachelor
of Engineering in Electronics System Design Engi-
neering from Northumbria University, UK, in 2002
and with the Master of Science in Electrical and
Electronics Engineering from Southern Pacific Uni-
versity, USA, in 2007. He completed doctoral-level
research at Nottingham University, UK, in 2014
and is waiting for his graduation. Currently, he is a
member of IEEE – Institute of Electrical and Elec-
tronics Engineers, USA, and a student member of
IEM – Institution of Engineers Malaysia.
Farazila Binti Yusof is currently working as a
Senior Lecturer at the University of Malaya,
Malaysia. She has completed the Doctor of Engi-
neering from Nagoaka University of Technology,
Japan, the Master of Engineering Science from the
University of Malaya and the Bachelor of Engi-
neering (Hons) Engineering from the University of
Malaya, Malaysia. She is a member of the Board
of Engineers, Malaysia, and is presently very active
in research pertaining to advanced materials join-
ing, specifically on the subjects of laser welding,
friction stir welding, resistance spot welding, sol-
dering, brazing etc.
Rajprasad Kumar Rajkumar is currently working
as an Assistant Professor at Nottingham University
UK, Malaysia Campus. He graduated with the Doc-
tor of Philosophy and the Master of Science from
Nottingham University, UK. Currently, he is a mem-
ber of the Board of Engineers and the Institution
of Engineers, Malaysia. He is presently very active
in research focusing on spot welding and robotics
for the welding industry.
is ongoing and also enable closed contacts of molten areas
concurrently.
Another factor which obviously affects the electrode
tips relates to the electrode pressing forces which are pri-
marily supplied by the pneumatic cylinder in this re-
search. Thus, every time that the electrode is pressed, the
hitting effects of the electrode tip towards the base metal
result in metal-hitting effects and subject it to fatigue in
one way or another. Hence, this paper analyses and also
discusses the defects which happened to RWMA’s class-
two truncated electrode caps while welding the carbon
and stainless steels using 75 kVA spot welders. Part of this
research work has previously discussed the tensile shear
strength and the hardness changes and, therefore, such
information is excluded from the present discussion but
relevant references are included [1, 2].
319
SPECIALIST ARTICLES

Fig. 2(a) • Welding lobe diagram (welding time versus welding current).

Fig. 1 • The dimensions of the welding samples and the

electrodes.

2 Experiments
The base metals were prepared in a rectangular shape
with the following size: length 200 mm, width 25 mm and
thickness 1 mm. The chemical elements found in the
stainless steel sheets are: C = 0.048, Cr = 18.12, Ni = 8.11,
Mn = 1.166, Si = 0.501, S = 0.006, N = 0.053 and P = 0.030.
The chemical elements found in the carbon steel sheets
are: C = 0.23, Mn = 0.90, Si = 0.006, S = 0.050 and P = 0.040.
A pair of water-cooled (4 l/min) truncated-cone electrodes
with a 5 mm round diameter was used to join these base
metals as shown on Fig. 1.
A pair of test samples was initially placed on the top
of the lower electrode (tip) of the welder overlapping
each other by 60 mm (lap joint) and then the initiating Fig. 2(b) • Welding lobe diagram (electrode force versus welding current).
pedal was pressed. As the upper elec-
trode keeps pressing downwards, the
squeezing force is approximately
achieved for the preset value with a
pneumatically based electrode actu-
ation system. Then, the welding cur-
rent was immediately released in ac-
cordance with the given preset values.
Thereafter, the electrode pressing
mechanism consumed some time for
the solidification process and eventu-
ally returned to the home position of
the upper electrode. This process im-
plements the setup values of the
Fig. 2(c) • 3D welding lobe diagram (welding current (I), welding time (T) and electrode force (F) as variables
process-controlling parameters (weld- with a constant tip diameter (D)).
ing current, welding time and elec-
trode pressing force) which were appropriately selected letter ‘A’ in the 3D view; see Fig. 2c for visualisation. Figs.
before the welding process started on the basis of the 2a and b show the quality of the welds obtained for two
manufacturer’s welding lobe curves (Figs. 2a and b). The parameter selections out of four. Table 1 lists the general
proper working region is indicated by a continuous line description of the copper-based alloy electrodes used in
which is marked on the welding lobe diagrams. Besides, this analysis and Table 2 lists the overall welding condi-
the working window is specifically marked with capital tions obtained from the welding lobe diagrams (Figs. 2a

320 Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5

 Table 2 • Welding schedules.

Groups 1 and 2 Group 1 Group 2

Sample no. Material Thickness Electrode Welding Welding Electrode Welding Welding
(mm) force (kN) current (kA) time (cycles) force (kN) current (kA) time (cycles)

1-8 CS, SS, CS + SS 1, 2 3 6 10 3 6 10

9-16 CS, SS, CS + SS 1, 2 3 7 10 3 7 10
17-24 CS, SS, CS + SS 1, 2 3 8 10 3 8 10
25-32 CS, SS, CS + SS 1, 2 4.5 6 10 3 6 15
33-40 CS, SS, CS + SS 1, 2 4.5 7 10 3 7 15
41-48 CS, SS, CS + SS 1, 2 4.5 8 10 3 8 15
49-56 CS, SS, CS + SS 1, 2 6 6 10 3 6 20
57-64 CS, SS, CS + SS 1, 2 6 7 10 3 7 20
65-72 CS, SS, CS + SS 1, 2 6 8 10 3 8 20

and b). A total of 900 welds were executed with RWMA’s spot weld growth on mild and stainless steels and also in
class-two electrode caps. the Australasian Welding Journal as the effect of spot weld-
The welded samples initially underwent the tensile ing variables on the nugget size and bond strength of
shear test and the hardness test. Those results have already austenitic stainless steels [1...3]. So in this part, the 3D
been published in the Welding Journal as an analysis of welding lobe, the microindentation, the SORPAS-based
simulation and the electrode-related issues are discussed
for deeper understanding of resistance spot welding. SOR-
PAS is a user-friendly software and requires basic param-
eter selections such as materials, process variables, elec-
trode types and so on. As for the metallurgical study, the
welded samples are cut at the line of their diameter (mid-
dle) using an abrasive cutter to form flat surfaces and are
Fig. 3(a) • A sim- subsequently mounted using resin powder on a hot press
ulation of the mounting machine.
carbon steel for The mounted samples are then polished well using
8 kA, 10 cycles silicon papers 1200/800p and 600/200p and also contin-
and 3 kN. uously polished using a Metadi polishing cloth. This pol-
ishing process is conducted for about 30 min to 1 h on
each sample until the shining (mirror-like) surfaces are
Fig. 3(b) • A real
obtained. One of the chemical solutions, V2A etchant (100
macrograph of
the carbon steel ml water, 100 ml hydrochloric acid and 10 ml nitric acid),
for 8 kA, 10 cycles is used to etch the polished samples. They are immersed
and 3 kN into a pot or a box for about 30-45 min. After that, the
samples are rinsed off using plain water, are dried using
an air blower, have anti-corrosion liquid applied to them
and are kept in a vacuum chamber. These preparatory
steps and the above polishing materials are good enough
to obtain reasonable macrograph views in this project.

3 Results and discussion

Table 3 • General properties of base metals.
Properties
Melting point
Electrical resistivity
Thermal conductivity
Thermal expansion
3.1 A comparative study of the simulation and the real
types of similar and dissimilar weld joints
Simulation procedures for the similar and dissimilar
weld joints (carbon and stainless steels) were performed
using SORPAS, the spot welding process software, before
the real experiment was started. The equations for the
electrical-mechanical-thermal characteristics, the bound-
ary conditions and the contact resistances are all incor-
porated into SORPAS so that the user has to select only a
Stainless steel Carbon steel
few parameters such as the thickness of the base metals,
1400-1450°C 1426- 1538°C the material type, the electrode tip diameter, the electrode
6.89 x 10-7 Ω.m 1.611 x 10-7 Ω.m type, the process parameters and so on. According to the
16.2 W/m.K (min) 54 W/m.K (min) results of the simulation for carbon, stainless and mixed
17.2 x 10-6 /K 12 x 10-6 /K steels, symmetrical weld zones were obtained for similar

Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5 321

SPECIALIST ARTICLES

steels and asymmetrical weld zones for dissimilar steels.

These are quite possible because of the different electrical
properties of the base materials (Table 3) which would
have led to different thermal flow characteristics. As we
know, the critical diameter of the carbon steel starts at 3
mm for 1 mm thickness (D=3t0.5) and that of the stainless
steel starts at 4 mm for 1 mm thickness (D=4t0.5).
Besides, the simulative results of welded zones are Fig. 4(a) • A sim-
ulation of the
categorised into four regions in order to compare them
stainless steel for
with the real welded samples precisely. The noticeable
8 kA, 10 cycles
zones are: firstly the fusion zone, secondly the heat-af- and 3 kN.
fected zone, thirdly the heat-extended zone and fourthly
the base metal. A finer method to analyse the nugget for-
mation is just by looking at the coarse areas, the heat-af- Fig. 4(b) • A real
fected zones, the heat-extended zones, the indentations macrograph of
of the electrodes and the gaps between the welded sheets. the stainless steel
These qualitative measures have been thoroughly dis- for 8 kA, 10 cycles
cussed in the Australasian Welding Journal [3]. As for the and 3 kN.
carbon steel weld joint (Figs. 3a and b), the thermal con-
ductivity rate is higher than that of the stainless steel and,
therefore, wider heat-affected (HAZ) and heat-extended
(HEZ) zones are noticed in the carbon steel welds. How-
ever, the fusion zone of carbon steel seemed to be shorter
in diameter than that of the stainless steel because of the
thermal expansion rate. It can be compared from the sim-
ulation results for both steels as well as the real weld
macrograph (Figs. 3a and b).
On the other hand, the thermal conductivity rate is
lower in the stainless steel (Figs. 4a and b) than in the car-
bon steel and results in shorter heat-affected and heat-
extended regions. However, the diameter of welded re-
gions looked to be wider than in the carbon steel due to
the different thermal and electrical properties. This phe-
nomenon was certainly noticed when both sheets were
welded together. Figs. 5a and b reveal the asymmetrical
weld regions consisting of dissimilar metal sheets made
of carbon and stainless steels. So it is now clearly seen
that the welded areas in dissimilar steels have heat im-
balances and distinguishable asymmetrical weld beads.

3.2 Electrode indentations of similar and dissimilar

weld joints
The geometry of the welded areas is captured using
an SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) machine, par-
ticularly with regard to the electrode indentations which
the upper and lower electrodes formed on welding sam-
ples during the heating process. It was found that the in- Fig. 5(a) • A simulation of the carbon and stainless steels for 8 kA, 10 cycles and 3 kN
dentations increase as the process parameters (welding
current, welding time and electrode force) are gradually
increased within the good working regions of welding
lobe diagrams; regardless of the base materials [4].
Conventionally, it was believed that the force escala-
tion would result in some drop in the weld growth as it
may affect the static resistance significantly. However, the
force escalation within the limit of the good working region
of the welding lobe diagram increases the corresponding
indendations in the weld zones but not the weld growth
[5]. Sometimes, it leads to very light expulsion and results
in very high microindentations as well as a complete re- Fig. 5(b) • A real macrograph of the carbon and stainless steels for 8 kA, 10 cycles and 3 kN

322 Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5


Fig. 6(a) • Electrode indentations for the current and welding time increments.
Fig. 6(b) • Electrode indentations for the current and electrode force increments.
upper electrode indentations are slightly higher than the
rigid lower electrode indentations for most of the weld
attempts.
Moreover the electrode mushrooms do indeed dimin-
ish the weld quality by inducing odd and unclean surfaces
on weld nuggets [6]. This factor highlights the importance
of the regular cleaning of electrodes where mass produc-
tion is concerned. An optical camera was used to capture
some of the weld surfaces which developed before and
after the electrode mushrooming effects took place. A
good weld surface reveals proper electrode indentation
while a deformed indentation shows defects on its sur-
faces. Let’s look at Fig. 7a as a brand new electrode is used
to develop such a weld surface.
As the welding process goes further for a number of
weld attempts, the electrode deteriorates and this results
in mushroom growth, see Figs. 7b1) and b2) for the weld
surfaces on the carbon and stainless steels respectively.
Both were executed when there were no mushrooms.
The experiments were further extended to around 900
weld attempts and the mushroom cleaning process was
carried out once when reaching around 400 weld attempts.
Now look at the weld surfaces when electrodes had large
mushrooms which caused partial expulsion during the
heating process, see Figs. 7c1) and c2) for the deformed
surfaces.

duction in pores. In other words, compactness is sustained

in the molten zones.
Often, this phenomenon can be wrongly interpreted
when the selected force is below the working region of
good welds. For instance, if the force profile is below the
working window on the welding lobe diagram, then it
may show weld growth for several steps of force incre-
ments. This is where the researchers fail to address the
inconsistent weld growth. As such, it can be said that
the electrode force is inversely proportional to the heat
generation but directly proportional to the weld inden-
tations within the good working regions of the welding
lobe diagram.
When the welding current, the welding time and the
electrode pressing force were varied from a minimum Fig. 7(b) • Electrode indentations on the weld surfaces (good welds).
range (6 kA, 10 cycles and 3 kN) to a maximum level (8
kA, 20 cycles and 6 kN), the indentations in the weld zones
seemed to be proportionally increased and this has been
graphically shown on Figs. 6a and b. Note that the movable

Fig. 7(a) • A good weld surface produced by a new electrode

cap. Fig. 7(c) • Electrode indentations on the weld surfaces (deformed welds).

Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5 323

SPECIALIST ARTICLES

Fig. 8(b) • The

microstructural
view of the elec-
trodes.

Fig. 8(a) • Macrographic views of the electrodes after 900

welding processes.

3.3 Electrode mushrooming effect

The class-two spot welding electrodes are made of
copper and chromium according to the RWMA classifica-
tion. They have a two-phase mixture of chromium and al-
pha copper [7, 8]. Basically, the changes in properties hap- Fig. 8(c) • The
pen at a rising temperature due to the precipitation of microstructural
chromium out of the solid solution [9, 10]. This is what changes in
has been noticed in the microstructural views of the elec- the electrodes.
trodes. With an inreasing number of welds on the carbon
and stainless steels, the mushrooming effect grows due to
the heat exposure in the area of the electrode tips. In this
research, the original electrode tip had a diameter of 5 mm
on both sides and it mushroomed to 7.458 mm on the up-
per electrode tip side and to 7.238 mm on the lower elec-
trode tip side. Fig. 8a shows the macrographs of the elec-
trode tips which were used for welding about 900 times.
Having considered the mechanical and chemical
changes which happened to the electrodes after 900 welds,
they were scanned for precise structural changes (Fig. 8b).
Point A on Fig. 8b is the electrode tip which was directly
exposed to the molten heat of the base metal (≈1,600°C). The electrode tip diameters were measured after every
Points B and C are the following points leading the way to 100 weld attempts and are shown on Fig. 8c. The mush-
the electrode holder which is also exposed to the thermal rooming effect of the upper electrode is slightly greater
expansion but is cooled by an internal water flow. Thus, than that of the lower electrode because it applies the
the chromium-to-copper ratio is affected due to the heat pressing forces (impacts) while the squeezing process
exposure as shown on Fig. 11. The microstructural view takes place.
shows that the chromium precipitation is higher at the
tip (point A) due to the direct heat exposure beyond the 4 Conclusions
melting points of the steels. Point B has a balanced This paper looks into the electrode deformation and
chromium-to-copper ratio between Points A and C. How- the related issues using carbon and stainless steels. Even-
ever, the different cooling rate at Point C due to the water tually, the research outcome concludes that:
coolant (4 l/min) inside the electrodes prevents chromium • The weld geometries of carbon and stainless steel
precipitation but results in cracks on the upper electrode joints mainly rely on the individual thermal conduc-
side after 900 welds (see Points D and E on Fig. 8b). tivity as well as the thermal expansion rates.

324 Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5

 • The alignment of the electrodes played an important
role in the weld geometry regardless of the type of
materials as it establishes proper contacts between
the areas of concentration.
• The electrode indentations increase as the process
parameters (current, time and force) are increased
regardless of the type of materials.
• Electrode dressing (cleaning) changes the weld
geometry no matter what the base metals are. Im-
proper electrode tip contacts on base metals lead to
improper weld surfaces due to expulsion.
• The initial welding processes up to 400 times increase
the electrode tip diameter by about 23% due to wear
and tear factors.
• Further welding processes up to 500 times more in-
crease the electrode tip diameter by another 26%
even after the dressing of the electrodes.
• In total, an upper electrode tip diameter increment
of 49% is noticed whereas the lower electrode tip di-
ameter increment is 44%.
• The chemical and mechanical imbalances are no-
ticed on the electrode tip surfaces after 900 weld at-
tempts.
Literature
[1] Aravinthan, A. and Nachimani, C.: Analysis of spot welds
growth on carbon and stainless steel. Welding Journal, Au-
gust 2011, pp. 143-147.
[2] Aravinthan, A. and Nachimani, C.: A metallurgical study of
spot weld growth on carbon steel with 1 mm and 2 mm
thicknesses. Journal – The Institution of Engineers,
Malaysia, Vol. 72 (2011), No. 4, pp. 32-36.
Welding and Cutting – editorial preview
Issue 6 (November/December) Issue 1 (January/February)
• Automation using robots and sensors for welding and cutting • Gas-shielded arc welding
• Welding in plant, tank and pipeline construction • New findings about resistance welding
• Examples of applications in welding and cutting technology
Closing date for advertisements and editiorial contributions: Closing date for advertisements and editorial contributions:
27 October 2014 7 January 2015
The editorial preview is subject to modifications.
For information about advertising, please contact:
Iris Jansen, DVS Media GmbH, Düsseldorf/Germany, e-mail iris.jansen@dvs-hg.de
For information about submitting editorial contributions, please contact:
Anja Labussek, DVS Media GmbH, Düsseldorf/Germany, e-mail anja.labussek@dvs-hg.de
Penny Edmundson, TWI, Cambridge/UK, e-mail penny.edmundson@twi.co.uk
Welding and Cutting 13 (2014) No. 5
[3] Nachimani, C.: Effect of spot welding variables on nugget
size and bond strength of 304 austenitic stainless steel (2
mm). Australasian Welding Journal, Vol. 57 (2012), pp. 39-
44
[4] Mehdi, M., Abadi, M. and Majid, P.: Correlation between
macro/micro structure and mechanical properties of dis-
similar rsw of aisi 304 austenitic stainless steel and aisi 1008
low carbon steel. Scientific paper, Association of Metallur-
gical Engineers of Serbia (2008), pp. 1-10.
[5] Tang, H., Hou, W., Hu, S.J., Zhang, H.Y., Feng, Z. and Kimchi
H.: Influence of welding machine mechanical characteris-
tics on the resistance spot welding process and weld qual-
ity, Welding Journal, Vol. 82 (2003), No. 5, pp. 116-S/124-S.
[6] Yeung, K.S and Thornton, P. H.: Transient thermal analysis
of spot welding electrodes. Welding Journal, January 1999,
pp. 1-6.
[7] Chang, B. H. and Zhou, Y.: Numerical study on the effect of
electrode force in small-scale resistance spot welding. Jour-
nal of Materials Processing Technology (2003) 139, pp. 635–
641.
[8] Chen, Z., Zhou, Y., and Scotchmer, N.: Coatings on resist-
ance welding electrodes to extend life. SAE International
Technical Paper (2005).
[9] Rao, Z. H., Liao, S. M., Tsai, H. L., Wang, P. C. and Stevenson,
R.: 2009. Mathematical modeling of electrode cooling in re-
sistance spot welding. Welding Journal, May 2009, pp. 111-
119.
[10] Bower, R. J., Sorensen, C. D., and Eager, T. W.: Electrode
geometry in resistance spot welding. Welding Journal, Feb-
ruary 1990, pp. 45-51.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank the Ministry of Science, Technology
and Innovation, Malaysia (MOSTI), for its financial support during
the experiment. This research is an extension of the author’s post-
doctoral research work at the University of Malaya, Malaysia.
325
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erties; corrosion behaviour and wear prop-
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326 ISSN 1612-3433 Schweißen und Schneiden 1/2012

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