Whether working in the food and beverage, pharmaceutical, nuclear, oil and gas or even the semiconductor industry, each welding procedure must be qualified/certified in order to guarantee the quality and reliability of each weld.
When it comes to welding qualification, it is about ensuring and proving that the welding machine can perform a certain task. Therefore, each weld is registered, and the welding parameters are documented. This is called quality control or data traceability.
How does this welding qualification procedure work?
The data acquisition system in welding power sources allows the recording and archiving of all real welding parameters. Depending on the customer’s requirements, the weld parameters and mode of operation/weld procedure are defined for each weld. The operator then follows the programed procedure with the orbital welding machines. Each company creates their own mode of operation/weld procedure and makes welding specifications according to their requirements. These welding specifications (welding parameters and modes of operation) are then certified by independent institutes, such as the International Institute of Welding (IIW) or the American Welding Society (AWS) for example.
Find the complete guide of orbital TIG welding
There are two different types of We work with the following two types of welding logbooks:
- PQR: Procedure Qualification Record
- WPQ: Welding Operator Performance Qualification
Once everything has been qualified, every company prints the program along with the real welding parameters. With all these tools at their disposal, companies then generate a weld report: each weld is checked individually to see if it was carried out as specified in the welding logbook.
What are the benefits of the welding qualifications?
- Repeatability of the procedure: each weld can be redone identically by referring to the welding logbook.
- Monitoring the production in the workshop or on site: the number of welds done in a day can be recorded, hence productivity can be monitored.
- The welding parameters assigned to a pipe can be easily shared between subsidiaries, distributors and customers so that the same welds can be performed by each party (PQR).
- In case a weld does not meet the specified requirements, it is possible to retrace the steps and find out which parameter was faulty or configured incorrectly. The machine can then be reprogramed to ensure satisfying results for the next welding procedures.
The welding procedures and qualifications on
orbital TIG welding machines from AXXAIR
On AXXAIR’s SAXX power supplies,, the welding parameters are saved every second on the remote control, on the memory card or on the USB stick. In addition, the name of the operator, the number of the weld, the date and the time are saved as well.
Welding current and voltage, welding speed, filler material and any occurring alarms are also documented. This information can later be transferred to the welding logbook.
Many orbital welding machine manufacturers are now integrating methods to track/document procedures. The differences lies in the structure of the interface and the amount of parameters that can be tracked/documented by the machine. At AXXAIR, we focus on intuitive handling. Our aim is to simplify not only the welder’s job but also the quality control work as much as possible.
See it for yourself with a demonstration of our machines!
