AWS Welding Journal February 2015

The joining of ESAB and Victor
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Now all the welding and cutting
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February 2015
PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN WELDING SOCIETY TO ADVANCE THE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND APPLICATION OF WELDING
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February 2015 Volume 94 Number 2
CONTENTS
FEATURES
32
The Use of Capacitor Discharge Welding Is on the Rise

The increased use of boron steels to meet fuel
economy standards has given rise to the increased
use of capacitor discharge welding to join them
N. Scotchmer
44
Preheat Misunderstood, Often Overlooked, and

Sometimes Misapplied
The needs for preheat and the ramifications if
ignored or improperly implemented are detailed
W. F. Newell Jr.
38
PWHT of Thick Ferrous Castings

The importance of time at temperature, lag time
between oven air temperatures, and the avoidance
of temper embrittlement are some of the areas
explained in this review of postweld heat treatment
E. Thomas
48
Resistance Seam Welding Throughput Increases with

Adaptive Controls
To make gas-tight seals with a seam welding
machine requires adaptive control of heat, nugget
size, and spot spacing during the process
R. K. Cohen
32
38
44
48
92
94
THE AMERICAN WELDER

92
Penn College Dedicates Centennial Sculpture

A colleges centennial celebration gives welding
students an opportunity to be creative and improve
their technical skills
94
Selecting a Plasma Arc Cutting System

Know the factors to consider before making a
selection that meets your application needs and
is cost effective
WELDING RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT

35s Interfacial Temperature Profiles in Simulated
Resistance Spot Welding of Bare and ZincCoated
Steel
Infrared emissions were monitored to better
understand temperature profiles in resistance
spot welding E. Kim and T. W. Eagar
44s A New Method for Corrosion Fatigue Testing of

Weld Cladding Waterwall Coatings
An experimental method was developed to characterize
the fatigue corrosion stresses a Ni-based cladding

undergoes in a coal-fired boiler
A. W. Stockdale et al.
53s Nitrogen Effect on the Microstructure and

Mechanical Properties of Nickel Alloys
The microstructure of nickel alloy welds that had been
subjected to a nitrogen addition in an argon shielding
gas was examined B. Nabavi et al.
FEBRUARY 2015 / WELDING JOURNAL 3
DEPARTMENTS
6
8
10
12
14
18
20
22
26
58
Editorial
Washington Watchword
Press Time News
International Update
News of the Industry
Business Briefs
Brazing Q&A
Aluminum Q&A
Product & Print Spotlight
Coming Events
64
65
72
88
90
Certification Schedule
Society News
Tech Topics
Guide to AWS Services
Personnel
The American Welder
98 Learning Track
102 Fact Sheet
106 Classifieds
108 Advertiser Index
On the cover: To produce a gastight seam
weld, the WeldComputer adaptive control is
used on a Tranter, Inc., heat exchanger.
(Photo courtesy of T. J. Snow.)
OFFICERS
President David Landon
Vermeer Mfg. Co.
Vice President David L. McQuaid
D. L. McQuaid and Associates, Inc.
Vice President John R. Bray
Affiliated Machinery, Inc.
Vice President Dale Flood
Tri Tool, Inc.
Treasurer Robert G. Pali
J. P. Nissen Co.
Executive Director Ray W. Shook
American Welding Society
DIRECTORS
T. Anderson (At Large), ITW Welding North America
U. Aschemeier (Dist. 7), Subsea Global Solutions
R. E. Brenner (Dist. 10), CnD Industries, Inc.
D. J. Burgess (Dist. 8), Alstom Power
N. C. Cole (Past President), NCC Engineering
D. L. Doench (At Large), Hobart Bros. Co.
T. A. Ferri (Dist. 1), Victor Technologies
K. Fogleman (Dist. 16), Consultant
P. H. Gorman (Dist. 20), Sandia National Laboratories
S. A. Harris (Dist. 4), Altec Industries
K. L. Johnson (Dist. 19), Vigor Shipyards
J. Knapp (Dist. 17), Gas and Supply
M. Krupnicki (Dist. 6), Mahany Welding Supply
T. J. Lienert (At Large), Los Alamos National Laboratory
S. Lindsey (Dist. 21), City of San Diego
D. E. Lynnes (Dist. 15), Lynnes Welding Training
C. Matricardi (Dist. 5), Welding Solutions, Inc.
S. P. Moran (At Large), Weir American Hydro
W. R. Polanin (At Large), Illinois Central College
R. L. Richwine (Dist. 14), Ivy Tech State College
D. J. Roland (Dist. 12), Airgas USA, LLC,
NorthCentral Region
R. W. Roth (At Large), RoMan Manufacturing, Inc.
4 WELDING JOURNAL / FEBRUARY 2015
M. Sebergandio (Dist. 3), CNH America

K. E. Shatell (Dist. 22), Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
M. Skiles (Dist. 9), Consultant
J. Stoll (Dist. 18), The Bohler Welding Group U.S.
H. W. Thompson (Dist. 2), UL, Inc.
R. P. Wilcox (Dist. 11), Consultant
J. A. Willard (Dist. 13), Kankakee Community College
D. R. Wilson (Past President), Welldean Enterprises
WELDING JOURNAL
Publisher Andrew Cullison
Editorial
Editorial Director Andrew Cullison
Editor Mary Ruth Johnsen
Associate Editor Howard M. Woodward
Associate Editor Kristin Campbell
Editorial Asst./Peer Review Coor. Melissa Gomez
Publisher Emeritus Jeff Weber
D. Levin, Airgas
R. Madden, Hypertherm
D. Marquard, IBEDA Superflash
J. F. Saenger Jr., Consultant
S. Smith, WeldAid Products
D. Wilson, Welldean Enterprises
J. N. DuPont, Ex Off., Lehigh University
L. G. Kvidahl, Ex Off., Northrop Grumman
Ship Systems
D. J. Landon, Ex Off., Vermeer Mfg.
S. P. Moran, Ex Off., Weir American Hydro
E. Norman, Ex Off., Southwest Area Career Center
R. G. Pali, Ex Off., J. P. Nissen Co.
N. Scotchmer, Ex Off., Huys Industries
R. W. Shook, Ex Off., American Welding Society
8669 NW 36 St., # 130, Miami, FL 331666672
(305) 4439353 or (800) 4439353
Design and Production

Production Manager Zaida Chavez
Sr. Production Coordinator Brenda Flores
Manager of International Periodicals and
Electronic Media Carlos Guzman
Advertising
Sr. Advertising Sales Exec. Sandra Jorgensen
Sr. Advertising Sales Exec. Annette Delagrange
Manager of Sales Operations Lea Paneca
Sr. Advertising Production Manager Frank Wilson
Subscriptions
Subscriptions Representative Danielle Garcia
dgarcia@aws.org
PUBLICATIONS, EXPOSITIONS,
MARKETING COMMITTEE
D. L. Doench, Chair, Hobart Brothers Co.
S. Bartholomew, Vice Chair, ESAB Welding
& Cutting Prod.
J. D. Weber, Secretary, American Welding Society
D. Brown, Weiler Brush
T. Coco, Victor Technologies International
C. Coffey, Lincoln Electric
D. DeCorte, RoMan Mfg.
S. Fyffe, Astaras, Inc.
Welding Journal (ISSN 00432296) is published monthly by

the American Welding Society for $120.00 per year in the United
States and possessions, $160 per year in foreign countries: $7.50
per single issue for domestic AWS members and $10.00 per single
issue for nonmembers and $14.00 single issue for international.
American Welding Society is located at 8669 NW 36th St., # 130,
Miami, FL 331666672; telephone (305) 4439353. Periodicals
postage paid in Miami, Fla., and additional mailing offices. POST
MASTER: Send address changes to Welding Journal, 8669 NW
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Readers of Welding Journal may make copies of articles for
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are not for sale or resale. Permission is granted to quote from arti
cles, provided customary acknowledgment of authors and sources
is made. Starred (*) items excluded from copyright.
Copyright 2015 by American Welding Society in both
printed and electronic formats. The Society is not responsible for
any statement made or opinion expressed herein. Data and infor
mation developed by the authors of specific articles are for infor
mational purposes only and are not intended for use without inde
pendent, substantiating investigation on the part of potential users.
Capacity Precision Strength
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EDITORIAL
The True Value of Being a Mentor
John Bray
AWS Vice President
Just imagine
how much we
could grow as a
Society if each of
us were to take it
upon ourself to
recruit and then
mentor new
members.
I am sure that at some time in your life

you have remarked about your own experience or heard someone else relate how they
were influenced by a person in their past.
Whether it was a parent, another relative,
or teacher, this person made a lasting impact on how you viewed and conducted your
life. I know I have experienced some very
good mentors throughout my AWS career.
In todays world, each of us has the opportunity to be that person of influence by becoming a mentor to someone.
Many times, we just assume that everyone knows exactly what is going on and,
therefore, we may not be as detailed about
passing on very important information as
we should be. That is the difference between
being a true mentor and just someone who
welcomes a person into a new situation but
doesnt offer any support. What may seem
trivial or commonplace to you could change
the course of action for your protg.
So, how do we become good mentors and
why should that be important to us? According to Websters Dictionary, a mentor is a
friend or sage advisor. In our everyday life,
wouldnt it be nice if everything was so easy
to understand that we thought nothing
about a change coming at us? It is a wellknown sports adage that good players dont
necessarily make great coaches. The reason?
Because they arent skilled at passing their
knowledge on to others. To become a good
mentor, the first step is to put yourself in
the other persons shoes. What we know to
be important information is only as good as
how well we can communicate it to someone
else.
Our sister society, ASNT, has a mentoring program in place that has been very
successful. It is called e-Mentoring. They
have taken mentoring to a new level by taking the program worldwide and having the
mentors communicate via e-mail. That being said, it doesnt mean the mentor and
protg can only communicate electronically. If the two parties agree and are in close
enough proximity to one another, they can
meet in person, or they can communicate
over the telephone. The program is a good
example of how professionals can reach out
and give back to influence the future of our

industries.
One of our own AWS board members,
District 17 Director Jerry Knapp, has challenged his Section board members to each
recruit one new AWS student member this
year. He also requested they become mentors for the students during their first year
as a member. I believe this is a good idea for
all of us in AWS. Whether it be a new student member or a regular member, this
could be a great way for all of us to promote
AWS. You are the American Welding Societys best asset. Therefore, just imagine how
much we could grow as a Society if each of
us were to take it upon ourself to recruit
and then mentor a new member.
I am sure many of you do not believe that
you have the knowledge or confidence to
take on this endeavor. You might be surprised by how much experience you already
have to share with someone just beginning
their AWS and welding careers. If each us
would just attempt to mentor a new member, we might find that we have more to
share and can communicate better than we
first thought. I realize not everyone can excel at being a mentor, but until try you really wont know for sure.
The AWS Board of Directors each year
appoints members from the current board
to serve as mentors to the incoming members of the board. I know that when I was
first asked to mentor an incoming AWS director I did not believe I was qualified. But
once I got involved, I was surprised how
much information I had to share with others and how eager they were to learn from
me. I discovered I could make a difference.
So, to summarize, what will it take to get
you to become a mentor? The rewards arent
monetary, but you may just find the persons appreciation for being better informed
about what to do and expect in their new
position is satisfaction enough. Just think
what we could accomplish if we all worked
together to make our lives and our careers
more rewarding. WJ
Welding Filler Metals for

Lasting Connections
voestalpine Bhler Welding

www.voestalpine.com/welding
Welding Filler Metals for

Lasting Connections
voestalpine Bhler Welding

WASHINGTON WATCHWORD
National Manufacturing Strategy
Legislation Approved
The bipartisan American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act was passed by Congress and signed by the president late last year. This new law requires the federal government to develop a national manufacturing strategy. Specifically, this strategic plan is to be developed under the auspices of the National Science and Technology Council in the
White House, in coordination with the National Economic
Council, and will address ways to improve government coordination and provide long-term guidance for federal programs and activities in support of U.S. manufacturing competitiveness, including advanced manufacturing research
and development.
The council, as part of the development of the plan, must
conduct an analysis of specified factors that impact the competitiveness and growth of the U.S. manufacturing sector,
including the following:
technology transfer and commercialization activities;
adequacy of the national security industrial base;
capabilities of the domestic manufacturing workforce;
export opportunities and trade policies;
financing, investment, and taxation policies and practices;
emerging technologies and markets;
advanced manufacturing research and development undertaken by competing nations;
capabilities of the manufacturing workforce of competing
nations.
The goals of the strategy are to promote growth, job creation, sustainability, and competitiveness in the U.S. manufacturing sector; support the development of a skilled manufacturing workforce; enable innovation and investment in
domestic manufacturing; and support national security.
The councils activities will be chaired by the Secretary of
Commerce, who in turn may appoint an advisory panel of
private sector and nonprofit leaders to provide input, perspective, and recommendations to assist in the development
of the plan. The final strategy is to be submitted to Congress
and published online for public accessibility. This strategy is
to be updated every four years.
Manufacturing Hub Legislation Approved

In addition to the American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act, Congress approved the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation (RAMI) Act, which the president
also signed into law.
This legislation will create a network of regional institutes, each focused on a unique technology, material, or
process relevant to advanced manufacturing. Comprised of
local industry, academia, and other stakeholders, the institutes are supposed to work to expand research and development, close the gap between R&D and commercialization of
products, support small and mid-sized manufacturers, and
train a top-tier advanced manufacturing workforce.
These hubs will be in addition to four existing manufacturing hubs, the National Additive Manufacturing Innova-
BY HUGH K. WEBSTER
tion Institute (now known as America Makes) in Ohio, the

Next Generation Power Electronics Manufacturing Innovation Institute in North Carolina, the Digital Manufacturing
and Design Innovation Institute in Illinois, and the Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation Institute in Michigan.
The network will be funded by an initial one-time $600million expenditure through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Government funding may
continue for seven years, but after that each facility should
be sustained through private resources. Institutes will be selected for participation and funding through a competitive
merit review process run by the Secretary and NIST.
Final OSHA Rule Expands Recordkeeping

Requirements
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) issued a final rule expanding requirements for employers to notify OSHA when a worker is killed on the job or
suffers a work-related hospitalization, amputation, or loss of
an eye. This became effective January 1, 2015. Under the revised rule, employers are required to notify OSHA of the following:
work-related fatalities within 8 h of the incident;
work-related, in-patient hospitalizations within 24 h of the
accident;
amputations within 24 h;
losses of an eye within 24 h.
OSHA plans to use these data to target its compliance
and enforcement efforts. In addition, and significantly,
these new reports of severe injuries and illnesses will all be
public on the OSHA website.
Finally, OSHA will now provide an opportunity for employers to report fatalities and severe injuries electronically.
SBA Publishes Proposed Rule on

Defense Contracting
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently
published a proposed rule to implement Section 1651 of the
National Defense Authorization Act, proposing to change
several key areas. The highlights of the proposed rule include the following.
Subcontracting: Changing the way that performance is calculated on small and socioeconomic set-aside contracts, including allowing similarly situated subcontractors to count
toward performance requirements.
Joint Ventures: Making the performance requirements
consistent, regardless of whether or not a small business
chooses to joint venture or perform in a prime or subcontractor relationship.
NonManufacturer Rule: Revisions to SBAs regulations
pertaining to the non-manufacturer rule and affiliation
rules, including the treatment of software as a commodity
and the elimination of waiver requests for procurements
within the Simplified Acquisition Threshold. WJ
HUGH K. WEBSTER, AWS WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS OFFICE Contact the AWS Washington Government Affairs Office at 1747 Pennsylvania
Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20006; email hwebster@wcb.com; FAX (202) 8350243.
PRESS TIME NEWS

Coldwater Machine Co. Features Friction
Stir Weld Service
Coldwater Machine Co.,
an engineering systems
company that manufactures and integrates equipment along with tools for
multiple industries, has recently announced that its
Solid State Joining Center
Coldwater Machine now offers
is providing preproduction,
friction stir welding production
services for prototype and low
prototype, and low-volume
volume runs.
friction stir welding part
production at its headquarters in Coldwater, Ohio.
The company has five Coldwater friction weld systems
available for use. They are suited for joining like or dissimilar materials, including aluminum, magnesium, brass, steel,
and carbon fiber composites. In addition, the five weld
systems vary in size and capacity, plus include robotic
automation.
As companies are challenged with joining new materials
entering the market, they can rely on us as a research and
production source, or for the system integration of our technology and equipment into their production facilities, allowing them to better concentrate on their core areas of value,
said Coldwaters Joining Center Director Bob Rich.
Flexovit Plant Temporarily Closed Due to

Severe Weather Damage
As of press time, Flexovits manufacturing facility in Angola, N.Y., where it makes high-productivity abrasive products for portable power tools, is closed until further notice
as a result of extreme weather.
According to a report by Ron Plants with WGRZ from November 26, heavy snow caused a roof collapse in the area
housing the shipping operation and part of manufacturing.
Workers stated no one was hurt, but they had to use a company tractor to clear a path for leaving the plant. More than
100 workers are employed there; the hope is they can go
back to work with reconstruction. Town Supervisor Keith
Dash also noted the following: They are planning on rebuilding that facility as its their number one international
plant. So they are now going through the process of estimating the damages. I know theyve got construction crews in.
Theyre looking to run a water line so they can resume operation in an auxiliary building in the back.
The company is working around the clock to get things
back up and running. Updated information will be posted as
more is known; its website is at www.flexovitabrasives.com.
Users can make company contact through emailing custservice@flexovitabrasives.com. Also, technical representatives
are available via cell phone and email as usual.
Rolled Alloys Expands Processing Capabilities

and Quality Certifications
Rolled Alloys has additional capabilities at its 66,000-sqft service center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Installing a new
Trumpf TruLaser 1030 laser will add processing capacity

along with reduced lead time. It is capable of cutting material up to 0.1875 in. with tolerances of - 0.008 in. A large, 60 120-in. bed allows for processing oversized material.
Also, Rolled Alloys Cincinnati is now certified to laser cut
to Pratt & Whitney Canada (CPW350) and Rolls Royce
(RRP55000). In addition to GE, Pratt & Whitney (PWA119),
Goodrich (RPS 14.35), and NADCAP, the new quality approvals will enhance cutting capabilities and offer improved
material utilization between 550%.
FlorenceDarlington Tech Receives $45,000 Grant

for Welding Program
Florence-Darlington Technical Colleges Educational
Foundation, Florence, S.C., has been presented a $45,000
grant from Duke Energy Foundation. This gift will be used
to fund scholarships for students in the colleges Advanced
Welding and Cutting Center.
Mindy Taylor, Duke Energys Government and Community Relations Manager for the Pee Dee Region, presented the
check to Florence-Darlington Technical College President
Dr. Ben Dillard and Foundation Vice President Jill Lewis.
We are extremely grateful to Duke Energy for this gift.
Duke realizes the importance of having a highly qualified
workforce, and these scholarships for our welding students
will help do that for industries throughout the state, said
Dillard.
T. J. Snow Personnel Earn AWS Certified

Resistance Welding Technician Status
T. J. Snows AWS Certified Resistance Welding Technicians, pic

tured from left, are (back row) Bret McIntire, Josh Garmon,
Randy Darby, Paul Bush, and (front row) Tom Snow along with
Ray Michelena.
Five service technicians at T. J. Snow Co., Chattanooga,

Tenn., plus CEO Tom Snow, recently became among the first
in the United States to receive the American Welding Society
(AWS) Certified Resistance Welding Technician (CRWT) designation. They participated as part of the beta group and
passed to achieve this certification. A 100-question exam
tests applicants knowledge of all aspects of the resistance
welding process. For more information, visit
www.aws.org/rwma/crwt.html. In addition, T. J. Snow Co.
plans to offer training classes to help prepare applicants
with the knowledge required to pass this test. WJ
INTERNATIONAL UPDATE
Lecture Series Presented in Nine
Indian Cities
Lectures on construction of steel structures
were delivered at nine
locations throughout India as part of the IIWIndia-AWS Lecture Series VII held December
417. The objective of
the program, which was
started in partnership
with AWS in 2008, is to
share technical knowledge with engineers in
Robert E. Shaw Jr. toured nine
India.
Indian cities, delivering lectures
Robert E. Shaw Jr.,
on the construction of steel
president of Steel
structures.
Structures Technology
Center, Inc., Howell,
Mich., and a member of
the AWS D1 Committee, presented the lectures in Vadodara,
Pune, Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Kochi, Kolkata,
New Delhi, Bhilai, and
Mumbai.
More than 700 people
Many locations accorded a tradi
attended the lectures, an
tional welcome for Shaw. Pictured
increase of 25% over the
here is an inaugural function held
last series. The technical
in Kochi, India.
talks typically lasted
four to five hours and
provided valuable information regarding international codes
on structural fabrication. Shaw interacted with engineers
and R&D workers, including personnel from the Institute of
Steel Development and Growth, Kolkata, and the Welding
Research Institute, Tiruchirappalli. He also delivered a talk
on bolted structural design to a select gathering of structural engineers.
Welding Programs Receive Electrodes

for Practice
Grand Bahama Shipyard (GBS), Freeport, Grand Bahama,
recently donated more than 2000 lb of welding electrodes to
various welding programs on the island. The much-needed
practice electrodes were donated to St. Georges High
School, Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI),
Pineyard Steel, and Technical Cadet Corp.
Welding is a very large program at BTVI at the Freeport
campus, said Veronica Collie, assistant manager, BTVI.
This donation of welding rods will definitely be beneficial
to many of the students here.
Grand Bahama Shipyard noted that the donation is
meant to improve Bahamian opportunities to work at the
company. These institutes give people the basic skills nec12 WELDING JOURNAL / FEBRUARY 2015
Pictured are the GBS management team along with the recipi
ents of the donated welding electrodes.
essary for employment at the shipyard, said Don Forbes,

training manager, GBS. Were helping both the welding students and eventually ourselves because when they come to
the shipyard as apprentices, they already have the foundation needed. It also helps give them more expertise because
they get to practice with various types of rods.
TRUMPF Expands to Mexico

In response to increased sales in Mexico, TRUMPF, Inc., a
manufacturer of fabricating machinery
and industrial lasers
for flexible sheet
metal processing, recently opened a facility in Quertaro to
enhance its support
for local customers.
The location ensures
faster response
times for spare
parts, sales support,
A new 1000sqm TRUMPF facility will
and service
provide local support for customers in
technicians, and althe Mexican market.
lows the company to
offer same-day or
early morning delivery of crucial parts.
Sofia Cardenas, facility supervisor, explains, As an
extension of TRUMPF Mexico in Apodaca, N.L., we are able
to stock more than 1000 different part numbers, including
spare parts for TruLaser Cell multiaxis laser systems, TruMark marking lasers, and laser resonators.
The new facility, which provides customer service in
English and Spanish, also serves as a local base for technical service engineers, reducing response time and increasing accessibility to tools and spare parts. With 1000 m2 of
space, TRUMPF also adds the capacity to host seminars and
technical events in Quertaro, keeping local prospective
and existing customers up to date on laser and technology
applications. WJ
NEWS OF THE INDUSTRY

Nissan and State of Tennessee Partner to Train Future Manufacturing Workforce
Nissan and the State of Tennessee are joining forces to
build an education and training facility adjacent to the automakers vehicle assembly plant in Smyrna.
Company officials joined Gov. Bill Haslam and Tennessee
Board of Regents Chancellor John Morgan to break ground
on the more than 150,000-sq-ft center.
This public-private partnership will provide training programs aimed at preparing workers for advanced manufacturing jobs such as engineering, robotics, and manufacturing
maintenance.
Scheduled to be completed by late 2016, it will operate as
an extension of the Tennessee College of Applied Technolo-
gy (TCAT) campus at Murfreesboro. Nissan and Murfreesboro TCAT will occupy the facility jointly.
Jos Muoz, executive vice president, Nissan Motor Co.,
Ltd., and chairman, Nissan North America, also joined
marking the start of construction.
The center will develop a pipeline of skilled workers for
Nissans Tennessee manufacturing operations and critical
opportunities for current/prospective employees to learn
advanced manufacturing skills. Employees will benefit from
hands-on training with skilled trades that can be directly applied to work in Nissans Tennessee automotive plants or
with one of the companys region suppliers.
Nissan has an ongoing need to develop and maintain a highly skilled workforce, so the company and the State of Tennessee are partnering
to build a new education and training facility. Pictured above is the groundbreaking event that recently took place.
Tulsa Welding School Opens Third Campus Location in Houston, Tex.

The Tulsa Welding School (TWS) & Technology Center in
Houston, Tex., is now open at 243 Greens Rd.
This Houston campus, the first Texas campus under the
TWS name, is the third nationwide; the school also has locations in Tulsa, Okla., and Jacksonville, Fla.
Two vocational training programs Welding Specialist
and Welding Specialist with Pipefitting are offered at its
66,000-sq-ft campus. The facilities include 60 welding lab
booths, a pipefitting lab, new equipment, three classrooms,
a student commons area, and office space.
The Welding Specialist program can be completed in

7 months while the Welding Specialist with Pipefitting program can be completed in 9 months.
Houston was selected for a few reasons, including the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting that the Houston
metropolitan area has the largest employment of welders
and related skilled trades careers of any major metropolitan
area in the country.
For more information, visit www.weldingschool.com.
This image highlights the 60 welding lab booths inside of Tulsa Welding Schools new Houston campus.
General Dynamics Bath Iron

Works Lays Keel of DDG 115
General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Bath,
Maine, recently held a keel laying ceremony for
the Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), the companys
35th Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer. The ship is named for Sgt. Rafael Peralta, U.S.
Marine Corps, who was deployed to Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom and killed November 15,
2004, during the Second Battle of Fallujah at the
age of 25.
Sgt. Peraltas mother, Rosa Peralta, is the
ships sponsor. A steel plate containing her
initials along with sisters Icelas, Karens, and
brother, Ricardos, was prepared for the
ceremony.
Rosa and her daughters authenticated the
laying of the keel by striking welding arcs onto
the steel plate, assisted by Bob Morey, a 36-year
Bath Iron Works welder.
The keel unit is the 3000-ton, heavily outfitted midsection of the ship that contains its main
machinery spaces, and is the heart of the ship.
Ed Kenyon, DDG 51 program manager for
Bath Iron Works, hosted the ceremony and welcomed the audience of several hundred employees, Navy personnel, and representatives from
other major subcontractors in the program.
The ships sponsor, Rosa Peralta (left), works with a Bath Iron Works welder,
Bob Morey, to weld her initials into the keel plate for DDG 115, the destroyer
named after her son, Sgt. Rafael Peralta, USMC.
For info, go to www.aws.org/adindex
Flange Wizard Moves to New Building

Flange Wizard, Inc., recently moved to a new and larger
building at 1950 Estelle Lane, Placentia, Calif., to accommodate the companys growth.
Its products consist of flange aligners, two-hole pins, centering heads, wrap-a-rounds, angle and saddle markers, levels, conventional and plasma burning guides, plus various
other layout tools.
Owner/President Robert L. (Bob) Doan started his welding and pipeline career in 1949 at the age of 12. He passed
his first pipeline welding test in 1956 and this started his career path. In 1961, he moved to California and started the R.
L. Doan Welding Co. After 20 years and 19 welding rigs, he
started Flange Wizard (www.flangewizard.com) to design
along with manufacture tools for the welding and pipeline
industry.
H.C. Starck and rp+m Sign Development

Agreement for 3D Printing Technology
H.C. Starck, Newton, Mass., and Rapid Prototype and
Manufacturing (rp+m) have recently announced an agreement to develop advanced products using the latest 3D
printing and technology metal manufacturing.
This will combine H.C. Starcks strengths in fabricating
technology metals with those of rp+m, a provider of additive manufacturing systems. Together, they plan to develop
new technology materials and alloys, products, and technologies using additive manufacturing tools.
Solar Atmospheres of Western PA Obtains

Bell Helicopter Approval
Solars alloy grid supplier, Steeltech, Ltd., flew its Bell Jet
Ranger in from Michigan to Western Pennsylvania for this
photo opportunity.
Solar Atmospheres of Western PA, Hermitage, Pa., has recently attained an approved supplier status for Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc. It has received approval for the heat treatment of steel and titanium alloy components used in the
production of Bell Helicopters.
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Bob Hill, company president, mentioned its extremely

honored to provide precise, thermally vacuum processed
parts for Bell Helicopter. This rotary-wing approval complements the multiple fixed-wing approvals that currently
exist, he added.
Industry Notes
Laboratory Testing, Inc., Hatfield, Pa., has been reapproved as a supplier of calibration, nondestructive examination, and material testing services for members of the Nuclear Procurement Issues Committee (NUPIC). A weeklong audit was run by Exelon Generation Corp. and involved members of Exelon Power Labs, Duke Power, and
Dominion Resources Services. The audit team concluded
the company is effectively implementing its quality assurance program, consistent with the requirements of 10 CFR
50 Appendix B and 10 CFR 21, and will remain on the
NUPIC approved suppliers list for another 30 months.
The Virginia Commonwealth University and Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing recently announced with Gov. Terry McAuliffe that the university will
partner with the research center as a new academic member.
More than 50 research areas were identified by the school to
provide opportunities for students and professors from all
five departments.
Aerodyne Alloys has received a new certificate of registration to AS9120, Rev. A/ISO 9001:2008. It encompasses the
distribution and processing of specialty materials in sheet,
plate, and bar forms with equipment including band saws,
plate saws, water jet cutting equipment, and sheet shearing.
Iowa Central Community College, Storm Lake, Iowa,
has awarded several students Production Welding Certificates. Also, after completing this course, the school offered a
speed interview day where employers interviewed each of
the students who completed the course; some had already
been offered a job but most received additional interviews at
one or more of the present companies.
TROBOs, storytelling robots encouraging curiosity in science, technology, engineering, and math, have been created
by two Florida fathers Chris Harden and Jeremy Scheinberg. The robots read to children out loud and are compatible with iPads/iPhones with their own app. Build avatars at
http://herecomestrobo.com/demo/.
TeraDiode, Wilmington, Mass., has signed a purchase and
supply agreement with Panasonic Welding Systems, Osaka, Japan. Under this multiyear agreement, it will supply
Panasonics 4-kW, high-brightness TeraBlade laser engines.
The engine enables Panasonics robotic welding/cutting systems and will be marketed as Powered by TeraDiode under
the Panasonic brand. WJ
BUSINESS BRIEFS
Governor McAuliffe Invests $500,000
in Community College Program where
AWS Certification Is Listed Among
HighDemand Credentials
Governor Terry McAuliffe recently revealed that seven of
Virginias Community Colleges will receive direct incentives
totaling $500,000 for student completion of credentials
identified regionally as high-demand by business and industry. Examples include certifications by the American Welding Society (AWS), Project Management Professional, and
Commercial Driver License.
This pilot program is an initiative of McAuliffes New Virginia Economy Strategic Plan. It also supports his goal of
seeing an additional 50,000 credentials in the Virginia economy before his term ends. These credentials can lead an individual into careers that feature median wages at or above
the commonwealths per capita personal income of $48,377.
Participating community colleges include Blue Ridge
Community College, Germanna Community College,
Thomas Nelson Community College, Virginia Western Community College, and the three colleges that comprise the
Southern VA Works collaborative Danville Community
College, Patrick Henry Community College, and Southside
Virginia Community College.
We have traveled around the U.S. and the world, and a
well-equipped workforce is the number one request of businesses that are attempting to expand or relocate to Virginia, said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Maurice
Jones.
Federal Workforce Investment Act funding will be applied
toward noncredit programs and courses at the pilot community colleges. These intensive training programs help Virginians get jobs. In addition, cost barriers will be removed,
and 500 more Virginians will learn in-demand skills and credentials through this incentive program.
Forward Technology Expansion Positions

Company for Plastic Welding Growth
Forward Technology, a manufacturer of standard and custom plastic
welding equipment along with
testing systems,
has expanded its
Cokato, Minn.,
headquarters.
The 10,000-sq-ft
addition includes 6500 sq ft
of extra manufacturing space
and 3500 sq ft
of new sales/ofThis 10,000sqft increase positions For
fice room.
ward Technology for growth in plastic
Also, the exwelding equipment as well as testing
pansion is part
systems.
of an effort to devote new resources for helping customers

be more efficient and cut costs. The company plans to increase staffing for sales, marketing, and technology functions at its Cokato headquarters site along with its sales office in Detroit, Mich., according to Brian Kivisto, president
of Forward Technology.
A growing U.S. economy has led to increased demand for
welding equipment for the plastics manufacturing industry
in a range of markets. The company has seen strong growth
in infrared welding equipment for the automotive and appliance markets to meet the demand of Tier 1 and 2 suppliers.
Surveys Show Business Trending up for

Manufacturers, Safety Levels Improving
According to ThomasNets latest Industry Market Barometer research, North Americas manufacturing sector is on
an upward trajectory but a shortage of young talent, compounded by Baby Boomers negative perceptions about Millennials, could impact its continued expansion.
Companies are hiring, increasing production capacity,
and investing for more growth to come. More than half grew
in 2013, and 63% expected even more gains by the end of
2014. Manufacturers are getting more business from their
existing markets, and average account values are rising.
Nearly eight out of 10 are now selling overseas, and onethird expect that business will increase. In anticipation of
the future, companies are investing in capital equipment,
optimizing operations, upgrading facilities, and retraining
people. More than half expect to add staff in the next several months.
ThomasNet surveyed close to 500 manufacturers, mostly
from small and midsize companies, representative of their
sector. For more details, visit www.ThomasNet.com/imb.
Additionally, a safety survey report by the Metals Service
Center Institute shows members incident rates are falling
despite increased worker hours across all sized member companies. This report was designed to help companies evaluate
their own safety performance relative to similar sized companies to help identify improvement opportunities.
Survey respondents identified their top three safety issues or concerns as leadership/accident prevention, training, plus material handling and compliance. The most common injuries reported were lacerations/cuts/abrasions,
strains and sprains, followed by bruises and contusions.
Visit www.msci.org for further information.
Dissolvo LLC Acquired by Aquasol Corp.

The Aquasol Corp., North Tonawanda, N.Y., a manufacturer of water-soluble welding consumables and other products, recently announced its acquisition of Dissolvo LLC,
whose products provide a method for isolating the weld area
during gas tungsten arc welding, from the CMC Group, Inc.
The acquisition of Dissolvo is an exciting step that will
allow us to better serve the welding industry in a much
greater capacity, said Aquasol President Mike Hacikyan. WJ
BRAZING Q&A
BY ALEXANDER E. SHAPIRO
Q: We tried to braze aluminum Alloy 6061T6 in a vacuum using BAlSi4 as

the filler metal because it has the lowest brazing temperature (10801100F)
of all the standard brazing alloys listed in AWS A5.8M/A5.8:2011, Specifica
tion for Filler Metals for Brazing and Braze Welding, Table B.2. However, dur
ing the first few trials, we faced such problems as remelted edges of brazed
parts that locally changed shape and a significant loss in mechanical proper
ties of the base material 6061T6. According to the specification, the tensile
yield strength of this alloy is in the range 3640 ksi, while after our brazing
cycle, the alloy exhibited only 27.329.6 ksi. We suggest that this drop in ten
sile strength resulted from using a brazing temperature much higher than the
solution temperature (985F) of this alloy. In other words, we destroyed the
hardening effect of thermal treatment of the 6061T6 alloy, including solution
and aging. Can you recommend an aluminum brazing filler metal with a braz
ing temperature below 985F?
A: The problem with the supplying

and application of low-temperature
aluminum filler metals for vacuum
brazing is quite old. Since the first
filler metals based on aluminumsilicon eutectic were used during the
Second World War, many attempts
were made to develop the filler metal
having a brazing temperature below
550C (1022F). However, there are
still no low-temperature brazing alloys

in the United States market appropriate for application in vacuum furnaces.
Some new filler metals have lower
strength than that of Al-Si alloys, others exhibit worse flow, and all of them
are more expensive in production than
standard BAlSi-4 (Al-12Si wt-%) and
BAlSi-3 (Al-10Si-4Cu wt-%).
Therefore, if you want to use only
standard filler metals covered by national specifications, or at least the

filler metals available in the U.S. market, I can recommend a partial solution for your technical problem. First,
you can repeat the hardening heat
treatment of the brazed parts: solution treatment at 530C (985F) followed by aging at 160C (320F) for 18
h. This treatment will help restore the
strength of the base metal and also
improve the strength of the brazed
joint made with BAlSi-4 from 1719 to
2325 ksi. The disadvantage is an increase in production costs imposed by
this additional thermal treatment.
Secondly, you can braze aluminum
Alloy 6061-T6 with a composite filler
metal comprised of a foil of BAlSi-4
and one or two thin foils of pure copper. The ratio of thicknesses should be
from 2:1 to 3:1, where the thicker foil
is Al-12Si alloy and the copper is the
thinner foil. The composition of this
metal is close to the Al-28Cu-6Si wt-%
ternary eutectic, which melts at about
525C (975F). Usually, we use a sandwich containing a BAlSi-4 foil 80 microns (0.003 in.) and a copper foil
2225 microns (0.001 in.) between the
parts to be brazed, then heat the assembly in a vacuum furnace to
565575C (10501067F) for 5 to
10 min. The parts should be compressed during heating because melting of the filler metal is started in
contact of both foils. A dead weight of
0.5 lb (250 g)/in.2 provides enough
compression for good contact of the
parts and foils.
When brazing two flat parts made
of 6061-T6 alloy, this method can be
simplified. Just place a copper foil between the parts then compress them
during heating. The melting temperature of copper in contact with aluminum is 548C (1019F); therefore,
brazing at 575C (1067F) will be successful. However, the ternary Al-Cu-Si
joint metal has greater strength than
that of the Al-Cu remelted material.
We successfully use this approach
for brazing aluminum 3003 or 6061 to
titanium, as well as to nickel-plated
stainless steel. Figure 1 shows the
macrostructure of a brazed joint manufactured with composite brazing
Alloy BAlSi-4 and copper foils.
Reference
1. Smirnov, G. N. Prospective methods of brazing aluminum. 1981. Metallurgy, Moscow, p. 85.
Fig. 1 Macrostructure of aluminumtotitanium brazed joint made using composite filler

metal TiBrazeAl580 containing BAlSi4 foil 80 microns thick and copper foil 22 microns
thick. Brazing temperature 575C (1067F).
Use of this aluminum-copper contact melting for brazing will not preserve the mechanical properties of the
base metal, but at least it will help
avoid local melting and recrystallization of the 6061 alloy parts due to the
brazing temperature being definitely
lower than solidus of this alloy. The
combination of this method with solution and tempering heat treatments
will help restore the mechanical properties of the base 6061-T6 alloy.
Finally, I want to add a few words
about using the nonstandard deeplow-temperature brazing alloys that
can be used for vacuum brazing below
530C in order to eliminate the need
for heat treatment after joining. Only
one system, Al-Si-Ge, can be considered as promising for manufacturing
low-temperature filler metals suitable
for vacuum brazing. As an example,
Alloy Al-5Si-31Ge wt-% has a melting
range 460480C (860896F), and
Alloy Al-4Si-34Ge wt-% has a melting
range 455485C (850905F). Hot
rolling at 250350C can be used for
manufacturing foils and wires from
these alloys. Their strengths reach 290
MPa (42 ksi) with quenching after
brazing and 162 MPa (23 ksi) without
quenching (Ref. 1). As brazing filler
metals, these germanium-alloyed filler
metals exhibit good wetting, flow into
the joint clearance, and the brazed

joints are resistant to oxidation. WJ
This column is written sequentially by

TIM P. HIRTHE, ALEXANDER E.
SHAPIRO, and DAN KAY. Hirthe and
Shapiro are members of and Kay is an advisor to the C3 Committee on Brazing and
Soldering. All three have contributed to the
5th edition of AWS Brazing Handbook.
Hirthe (timhirthe@aol.com) currently
serves as a Brazing & Soldering Manufacturers Committee (BSMC) vice chair and
owns his own consulting business.
Shapiro (ashapiro@titanium-brazing.com) is brazing products manager at
Titanium Brazing, Inc., Columbus, Ohio.
Kay (dan.kay@kaybrazing.com), has
more than 40 years of experience in the industry, and operates his own brazing training and consulting business.
Post your questions for use in this column on the Brazing Forum section of the
BSMC website www.brazingandsoldering.com.
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ALUMINUM Q&A
Q: I would like to better under
stand the aluminum alloy identifi
cation system. Can you please
explain how the alloy and temper
designation system for aluminum
works?
A: The Aluminum Association is the
registrar under ANSI H35.1/H35.1(M)
with respect to the designations and
composition of aluminum alloys and
tempers registered in the United
States, and is also the registrar under
an international accord on the composition and designation of registered
wrought aluminum alloys.
Note: There is no international accord on the designation and registration of tempers for wrought aluminum
alloys and wrought aluminum alloy
products. Therefore, reference to ANSI
H35.1/H35.1(M) properties and characteristics of wrought aluminum alloy
tempers registered with the Aluminum Association under that standard may not always reflect actual
properties and characteristics associated with the particular aluminum and
temper. The user may wish to confirm
that expected properties denoted by
specific temper designation(s) are
furnished.
This standard provides systems for
designating wrought aluminum and
wrought aluminum alloys, aluminum
and aluminum alloys in the form of
castings and foundry ingot, and the
tempers in which aluminum and aluminum alloy wrought products and
aluminum alloy castings are produced.
BY TONY ANDERSON
Table 1 Wrought Aluminum Alloy Designation System

Alloy Series
Principal Alloying Element
1xxx
2xxx
3xxx
4xxx
5xxx
6xxx
7xxx
8xxx
Aluminum 99.00% Minimum or Greater

Copper
Manganese
Silicon
Magnesium
Magnesium and Silicon
Zinc
Other Elements
Table 2 Cast Aluminum Alloy Designation System

Alloy Series
Principal Alloying Element
1xx.x
2xx.x
3xx.x
4xx.x
5xx.x
6xx.x
7xx.x
8xx.x
9xx.x
Aluminum 99.00% Minimum or Greater

Copper
Silicon with added Copper and/or Magnesium
Silicon
Magnesium
Unused Series
Zinc
Tin
Other Elements
Table 3 The Basic Temper Designations

Letter
Meaning
As fabricated Applies to products of shaping process in which no

special control over thermal conditions or strain hardening is
employed. For wrought products, there are no mechanical
property limits.
Wrought Aluminum
and Aluminum Alloy
Designation System
Annealed Applies to wrought products that are annealed to obtain

the lowest strength temper, and to cast products that are annealed
to improve ductility and dimensional stability. The O may be
followed by a digit other than zero.
A system of four-digit numerical

designations is used to identify
wrought aluminum and wrought aluminum alloys; the first digit (Xxxx) indicates the alloy group as shown in
Table 1.
Strain Hardened (wrought products only) Applies to products that

have their strength increased by strain hardening, with or without
supplementary thermal treatments to produce some reduction in
strength. The H is always followed by two or more digits (see Tables
4A and 4B).
Solution HeatTreated An unstable temper applicable only to alloys

that spontaneously age at room temperature after solution
heattreatment. This designation is specic only when the period of
natural aging is indicated, for example, W1/2 hr.
Thermally Treated To produce stable tempers other than F, O, or H.

Applies to products that are thermally treated, with or without
supplementary strain hardening, to produce stable tempers. The T
is always followed by one or more digits (see Tables 5A and 5B).
Aluminum 1xxx Group

In the 1xxx group for minimum purities of 99.00% and greater, the last
two of the four digits (xxXX) in the
designation indicate the minimum aluminum percentage. These digits are
the same as the two digits to the right

of the decimal point in the minimum
aluminum percentage when it is expressed to the nearest 0.01%.
For example, Alloy 1350 has
99.50% minimum aluminum. The second digit (xXxx) in the designation indicates modifications in impurity limits or alloying elements. If the second
digit in the designation is zero, it indicates unalloyed aluminum having natural impurity limits; numbers 1
through 9, which are assigned consecutively as needed, indicate special control of one or more individual impurities or alloying elements.
utively, indicate alloy modifications. A

modification is only allowed if the
change is not more than the amounts
specified in the standard.
Aluminum Alloys 2xxx

through 8xxx Groups
Cast Alloy Designation
In the 2xxx through 8xxx groups,

the last two of the four digits (xxXX)
in the designation have no special significance but serve only to identify the
different aluminum alloys in the
group. The second digit (xXxx) in the
alloy designation indicates original alloy or alloy modifications. If the second digit in the designation is zero, it
indicates the original alloy; numbers 1
through 9, which are assigned consec-
Variations
Variations of wrought aluminum
and wrought aluminum alloys registered in accordance with this system
are identified by a serial letter after
the numerical designation. For example, Alloy 4043A is the first variation
to Alloy 4043. The serial letters are assigned in alphabetical sequence starting with A but omitting I, O, and Q.
The cast alloy designation system is

based on a three-digit plus decimal
designation xxx.x (e.g., 356.0). The
first digit (Xxx.x) indicates the principal alloying element that has been
added to the aluminum alloy (see
Table 2).
The second and third digits (xXX.x)
are arbitrary numbers given to identify a specific alloy in the series. The
number following the decimal point
indicates whether the alloy is a casting
Table 4A The First Digit after the H Indicates a Basic Operation (Subdivisions of H Temper Strain
Hardened)
Number
Meaning
H1X
Strain Hardened Only
H2X
Strain Hardened and Partially Annealed
H3X
Strain Hardened and Stabilized
H4X
Strain Hardened and Lacquered or Painted
Table 4B The Second Digit after the H Indicates the Degree of Strain Hardening (Subdivisions of H
Temper Strain Hardened)
Number
Meaning
HX2
Quarter Hard UTS approximately midway

between O temper and HX4 temper
HX4
Half Hard UTS approximately midway

between O temper and HX8 temper
HX6
ThreeQuarters Hard UTS approximately midway

between HX4 temper and HX8 temper
HX8
Full Hard Hardest temper normally produced
HX9
Extra Hard Minimum UTS exceeding the HX8

temper by 2 ksi or more
(.0) or an ingot (.1 or .2). A capital letter prefix (Axxx.x) indicates a modification to a specific alloy.
Example: For Alloy A356.0, the capital A (Axxx.x) indicates a modification
of Alloy 356.0. The number 3 (A3xx.x)
indicates that it is of the silicon plus
copper and/or magnesium series. The
56 (Ax56.0) identifies the alloy within
the 3xx.x series, and the .0 (Axxx.0)
indicates that it is a final shape casting
and not an ingot.
The Aluminum Temper

Designation System
The temper designation system addresses the material conditions called
tempers. This is an extension of the alloy numbering system and consists of
a series of letters and numbers, which
follow the alloy designation number
and are connected by a hyphen.
Examples include 6061-T6, 6063T4, 5052-H32, 5083-H112, 4043-F,
and 6063-O. The basic temper designations F, O, H, W, and T are described
in Table 3.
In addition to the basic temper designation, there are two subdivision
categories, one addressing the H temper strain hardening (as shown in
Tables 4A and 4B) and the other addressing the T temper thermally
treated designation (as shown in Tables 5A and 5B).
Table 5A The First Digit after the T Indicates the Operations Used during Heat Treatment
(Subdivisions of T Temper Thermally Treated)
Number
Meaning
T1
Cooled from an elevated temperature shaping

process and naturally aged to a substantially stable condition.
T2
Cooled from an elevated temperature shaping process,

cold worked, and naturally aged to a substantially stable condition.
T3
Solution heattreated, cold worked, and naturally aged to a

substantially stable condition.
T4
Solution heattreated and naturally aged to a substantially

stable condition.
T5
Cooled from an elevated temperature shaping process and

then articially aged.
T6
Solution heattreated and then articially aged.
T7
Solution heattreated and overaged / stabilized.
T8
Solution heattreated, cold worked, and then articially aged.
T9
Solution heattreated, articially aged, and then cold worked.
T10
Cooled from an elevated temperature shaping process,

cold worked, and then articially aged.
Table 5B Additional Digits after the T Indicate Stress Relief (Subdivisions of T Temper Thermally
Treated)
Number
Meaning
TX51 or TXX51
Stress relieved by stretching
TX52 or TXX52
Stress relieved by compressing
Tempers Requiring
Corrosion Testing
There are three-digit H temper designations that have been assigned only
for wrought products in the 5xxx series, for which the magnesium content
is 3% nominal or more. The H116,
H1X8, and H321 tempers are used
specifically for aluminum alloys that
are capable of meeting specified levels
of corrosion resistance in accelerated
type corrosion tests. These alloys are
suitable for continuous service at temperatures no greater than 150F
(66C). Corrosion tests on these alloys
include intergranular and exfoliation
corrosion. These tempers are frequently specified for aluminum alloys used
in the marine industry.
Summary
The information above is taken
from the Aluminum Association
Aluminum Standards and Data. This excellent publication provides typical

properties and mechanical property
limits of aluminum and aluminum alloys in many tempers. This document
is available through the Aluminum Association website bookstore at
www.aluminum.org.
Todays aluminum alloys, together
with their various tempers, comprise a
wide and versatile range of manufacturing materials. For optimum product design and successful welding procedure development, it is important to
understand the differences between
the many alloys available and their
various performance and weldability
characteristics. When developing
welding procedures for these different
alloys, consider the specific alloy being
welded. It is often said that welding
aluminum is not difficult, Its just dif-
ferent. I believe that an important

part of understanding these differences is to become familiar with the
various alloys, their characteristics,
and their identification system. WJ
TONY ANDERSON is director of aluminum

technology, ITW Welding North America. He
is a Fellow of the British Welding Institute
(TWI), a Registered Chartered Engineer with
the British Engineering Council, and holds
numerous positions on AWS technical com
mittees. He is chairman of the Aluminum As
sociation Technical Advisory Committee for
Welding and author of the book Welding
Aluminum Questions and Answers available
from the AWS. Questions may be sent to Mr.
Anderson c/o Welding Journal, 8669 NW
36th St., #130, Miami, FL 331666672;
tony.anderson@millerwelds.com.
PRODUCT & PRINT SPOTLIGHT

Direct Diode Laser System
Delivers Fast Heat Treating
Focus on Heat Treatment and

Resistance Welding
control of laser power during heat

treatment and cladding.
Coherent, Inc.
www.coherent.com
(408) 7644000
Weldscope Provides Resistance

Welding Process Control
charge, AC seam, pulsation AC/DC,

and inverter welding machines. Along
with the capability to better control
quality and accuracy by monitoring resistance welding processes, the weldscope also gives users the ability to
save the last 800 welds and then print
them by way of direct cable or Bluetooth to a PC.
Dengensha America
www.dengensha.com
(440) 4398081
The HighLight 10,000D outputs

10 kW (at 975 nm) and can be configured to deliver a variety of interchangeable beam shapes (with widths
from 1 to 12 mm and lengths from 6
to 36 mm). When combined with the
companys pressurized or gravity feed
powder nozzles and systems, this increased power level enables higher
deposition rate cladding (> 20 lb/h) or
the use of larger spot sizes for heat
treating. In addition, the company offers a pyrometer for monitoring work
surface temperature for closed-loop
Catalog Showcases Coated

Abrasives Products
The handheld weldscope WS-100

controls 15 monitoring functions and
three selectable detection ranges.
Users can monitor, measure, save, and
print out welding current, cycle time,
and peak current from AC and DC, single and three-phase, capacitor dis-
The companys new metal fabrication and industrial products catalog

features Pasco sanding discs, premium
resin fiber discs, and an expanded
cloth-backed belt program. The 212page catalog features a broadened
coated abrasives section including specialty coated abrasives, such as 9 11
sanding sheets, cartridge rolls, and
spiral bands. It includes color-coded
product sections and QR codes linked
VARIOUS
ARIOUS OTHER WELDING
AND ALIGNMENT DEVICES
AVAILABLE
AILABLE
CAT
AT. NO. 2
Single Purpose HI-LO Gage
AUTO W.
W.S. TYPE GAGE
CAT
AT. NO. 6
To Check the Permissible
Tolerance of Convexity With the
To
new, improved Auto Weld Size
gage you can meet specication
for butt and llet type welds.
Redesigned gage is pocket size,
easy to use and has thumb screw
adjustment replacing old, hard
to operate rivet. Automatically
shown convexity and concavity
sizes have been predetermined
in accordance with American
Welding Society D1.1
W.T.P.
W.T.
P.S. TYPE GAGE
Measures .010 inch deep
undercut
CAT
AT. NO. 7
TOLERANCES +.0005 inches
Structural Welding Code D1.1,
Underrcut shall be no more than
.010 inches (.25mm) deep when
the weld is transverse to the
primary stress in the part that is
undercut.
CAT
AT. NO. 5
V-WAC Underc
rcut Gage
Also custom gages manufactured
on request.
ADJUSTABLE
ABLE FILLET
WELD GA
AGES
AG
CAT
AT. NO. 3
t For equal and unequal
legged llet welds
t Measures 15 different weld
sizes plus throat thickeness
CAMBRIDGE TYPE GAG

CAT
AT. NO. 4
t Angle of Preparation
APPR
ROVED BY AAR
SKEW-T WELD
t Excess Weld Metal
GAGE/CALCULAT
ATOR
t Depth of Undercut
CAT
AT.
T. NO. 9
t Depth of Pitting
t Replaces all other sets of gages
t Fillet Weld
W Throat Size
used to measure llet or groove
t Fillet Weld
W Length
welds in skewed members at 90O
t Outside Misalignment
t Handy compilation of math ematical relationships between leg
length, throats, skew angles and
inspection dimensions.
HI-LO WELDING GAG

AGES
CAT
AT. NO. 1
For internal misalign in pipe
welds in addition to 6 other crit cal, required measurements.
Patent No. 3,869,801

P.O. BOX 218 STEVENSVILLE, MICHIGAN 49127
P.
PHONE: 269/465-5750 FAX: 269/465-6385
E-mail: info@galgage.com
Website: www.galgage.com
Visa & Mastercard Accepted
7 P.
P C.
C FILLET TYPE GAGE
Accurate
CAT
AT.
T. NO. 8
ALL EDGES DEBURRED
ALL LETTERS AND CHARACTERS
LASER ETCHED
HANDY POCKET CASE
The G.A.L. Fillet Weld gage allows
fast, accurate measurement of 11
llet weld sizes: 1/8, 3/16, 1/4, 5/16,
3/8, 7/16, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 7/8, and 1
inch. Includes metric equivalents.
Determine either concave or convex
weld sizes.
Micro Welding Machine

Updated
The DC29 linear DC micro welding
machine offers control for small resistance welding applications. Its
2004000-A output makes the product useful for applications where
closed-loop feedback control, fast response times, and a controlled energy
waveform are required. It is especially
suited for small applications in the
to feature product videos. The catalog

can be viewed online.
CGWCamel Grinding Wheels
www.cgwcamel.com
(800) 4474248
Infrared Pyrometer Useful for

HeatDependent Processes
The ISR 6-TI Advanced, an industrial grade infrared pyrometer with thermal imaging capabilities, increases
control and optimization of manufacturing processes in metals, glass, and
other materials industries. The system
operates in a short wavelength for accurate temperature measurements between 700 and 1800C. The analog
video output signal is converted to
USB and fed to a PC using InfraWin
software, which generates a relative
thermal image from this signal. The
pyrometer paints a more-accurate picture for identifying potential issues
before they lead to problems that impact process performance, useful for
materials manufacturers running
heat-dependent processes.
LumaSense Technologies, Inc.
www.lumasenseinc.com
(800) 6310176
continued on page 29
www.aws.org
AWS CLADDING
CONFERENCE
May 1213, 2015 Minneapolis, Minn.
The use of cladding to economically protect products and structures from

corrosion and wear has advanced dramatically. Developments have taken
place in hot-wire weld cladding, roll bonding, explosive cladding, titanium
and nanocomposite materials, strip cladding, laser and electron beam
technologies, ultrasonics, electroslag cladding, additive manufacture
technologies, resistance cladding, and much more.
Join us in Minneapolis for this first-ever AWS conference on cladding,
and earn PDHs toward your AWS certification.
For more information, visit www.aws.org/conferences
PRODUCT & PRINT

SPOTLIGHT
continued from page 27
electronic component and battery

pack markets. Featuring single-phase
input and dual-pulse schedules, it offers a controlled repeatable waveform
and fast rise time of less than 200 microseconds. This model is a successor
to DC25 and offers updates, including
improved waveform control and faster
rise time, as well as side-mounted buss
bars with threaded inserts for mounting weld cables, simplified rear panel
I/O connections, and an on/off switch
on the front panel.
Miyachi Unitek Corp.
www.miyachiunitek.com
(626) 3035676
Air Impact Wrenches Feature

Twin Hammers
Podcast Questions Common

Views on Manufacturing
The latest installment in the companys podcast series, Why American
and Canadian Manufacturing Arent
Dead, interviewed Joe Atikian, economist and author of Industrial Shift: The
Structure of the New World Economy. In
the podcast, Atikian, who challenges
common assumptions about manufacturing around the world, examines the
www.aws.org
historical and structural factors contributing to Mexicos manufacturing

strength, comparing the countrys
growth today to the transition experienced by a now-developed Asian manufacturing powerhouse. He also explores how industrial output in the
U.S. and Canada has doubled since the
1970s, why automation is more responsible for shifts in modern manufacturing than outsourcing, and the
competitive advantages of Mexican
2015 WELDING
EDUCATION, SKILLS,
AND CERTIFICATION
CONFERENCE
July 1416, 2015 Chattanooga, Tenn.
The companys new industrial air

impact wrenches are engineered for
use in applications ranging from general assembly and plant maintenance
to shipbuilding and heavy-equipment
manufacturing. The wrenches are
available in three series. The CWC premium composite series delivers a combination of productivity, ergonomics,
and durability. The CWM premium
metal series is useful for heavy-duty
applications. The CV value composite
series is for general industrial applications, repair, and maintenance. The
wrenches feature a twin-hammer impacting mechanism with triple-cycle
heat treatment to ensure product performance and longevity.
Cleco
www.clecotools.com
(800) 8455629
This years conference is structured to provide an integrated and comprehensive

overview on AWS standards, services, and best practices for welding career
pathway education and credentialing. It is especially valuable for education and
training institutions that are developing workforce supplier and testing services
with industry and their industrial partners. The American Welding Society and
leaders from top training institutions, welding technology suppliers, and industry
will help you gain new insights, share best practices, exchange ideas, and solve
problems specific to your technical program and your local needs. This years
conference will also feature a workshop to promote articulation along welding
pathways and new opportunities for apprentice programs for modern metal
manufacturing.
By attending this conference, youll:
Learn from industry experts about how theyve handled their biggest challenges and opportunities.
Influence colleagues and extend your professional network by sharing experiences.
Discover what trends are shaping the field of skill training.
Earn PDHs toward your AWS recertification.
Who should attend: Technical program directors, community college program managers and
instructors, corporate trainers, high school instructors, state policymakers, veterans advocates, and
others who want to develop high-impact welding education and training programs, promote careers
in welding, prepare personnel for modern manufacturing, and solve the shortage of welders.
For more information, visit www.aws.org/conferences

manufacturing. The podcast audio file

can be downloaded at the website listed below.
Entrada Group
www.entradagroup.com/podcasts
(210) 8288300
Gun Developed for Resistance

Spot Welding of Light Metals
The company has developed a second generation weld gun for its
DeltaSpot resistance spot welding

process. The gun has improved serviceability and technology for shorter
production stoppages, enabling operating costs to be reduced so that light
metal sheeting can be joined more cost
effectively. It includes a newly configured base body and reworked arms
and drive motors. The reeling and unreeling device for the process tape,
welding gun adjustment, and servoelectric main drive are integrated on
the base body. The transformer and
THE 9TH INTERNA

ATIONAL
TIO
T
SEMINAR & CONFERENCE ON
INTERNATIONAL
rectifier are shifted closer to the electrodes for less conductivity loss.
Fronius International GmbH
www.fronius.com
(877) 3766487
Wheels Provide Aluminum

Oxide Cutting System for Steel
and Ferrous Metals
ADVANCES IN
RESISTANCE WELDING
April 13 15, 2016
Miami, FL
Inventions and innovative developments have enabled new possibilities

for joining challenging materials such as aluminum alloys and advanced
high-strength steels with welding and adhesive technologies. Resistance
welding remains one of thee most ef
fficient
f
and competitive joining
efficient
technologies in automotive, aerospace, electrical, white goods, and other
industries.
Since 2000, in order to keep you current with technologies available in
the field of resistance welding, a biennial series of international
seminars on Advances in Resistance Welding
Welding
e
co
has been conducted
by
SW
WA
ANTEC, now joined by co-sponsors AW
S and R
W
WM .
WMA
SWANTEC,
AWS
RWMA.
Join us in April 2016 in beautiful Miami.
Topics
T
opics
o
and events include:
Joining new materials and complex joints
Lightweight structures
Dissimilar materials joining
Innovations in control technologies
Optimizations of computer technology
Technology
Technology and software demonstrations
Receptions and boat tour (spouses welcome)
Welding Society
American Welding
For more information, visit www

w..aws.org/conferences
.aws.org/confer
www.aws.org/conferences
An upgrade to the Gemini RightCut

Wheels provides an aluminum oxide
(A/O) choice for cutting steel and ferrous metals. They are 100% A/O abrasive, infused with a new bond technology and process, for a thinner wheel
design and low kerf loss. Strong, extrathin 0.045-in. wheels result in less material waste. They also provide a clean,
straight, burr-free quality cut. In addition, the wheels require less pressure
while cutting. They provide a system
for portable, guarded right angle
grinders and are useful for metal slotting and cut-off applications, including
on bolts and studs, angle iron, tubing,
and sheet metal in many materials
ranging from carbon to stainless steel.
Type 01 (4- to 7-in.) and Type 27 (4- to
9-in.) wheels are available.
Norton | SaintGobain
www.nortonindustrial.com
(254) 9182313
Multiprocess Inverters Meant

for ExtremeUse Applications
voltage selection with no mechanical

changeover enables the unit to operate
off single- or three-phase power,
208230/400/460 VAC. ArcMaster
welding machines control the welding
process using six microcontrollers
that monitor current and voltage at
1.5 million times per second. Further,
they use MICOR (MIcrocontroller
COntrolled Resonant) inverter
technology.
Tweco, an ESAB brand
www.esabna.com
(800) 3722123
HowTo Book Written to Hook

People on Welding
The ArcMaster 401MST (GMASMA-lift GTA) and 401S (SMA-lift
GTA) power sources have a 10- to
400-A output and provide useful welding performance, especially with cellulose 6010 electrodes, plus GMA and
flux-cored wires (401MST). A case protects the units from a 3-ft drop; also,
the units measure 16.5 8.3 17.7 in.
The 401MST weighs 54 lb while the
401S weighs 46 lb. Automatic primary
Full-Bore Welding by Mark Prosser

and Bryan Fuller introduces welding to
beginners and reinforces welding techniques to anyone interested in welding. The how-to book gives tips and
tools needed for projects such as redesigning a basic two-wheel bicycle,
taking steps toward designing and fabricating a car or motorcycle, or fixing a
garden tractor. The first chapter, titled
Wisdom, introduces the artistic and

scientific process of welding.
FullBore Publishing
www.fullborepublishing.com
The Use of Capacitor Discharge

Welding Is on the Rise
BY NIGEL SCOTCHMER
Capacitor discharge
welding is showing
advantages for
welding hot-stamped
boron steels
The aerospace industry uses electric spark

deposition, a form of capacitor discharge
(CD) welding, to repair the tips of turbine
engine blades. (Photo courtesy of Rolls
Royce plc.)
he automotive industry in North America has been abuzz recently

with talk about capacitor discharge (CD) welding. The main reason
is that the light-weighting necessary to achieve the U.S. Corporate
Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, combined with the need for
crash-testing robustness, has led to the adoption of increasing amounts
of hot-stamped boron steels in the manufacture of automobiles (Refs. 1,
2) Figs. 1, 2. These steels are often difficult to resistance weld efficiently as the strength of the weld achieved is not always easy to measure
(simple chisel testing doesnt work well with such hard material), the
welding force is high (often previously used welding guns now have insufficient force), and the typically uneven aluminum-silicon (AlSi) coating
on the steel is particularly aggressive to shortening electrode life. Projec-
Fig. 1 Tooling used in a CD welding machine. (Photo courtesy Kapkon GmbH.)
tion welding of forged projections into

the substrate is especially troublesome, largely because helpful literature is limited, and welding standards
are nonexistent. In such cases, CD
welding has proved to be efficacious in
welding these boron steels in both the
as-received from the mill and the
hot stamped condition (Ref. 3),
while being especially effective for
fasteners.
The idea behind CD welding is the
relatively slow storage of energy that
is then released very quickly, permitting extremely high currents in milliseconds. Capacitor discharge welding
has been widely used in many countries for many years, especially where
electricity is expensive or the electrical
grid itself is unreliable. In fact, its use
is increasing in many applications for
what used to be regular alternating
current (AC) or mid-frequency direct
curret (MFDC) applications (Ref. 4).
The rapid release of energy has a
number of advantages. No cooling water is needed as the short time of energy flow ensures the adjoining material
is not heated. Beside making electrodes last longer, this has the accompanying benefits of not annealing,
bending, deforming, and, often, not
even marking the material being welded. For resistance projection welding,
the short current rise time is ideal for
creating the weld nugget(s) before the
collapse of the projections is complete.
In addition, machine setup and the
training of operators is relatively easy
and quick.
The aerospace industry is increasingly using a form of CD welding,
called electric spark deposition (ESD),
to repair the tips of turbine engine
blades for clearance to maintain compression pressures in combustion
chambers (see lead photo). As these
blades turn, frictional contact wear
can increase clearances between the
blades and the nacelle, reducing com-
pression pressure in the combustion

chamber and increasing fuel consumption. At the same time, to reduce fuel
consumption, newer engines have
higher compression pressures and
higher temperatures, requiring more
expensive materials and, consequently, more expensive engine components. When the blades wear, ESD can
be used to build the weld metal up to
original dimensions without replacing
Fig. 2 CD welded parts showing no

marking after welding. (Photo courtesy
Kapkon GmbH.)
The idea behind CD

welding is the relatively
slow storage of energy
that is then released very
quickly, permitting
extremely high currents
in milliseconds.
the entire blade. Since ESD welds have
no measurable heat-affected zone,
they do not alter the microstructure of
the adjoining or base material, thus
permitting repaired blades to have the
same mechanical properties as the
original ones. With new jet engines
performance sometimes guaranteed
for 20 years, maintaining the advertised frugal fuel consumption figures
and minimizing maintenance and repair costs is essential.
An aspect of CD welding is the increased ability to weld dissimilar metals. One such example is Huys Industries ESD welding of a titanium carbide- (TiC-) based cermet to copper alloys such as the copper-chromium zirconium (CuCrZr) used in resistance
welding electrodes (Ref. 5) Fig. 3.
The military also frequently uses ESD;
both as a replacement for hexavalent
chromium coatings and as a battlefield
repair on submarines and even combat
tanks. Components repaired in situ
can be as diverse as submarine steering and diving control rods fabricated
from K-Monel, Abrams tank M1A1
cradles fabricated from 4130 steel, and
helical gear shafts (Ref. 6). Many of
these welds can be done in air, without
shielding gases (Ref. 7).
Why does capacitor discharge work
so well for projection welding of hotstamped steels? Resistance projection
welding employs some of the charac-
Fig. 3 A benefit of CD welding is its

ability to weld dissimilar metals such as
the TiC-based cermet to copper in these
resistance welding electrodes. (Photo
courtesy Huys Industries Ltd.)
Fig. 4 Graph of the heating process for CD welding.
teristics of hot-forge welding, which

has been around since the Bronze Age,
and the metallurgy hasnt changed.
Heated metal is pressed by force, and
as it cools quickly it forms a finegrained microstructure and a good
metallurgical bond. Because of the
forging aspect and movement of the
weld parts together during the weld,
the applied weld force must be very
carefully maintained as a follow-up
force to yield this fine microstructure.
This force must also be as evenly distributed as possible across the projections to promote an even collapse.
The process typically involves energy being fed from a charged rack of capacitors by a thyristor to one or more
transformers. The charging time for
the capacitors is up to 1.5 s, and welding times are between 2 and 10 ms.
When the capacitors are instantly discharged, the welding current and the
temperature at the welding joint rise
rapidly, and with high contact resistance of the AlSi coating on hot-
stamped steels, the fast up-slope

heats only the projection area to the
melting point Fig. 4. In fact, another advantage of CD welding is the ability to have a high secondary voltage of
up to 45 V. This higher voltage helps
crack isolating coatings and assists in
reliable welding. Because of the thermal inertia, the joint is welded before
the material around it is warmed by
conductive heating. As a result, only
the projections of the fasteners exhibit
noticeable heat effects. The speed of
the secondary current rise is the main
feature of CD welding. Incidentally,
this rapid and localized heating has
given CD welding the nickname as a
cold welding process. Of course, focusing energy to the actual welding
joint means less energy is lost and
there is the ability to gain higher power efficiency. Lets look at some typical
CD welded threaded fasteners for hotstamped boron sheet steel in an automobile to see under which conditions
it works so well.
Fig. 5 Automotive B-pillar and closeup in hot-stamped boron steel. (Photo courtesy
Kapkon GmbH.)
For a typical hot-stamped steel

such as 22MnB5, a precut blank is
heated to about 950C in an oven for
up to 10 min after which it is formed
and rapidly quenched in a press die
Fig. 5. A typical hot-stamped steel begins as a steel with good formability
conductivity, which is affected by iron

atoms diffusing into the coating during the baking process. The metallographic photograph in Fig. 6 illustrates
the unevenness, cracking, and porosity
of the AlSi coating after hot stamping
that can easily lead to unpredictable
Fig. 6 The unevenness, cracking, and porosity of the AlSi coating after hot stamping can
lead to unpredictabel of welding results. (Hou et al., University of Waterloo.)
after annealing, which, after austenitizing and subsequent die quenching,

forms martensite, drastically increasing the hardness and strength of the
part. To prevent scaling of the steel after its heat treatment, a coating of AlSi
is applied. The AlSi coating has low
welding results even with consistent

welding parameters as individual
welds may have differing initial
resistivities.
Generally, a pulsed welding schedule is used to weld hot-stamped steels,
and regular spot welding works well
without major problems, as relatively

longer welding times are appropriate
and manageable with traditional spot
welding equipment. However, projection welding of fasteners like spacers,
screws, nuts, and thread-bushes is
problematic from a production stability point of view as a result of the effects of the AlSi coating. Faced with
quality issues, some companies have
resorted to trying to spot weld fasteners prior to hot stamping, removing
the AlSi coating at weld positions by
manual grinding after hot stamping,
or even employing more expensive
welding processes, such as arc welding,
to ensure quality is maintained.
However, higher costs from additional handling or ancillary processes
quickly bring the wrath of accountants. Capacitor discharge welding can
significantly reduce costs, increase
production rates, and, as has been previously noted, improve quality and
consistency. Beside being quick, easy,
and requiring little training or setup,
the CD process is relatively foolproof if
certain fastener design characteristics
are followed.
As a rule, high projections on the
fastener are better, as the AlSi coating
delays the upslope, thus allowing the
projection to be pressed down before
the melting temperature is achieved.
In addition, it is a good idea to have as
much distance as possible between the
projection and any thread. This is because the heating process cracks the
AlSi coating and there is risk of weld
spatter. Centering rings or pilots are
generally to be avoided as an improper
contact can lead to poor balancing of
the welding energy that can lead to
unreliable weld strength. If a centering
ring is required, segmenting the ring is
helpful. Likewise, a wider contact
flange is useful to control the rapid
heatup of CD welding without running
the risk of overheating the thread. Flat
contact areas of the projection are
helpful (as opposed to sharp or pointed projection ends), as the strength of
the steel will not be affected by the
welding force. Electrode material is
usually a Class 3 material since its increased hardness better resists hard
AlSi dust. Finally, firm jig and machine
structures are necessary for weld repeatability and consistency (Refs. 8,
9). An optimal nut, an M8, is shown in
Fig. 7.
The increasing computerization of
welding control is leading many com-
Fig. 7 An example of an optimal fastener for CD welding to hot-stamped

steels.
panies to adopt in-line monitoring as a

less expensive and safer method of ensuring product quality. A typical system records the voltage, current, resistance, force, and deflection Fig.
8. Samples are first welded and manually tested (pull-out methods are recommended vs. torque testing) to confirm the chosen parameters, and the
references measured and fixed. The
software then calculates the average,
determines the range of all the curves,
and sets limits, documenting all production and exceptions for review
and retention. Quality is maintained
as references are predetermined
and tests are neither random nor
subjective.
In conclusion, since dissimilar and emerging materials are likely to be used

more frequently in the future, the use of CD welding
with its unique rapid welding process, assured repeatability, and relative ease
of use will continue to grow.
As Gould (Ref. 10) noted,
the potential use of supercapacitors for general resistance welding applications
will only increase the extent
to which CD welding is reviewed and considered in
the years ahead. WJ
Fig. 8 An example of the reports from a quality-tracking software. (Photo courtesy of

Harms & Wende GmbH & Co. KG.)
References
1. www.epa.gov/fueleconomy.regulations.htm.
2. Von Wurtemberg, M. J. 1994.
Lightweight materials for automotive
applications. I&SM 21(8): 1121.
3. Hou, J., Chan, K., Scotchmer, N.,
Zhou, N., and Gerlich, A. P. 2014. Insitu tempering of hot stamped
martensitic steel. Proceedings of AWS
Detroit Sections Sheet Metal Welding
Conference XVI, Livonia, Mich.
4. Lolli, A. 2014. Optimisation of
the spot welder electric absorption
thus improving the welding process
quality and reducing TCO. VIIIth International Seminar in Advances in Resistance Welding. Baveno, Italy.
5. U.S. Patent 7,538,294 B2.
6. U.S. Dept. of Defense. 2006. Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP), Final Report,
Electrospark Deposition for Depot- and
Field-Level Component Repair and Replacement of Hard Chromium Plating.

7. Tang, S. K. 2009. The process
fundamentals and parameters of electro-spark deposition. Thesis, University of Waterloo.
8. Gomes, G. F., Vieville, P., and
Durrenberger, L. Dynamic experimental study of spot welders and their influence on weld quality by modal
analysis technique. VIIIth International
Seminar in Advances in Resistance
Welding. Baveno, Italy.
9. Mikno, Z. 2014. Analysis of projection welding in relation to the nonparallelism of electrodes. VIIIth International Seminar in Advances in Resistance Welding. Baveno, Italy.
10. Gould, J., and Chang, H. 2012.
Estimations of compatibility of supercapacitors for use as power sources for
resistance welding guns. Proceedings of
the AWS Detroit Sections Sheet Metal
Welding Conference XV, Livonia, Mich.
NIGEL SCOTCHMER (nscotchmer@huysindustries.com) is president, Huys Industries, Ltd., Weston,

Ont., Canada.
HO
MA
S
INE
T
LA
BY
E
PWHT of
Thick Ferrous
Castings
Fig. 1 Dendrites formed as steel solidified.

The penny provides size comparison.
A review of phase transformations, along with the basics

of heat treatment, is provided
o understand postweld heat

treatment (PWHT) of steel, you
need to know the upper and lower critical temperatures for steel. Why?
Looking at the change of steel crystal
structures and its polymorphism at
changing temperatures supplies valuable insight.
This article addresses the following
areas: making sure the casting and/or
weld is at temperature with respect to
thick sections, the importance of time
at temperature during different cycles,
lag time between oven air temperatures, the castings surface vs. centerline of thick sections, and the need to
avoid temper embrittlement.
Steel Crystalizes When

It Solidifies
When steel solidifies, it solidifies as
dendritic crystals. The photo in Fig. 1
shows dendrites in steel.
A scanning electron microscope
(SEM) photomicrograph of that same
sample, but at higher magnification, is
shown in Fig. 2.
Fibonacci numbers are at work in
natures forms. Just like water can be
melted and frozen repeatedly, steel can
be heated to form a face centered cubic
(FCC) crystal structure and then
cooled to reform a body centered cubic
(BCC) structure. The ability to do this

is called polymorphism.
Iron-based steel alloys can be cycled
up and down in temperature to grow
and regrow crystals of FCC or austenite crystals (hotter than the upper
critical temperature) and BCC or ferrite crystals (below the lower critical
temperature).
Table 1 shows the three solid phases of iron (Fe), their various names,
and temperatures where they exist.
Part of an iron-carbon phase diagram (the part where steel forms) is
shown in Fig. 3. This shows the effect
of carbon on Fe. The upper critical
temperature line is labeled as A3. The
lower critical temperature line is

labeled as A1. Also, A2 is the Curie
line above which magnetic properties
cease.
Heat Treatment Grows New

Crystals to Make Steel
Strong and Tough
As-cast dendrites are brittle. They
even look brittle, as seen in Fig. 1.
Heat treatment uses temperature,
time, and cooling methods to grow
new crystals that will replace the brittle as-cast dendrites.
Carbon is a small atom compared to
iron (Fe). As a result, carbon is the
most influential element on Fe. Because the carbon atom is small, it can
fit in between (interstitially) the Fe
atoms in the FCC structure called
austenite. Two percent carbon can fit
into the austenite. Only 0.007% carbon can fit into ferrite, the BCC form
of Fe.
Cast steel typically has a carbon of
0.25%. At 1700F, when the steels
crystal structure is FCC, the 0.25%
carbon fits nicely into the crystal
structure. Upon cooling to room temperature, the FCC crystals are consumed by newly grown BCC crystals
that only hold 0.007% carbon.
When ferrite crystals grow
from austenite, any excess carbon
(> 0.007%) will form iron carbides.
The resulting layers of ferrite and iron
carbide create a striped (lamellar)
structure. This striped structure is
named pearlite. It is a tiny composite
material of soft ferrite and hard iron
carbide. The microstructure of carbon
steel is a mixture of ferrite and
pearlite.
For example, a carbon steel casting
typically has a 0.25% carbon (reference Fig. 3). Steel can be heated to the
lower critical, 1333F (723C). At this
temperature, the ferrite (BCC) begins
to grow austenite (FCC) crystals. The
Fig. 2 Ferrous as-cast dendrites look like ferns in this photomicrograph. The bright
line in the lower right-hand corner is a strand of hair inserted for scale.
FCC crystals grow off of and consume

the original BCC crystal. The FCC consumes the BCC as the temperature rises. Once the temperature exceeds the
upper critical (this temperature varies
with carbon content, see Fig. 3), all of
the crystals even the iron carbide
dissolves are incorporated in FCC
crystals. This is an austenitize cycle.
Once the steel is austenite, it can be
cooled at various rates to make the
steel hard (fast cooling) or soft (air
cooling). Alloy steels can be cooled fast
enough to form a metastable crystal
called martensite. This crystal is a
body centered tetragonal (BCT), which
is very hard. The hard metal can then
be tempered (heated to an intermedi-
ate temperature below the lower critical temperature) to soften the martensite. The hotter the temper cycle, the
softer the metal.
Low-temperature PWHT cycles will
not form austenite. They are essentially temper cycles. They soften heataffected zones (HAZ) and welds that
may have cooled fast enough to form
martensite. Since fast cooling indicates stress developed during cooling,
a PWHT cycle is often called a stress
relief. A PWHT is a cycle performed after welding to soften the HAZ.
If during PWHT, the temperature
were to exceed the lower critical and
create even a few austenite crystals,
the heat treatment of the steel would
Table 1 Various Names of the Phases of Fe

Formal Name of Phase
Crystal Structure
Common Name
Temperature Range for Pure Fe
Delta Iron
Body centered cubic (BCC)
Forms at very high

temperature so is not
used in heat treatment
2802 to 2552F
Gamma Iron
Alpha Iron
Face centered cubic (FCC)

Body centered cubic (BCC)
Austenite
Ferrite
2552 to 1670F
1670F and lower
be compromised. The steel would need

to be fully reaustenitized and tempered
to bring back the mechanical properties. If weld metal were in the casting,
a procedure qualification record (PQR)
would need to show that the weld metal can endure and flourish after the
reaustenitized and temper.
Weld consumables are designed for
many situations. Most are intended to
form mechanical properties upon solidification and/or after PWHT. A few
consumables are nonheat treatable.
This means the weldment loses its
strength if a phase change occurs.
Avoid going over the A1 temperature
for these weld consumables.
PWHT Methods
The PWHT can be low-temperature
cycles that occur below the lower critical or alternately full austenitize and
temper dependent upon specification.
Table 2 is a guide to PWHT for different steel grades.
At the Bradken Tacoma foundry in
Tacoma, Wash. a job shop that
processes large (2000 to 50,000-lb)
castings with thick sections and produces castings for several industries
made from different ferrous alloys
high-quality/specification castings
typically get a low-temperature PWHT.
In other industries, a full austenitize
and temper are routine.
Fig. 3 Iron-carbon phase diagram. Cast carbon steel contains pearlite and ferrite.
The two phases of Fe used in heat treating steel are gamma iron (austenite) and alpha iron (ferrite). A3 is the upper critical temperature line. A1 (1333F) is the lower critical temperature line.
Table 2 PWHT Cycles for Various Alloy Classes of Steel Produced at the Bradken Tacoma Foundry. The Alternate Cycles for
Steel Cannot be Used For Nonheat Treatable Weld Consumables.
Material
Typical PWHT
Alternates
Carbon Steel
Below lower critical a low

temperature cycle
AQ + T
Low- and High-Alloy Steel

temperature cycle
AQ + T, WQ +T , use of intercritical cycle
Martensitic Stainless Steel

temperature cycle
AQ + T, use of intercritical cycle to

achieve extra soft metal
Austenitic Stainless Steel
1) None when low

temperature heat input is used.
2) Solution anneal e.g. 2000F WQ.
Duplex Stainless Steel
1) None when low

temperature heat input is used.
2) Solution anneal e.g. 2000F WQ.
AQ = air quench
WQ = Water quench
T = Temper
Stress relief 575F for dimensional

stability during machining
Monitoring Oven Temperature

At Tacoma, gas-fired furnaces are
used. They are referred to as ovens to
keep from being confused with melting furnaces. Heat treating is like baking because the product is more useful
afterward. As in baking, temperature
is important. When heat treating castings, the temperature of the metal being heat treated needs to be known,
not just the ovens air temperature.
A typical heat treat oven is
equipped with two thermocouples that
protrude from the oven wall. They register air temperature, control cycle
heating, and act as a safety device that
will shut down the oven if the temperature exceeds a predetermined level.
Neither thermocouple is monitoring
the temperature of the casting.
A castings temperature is monitored by attached thermocouple(s)
(TC) on its surface. Typically, a TC is
attached to the thickest section. Depending upon the size and shape of
the casting, more TC may be added.
Attaching thermocouples to a casting
is time consuming, and the TC wire is
another cost.
When heating thick sections, there
is a lag time between the castings surface and the sections center. Steel conducts heat quite well. The lag time was
defined in an experiment where thermocouples were attached to the sur-
face and center of a 16-in. cube of carbon steel. The cube weighed about
1200 lb. Temperature readings were
taken every second as the cube was
heated from ambient to 1750F.
The lag in Fig. 4 between the sur-
Fibonacci numbers are

at work in natures forms.
Just like water can be
melted and frozen
repeatedly, steel can be
heated to form a face
centered cubic (FCC)
crystal structure and then
cooled to reform a body
centered cubic structure.
face and centerline is about 40 min.
This experiment was repeated four
times in different ovens, but still using
the 16-in. cube, with similar results.
The oven thermocouples that monitor the air temperature reached
1750F in under an hour, while it took
the surface of the 16-in. cube nearly 4
h with the center following 40 min
behind.
The most significant lag is between
the casting and air during heating. The
casting heated at a rate of about
350F/h. By imposing a ramp-up rate
Fig. 4 Heat-up rate to 1750F for a gas fired oven. The red line is the temperature of
the surface. The blue line is the temperature of the center for the 16-in.-thick cast
steel cube. The cube weighed about 1200 lb. The oven controller put the oven into
low fire as the temperature approached 1750F. The lag time between the surface
and center is about 40 min during the cycle.
of 350F/h on heating cycles, the

whole casting (including the center) is
assured to reach temperature.
Time at Temperature
A heat treating rule of thumb is to
run a cycle for 1 h/in. of maximum
metal thickness. If the 16-in. cube was
run per this rule, using the ovens TCs,
the casting would have been at temperature for (16 4 = 12) 12 h. This is
more than enough time to austenitize
the steel.
If the steel had been only 2 in.
thick, the temperature would have
been held 2 h, and the rule would have
failed to allow the casting to get to
temperature. Therefore, to assure that
the casting is at temperature at least
an hour, the oven TCs need to be
at temperature at least 4 h for a
minimum.
When performing a low-temperature PWHT cycle, many standards require the part be PWHT based upon
weld thickness. For thinner sections
(< 4 in.), this rule may suffice. However, a casting having a 10-in.-thick section and a -in. weld will need more
than h at temperature (per oven TC)
for the casting (and weld) to reach
temperature.
As shown in Fig. 4, a thick casting
acts like a heat sink. The PWHT cycles
need to run a minimum of 4 h, unless
attached TCs are used. Another way to
assure the part gets to temperature is
to impose a ramp-up rate. Using both
a 4-h minimum and 350F/h ramp-up
rate is even better when TCs are not
used.
The PWHT cycles are often run using attached TC. A standard such as
MIL-STD-278F, Military Standard:
Welding and Casting, requires steel to
be heated and cooled at slow rates, e.g.
100F/h. The original purpose of these
slow ramp-up and down cycles may be
lost in time. If it was to assure that the
steel reaches temperature, then attaching thermocouples would have
been a faster way to perform the cycle.
These slow ramp-up and down PWHT
cycles can last for over a day for some
castings. If the purpose of the slow
rates is to reduce stress, then it misses
the mark. Temperature is what lowers
stress/hardness, and the standard
does not address a measurement for
stress.
Manufacturers are running these
cycles per MIL-STD-278F, and yet the
cycles purpose is unclear. These types

of standards need revision with clean
steel and modern welding techniques
considered. Castings are isotropic
(crystals are equiaxed) while wrought
products are anisotropic (crystals are
stretched in one or more directions).
This author believes castings do not
have the same innate stresses as
wrought products. Castings should not
be held to the same stress relief alleviation as wrought products.
Beware Ramp Rates Might

Create Temper Embrittlement
Most of the specifications that require slow ramp-up and down rates
will have the rate monitored between
800F and the PWHT temperature. A
few lower that original temperature to
600F and at least one is 300F. The
Blue Brittle zone, where temper embrittlement occurs, is roughly between
700900F or 300700F as sources
disagree.
Tacoma heat treat procedures are
written with 700900F treated as
the temper embrittlement zone (varies
with alloy). By slowing the
heating/cooling rate during this temperature range, temper embrittlement
is allowed to occur in the steel. With
alloys made for improved toughness,
these cycles are doing harm. Company
specific stress relieve cycles with slow
ramp rates exist. Review your specifications to avoid time spent in the temper embrittlement zone.
Conclusion
The best way to know a castings
temperature is to attach a thermocouple to its surface.
If attached thermocouples are unwarranted, allow a 350F/h for an
overall ramp rate up to the PWHT
temperature. Also, allow the time at
temperature to be a minimum of
4 h. This will assure that the center
of the casting is heated and tempered,
too. WJ
ELAINE THOMAS
(Ethomas@bradken.com) is the
director of metallurgy at Bradken
Tacoma, Tacoma, Wash.
Based on a presentation at the
AWS Heat Treatment Conference,
August 12, 13, 2014, Dallas, Tex.
Preheat Misunderstood,
Often Overlooked, and
Sometimes Misapplied
The benefits of preheating and
methods for applying it are presented
reheat, in and of itself, is oftentimes considered rather mundane. It involves heating pieces
to be welded to some temperature
above their ambient temperatures prior to and during welding. Modern
codes usually require some level of
preheat with the application criteria
being material dependent. The needs
for preheat, benefits, and ramifications of improper implementation
are presented with the aid of actual
examples.
Process
more time for hydrogen that may be

present to diffuse away from the weld
and adjacent base metal to avoid
hydrogen-induced cracking.
Remove contaminants.
The amount of preheat, other than
via a code minimum requirements, can
be determined by one or more of the
following approaches:
Calculator
Evaluation of carbon equivalent
Evaluation of cracking parameter
Preheating involves heating pieces

to be welded to some temperature
above their ambient temperatures prior to and during welding. Construction and post construction codes often
require preheat. However, under certain conditions it may be possible to
use other alternatives to preheat.
Whether preheat is required or not,
preheat can provide any combination
of the following benefits:
Reduce shrinkage stresses in the
weld and adjacent base metal, especially in highly restrained joints.
Provide a slower rate of cooling
through the critical temperature
range, preventing excessive hardening
and reduced ductility of both the weld
and heat-affected zone (HAZ).
Provide a slower rate of cooling
through the 400F range, allowing
Evaluation via the spark test

Rule of thumb
Preheat temperature ranges are often offered to accommodate a variety
of groove geometries and restraint
conditions. Although minimum temperatures are offered in many codes, it
is quite possible that much lower temperatures would be adequate in some
situations while in others much higher
temperatures are necessary.
Calculator
A variety of preheat calculators
have been available over the course of
history. Most take the form of a linear
or circular slide rule where the base
material and thickness are identified
and a prediction for preheat temperature results.
BY WILLIAM F. NEWELL JR.
Carbon Equivalent
Carbon equivalent (CE) may be
used as a means for determining the
actual necessity for preheat and the
level required. Where
CE = C +
( Mn + Si) + (Cr + Mo + V ) +
( Ni + Cu)
15
( wt %)
(Refs. 1, 2)
CE 0.45%; preheat is normally

optional
0.45 =< CE <= 0.60%; preheat 200
to 400F (100200C)
CE > 0.60%; preheat 400 to 700F
(200350C)
Where CE >0.5, delaying final nondestructive examination (NDE) for at
least 24 h should be considered to
identify any delayed cracking.
Cracking Parameter
Where carbon content is equal to or
less than 0.17 wt-% or where highstrength steels are involved, the Ito &
Bessyo parameter cracking measurement (Pcm) can be used. This approach provides a more accurate prediction for when preheat will be needed, when preheat is mandatory, and at
what recommended temperature.
Where:
Si Mn + Cu + Cr
+
+
30
20
Ni Mo V
+
+ + 5B (wt-%)
60 15 10
Pcm = C +
(Ref. 3)
qualified procedures are used, heat

that is transferred to the mass of the
assembly may be balanced by the welding heat input, resulting in the affected metal being heated up to or beyond
the minimum preheat requirement,
therefore permitting relaxed application of preheat from external means.
Note that ranges and imprecise
conversions (F toC) have been used
herein. This is intentional. Preheating
is not an exact science. In many situations, it is not unusual to continue
raising the preheat temperature until a
problem, such as cracking, goes away.
Conversely, success is often achieved
even though lower than recommended
or code required temperatures in a given application have been utilized.
Implementation
Implementation techniques should
be carefully controlled to avoid the
problems that preheat would be employed to mitigate. Welding processes
and consumables that are less likely to
introduce hydrogen should be chosen
over other options. Certain techniques
can minimize or reduce residual stresses. Careful monitoring should be done
to ensure that methods are employed
properly. The following describe or are
important for successful implementation of these techniques.
Welding Groove Geometry

and Technique
Fig. 1 Electrical resistance heating (top) and induction heating (bottom; coils moved
away to illustrate setup) preheat examples.
Pcm 0.15%; preheat is normally

optional
% < Pcm < 0.260.28%; preheat
200 400F (100200C)
Pcm > 0.260.28%; preheat
400700F (200350C)
Spark Test
The spark test used for decades offers a means for assessing the level of
carbon in carbon steels. The higher
the carbon or finer the sparks, the
more preheat is needed. This method,
albeit imprecise, does provide a
simple means for determining what
relative level of preheat temperature
is required.
Rule of Thumb
Another imprecise yet effective
method for choosing preheat temperature is to use 100F (50C) of preheat
temperature for every 10 points (0.10
wt-%) of carbon. For example, if the
carbon content is 0.25 wt-%, then a
temperature of 250F (125C) may be
adequate or at least a good place to
start.
Considerations such as the presence of nearby coatings or other components can make the preheat required by the original construction
code inadvisable or impractical to apply. However, if welding heat inputs
near the maximum allowed by the
The technique used during welding

has a significant effect on shrinkage,
resulting residual stresses, controlling
heat input, and avoiding cracking
issues.
Short vs. long beads typically minimize longitudinal shrinkage. Back
stepping or special sequencing to reduce residual stresses may need to be
employed.
Control or minimize heat input.
Stringer beads with minor oscillation
vs. wide weave beads should be used.
Minimizing Cracking
Crater and weld bead cracking
can be minimized or eliminated by
implementing proper workmanship
techniques.
1) Weld beads with round cross sections vs. thin, wide beads should be
deposited to minimize cracking.
2) Abrupt start/stops should be
avoided. Use up/down slope techniques with both process manipulation and bead shaping or via electronic
means with the welding power source.
3) Sufficient material should be deposited to avoid cracking from shrinkage and normal construction influences. A good rule of thumb to avoid
cracking from insufficient weld metal
deposited (and required in many construction codes) is a minimum of 38-in.
(10 mm) or 25% of the weld groove
thickness.
Preheat Methods
Preheating may be conducted with
flame (air-fuel or oxyfuel), electrical
resistance, or electrical induction
methods in both the shop and field.
Regardless of the method, heating
should be uniform and through thickness unless otherwise specified. Figure
1 shows preheating setups using electrical resistance (sans insulation, to be
applied later) and induction.
Preheat Monitoring
A variety of devices are available for
measuring and monitoring temperatures. The component or piece being
welded should be preheated to allow
the heat to soak into the material.
Where possible, this should be monitored and validated. Monitoring the
surface temperature a predetermined

distance away from the weld edge (one
inch is typical) is normally adequate
for most applications. It is never acceptable to make or take readings that
would result in contamination of the
weld groove.
Temperature-Indicating
Crayons
These crayons or pencil-like devices
are designed to melt at specific temperatures. This method can be used as
a simple and economical way of determining that a minimum temperature
has been achieved, i.e., the crayon
melts. One limitation is that the temperature of the component above the
melting temperature of the crayon is
unknown. Where excessive temperature is a concern, multiple crayons
with different temperatures should be
employed.
Electrical/Electronic
Temperature Monitoring
For preheat and welding operations, instantaneous devices such as
contact pyrometers or direct-reading
thermocouples with analog or digital
readout can be used. All devices should
be calibrated or have some means of
verifying their ability to measure the
desired temperature range. Because of
their ability to provide continuous

monitoring and data storage, thermocouples using chart recorders or dataacquisition systems should be used
over instantaneous measuring devices
for both preheat and PWHT operations. AWS D10.10 offers a variety of
scenarios and thermocouple placement examples (Ref. 7).
Nontraditional Monitoring
Many nontraditional means have
been used over the decades for determining adequate preheat temperature.
One, of course, is the direct impingement of saliva or tobacco juice on the
part. The amount of sizzle is an indicator of the temperature. Although
imprecise, many old timers utilized
this practice.
Another and somewhat more precise method of determining preheat
temperature is by using an oxyfuel
torch. The flame is adjusted to highly
carburizing so a layer of soot accumulates on the areas requiring preheat.
Then, the torch is adjusted to a neutral
flame and the soot area is heated.
When the soot disappears, the surface
temperature is something over 400F
(200C).
Assuring that the complete thickness of the component or weldment
area has reached preheat temperature
is very important. Most monitoring
takes place on the outer surface. The
recommended practices in AWS
D10.10 provide valuable guidance for
the soak bands required to achieve
through-thickness heating for pipe to
pipe weldments (Ref. 7).
Caution must also be observed to
avoid overheating the base material
being preheated, especially where electrical resistance or induction methods
are being used. Many owners are now
requiring that thermocouples be
placed under each electrical resistance
heating pad or induction coil assembly
to monitor and avoid overheating
consequences Fig. 2.
Summary
Fig. 2 Example of electrical resistance preheating where the temperature under the pads
was excessive. This was supposed to be a 400F (200C) preheat.
Whether preheat is required or not,

and regardless of the method implemented, preheat can provide any combination of the following benefits: reduce shrinkage stresses in the weld
and adjacent base metal, especially in
highly restrained joints; provide a
slower rate of cooling through the crit-
ical temperature range, preventing excessive hardening and reduced ductility of both the weld and HAZ; provide a
slower rate of cooling through the
400F (200C) range, allowing more
time for hydrogen that may be present
to diffuse away from the weld and adjacent base metal to avoid hydrogeninduced cracking; and remove contaminants. It is always desirable to achieve
a through-thickness soak at the prescribed preheat temperature. Inappropriate application of local preheat too
often can result in damaged material
and must be avoided. WJ
References
1. API 510 2006. Pressure Vessel Inspection Code: Maintenance Inspection, Rating,
Repair, and Alteration.
2. Newell, W. F. Jr., 1995. Understanding and using carbon equivalent formulas.
Welding Journal 74(9): 57, 58.
3. Ito, Y., and Bessyo, K. 1968. Weldability formula of high strength steels related to heat-affected zone cracking. Journal of Japanese Welding Society.
4. Cary, H. B. Modern Welding Technology, Second Edition, Prentice Hall, New
York.
5. Blodgett, O. W. Design of Welded
Structures, The James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio.
6. Stout, R. D. Weldability of Steels,
Fourth Edition, Welding Research Council,
Shaker Heights, Ohio.
7. American Welding Society, D10.10,
Recommended Practices for Local Heating of
Welds in Piping and Tubing.
WILLIAM F. NEWELL Jr. is co-founder and vice

president of Engineering, Euroweld, Ltd., and
president, W. F. Newell & Associates, Inc.,
Mooresville, N.C. Based on a presentation
at the AWS Heat Treatment Conference,
August 12, 13, 2014, Dallas, Tex.
Change of Address?
Moving?
Make sure delivery of your Welding
Journal is not interrupted. Contact
Maria Trujillo in the Membership
Department with your new address
information (800) 443-9353, ext. 204;
mtrujillo@aws.org.
Resistance
Seam Welding
Throughput
Increases with
Adaptive
Controls
Benefits include regulating weld
consistency, operating at fast production
speeds, and improving weld quality
aking a gas-tight seal with a

seam welding machine involves
making a series of overlapping
spots. Each spot produced should be a
fully formed nugget that is free of expulsion. Using too little heat produces
an undersized spot, which can cause a
leak. Using too much heat produces
expulsion, which can also cause a leak.
In addition to controlling the formation of each nugget, sufficient control
of the spot spacing must be maintained to ensure each nugget overlaps
with the next.
Each precision spot welding application generally requires selecting the
correct material electrodes along with
the right electrode face diameter, electrode force, current, and amount of
time. A capable machine with proper

tooling is required to maintain control
of the electrode contact area on the
part and apply electrode force that is
repeatable from weld to weld. A capable control is required to provide accurate delivery of the programmed current for each weld. Variation in any of
these parameters will vary the spot
welding results.
A spot welding machine may be
used to make a gas-tight seal by making a weld, lifting the electrodes off
the part, moving the part a specified
distance, bringing the electrodes back
onto the part to make another weld,
and repeating that process until the
desired length seam is produced. Spot
spacing must be accurately controlled
To produce a gas-tight seam

weld, an adaptive control is
used on a Tranter, Inc., heat
exchanger. (Photo courtesy of
T. J. Snow.)
BY ROBERT K. COHEN
to ensure each spot produced sufficiently overlaps with the next.

When producing overlapping spots,
the second weld produced is smaller
than the first. This is because a portion of the current used to produce the
second weld conducts through the
electrical path that was created by the
first weld. The third weld produced is
smaller than the second. This is, because, in addition to a portion of the
current used to produce the third weld
conducting through the electrical path
that was created by the second weld,
some amount of current conducts
through the first weld as well. This
phenomenon is known as shunting.
Welding operations that program
the same current for all welds in the
seam encounter a high incidence of expulsions on first and second welds

produced. If the current is lowered
enough to prevent expulsions from occurring in the first few welds, then all
subsequent welds in the seam end up
being smaller than desired. This condition is remedied by programming appropriately lower currents for the first
and second welds.
Seam Welding Details

A seam welding machine can make
a gas-tight seal much more efficiently
than can be achieved with a spot welding machine. The seam electrode
wheels can simply roll to the next location to make the next weld instead of
having to lift the electrodes off the
part, advance the part a specified distance, and bring the electrodes back
onto the part. Also, a seam welding
machine integrated with a capable
control is able to accurately control the
spot spacing without having to add
any special positioning mechanisms or
tooling.
There are two general modes for
seam welding intermittent (also
commonly referred to as roll spot) and
continuous.
Intermittent Seam Welding

In intermittent seam welding, the
wheels advance to the desired position
and stop to make each weld. After a
weld is completed, the wheels advance
to the next location and stop to make
the next weld. This process is repeated
until the desired length seam is made.
The physical dynamics of intermittent seam welding are similar to spot
welding. The control can take whatever time it needs to make a good weld.
All actions typically employed by an
adaptive control to regulate spot weld
quality can be applied to intermittent
seam welding as well. Such actions
may include automatically correcting
issues like part surface contamination
and poor part fitup, and in instances
when expulsion occurs, instantly cutting off the heat within 1 ms and automatically making a repair weld in
place.
In an intermittent or roll/spot
welding process, production throughput is limited by how fast the wheels
can be accelerated from a stationary
state after a weld, over to the next position to be welded, and then com-
A seam welding
machine can make a
gas-tight seal much
more efficiently than
can be achieved with a
spot welding machine.
pletely stopped so the next weld can
be made.
Continuous Seam Welding

In continuous seam welding, the
wheels continue rolling as each weld is
made. Unlike intermittent seam welding, this process imposes the constraint of a fixed time window to make
each weld. Since there is no opportunity to vary the duration of each weld,
all adaptive decisions and compensating actions must take place as the weld
is being made. The main benefit is
that production can occur at much
higher speeds.
Velocity
In continuous seam welding, velocity is another fundamental parameter
introduced into the welding process.
Once the electrode geometry, electrode force, weld current, and weld
time are determined to produce the
desired weld, increasing the wheel velocity causes colder welds and decreasing the wheel velocity produces hotter
welds.
Typical Operation Modes

There are three general modes of
continuous seam welding typically encountered in production.
1. All welds are produced by the
wheels rolling on the surface of the
part at the same wheel velocity. The
wheels clamp the part and start
rolling. Welding doesnt commence until after the wheels accelerate to the
programmed welding velocity. The last
weld in the seam is completed before
the wheels start decelerating back to
zero.
If consistent parts are presented to
a machine with consistent tooling, and
control of the electrode force, wheel
velocity, heat and time are maintained,
then managing the shunting phenomenon during the first few welds in the
seam is generally the only remaining

process specific condition that needs
to be addressed.
2. Welds are not all produced at
the same wheel velocity. The wheels
clamp the part and start rolling. Welding commences before the wheels finish accelerating to the programmed
welding velocity. Welding at the end of
the seam is still in process when the
wheels are decelerating back toward
zero.
This arrangement requires actions
to be taken at the beginning and end
of the seam to avoid making welds
that are produced at the lower velocities too hot. The conventional method
of managing this condition is to employ upslope heat at the start of the
seam and downslope heat at the end of
the seam. Achieving consistent welding performance requires exact scaling
and coordination of the heat upslope
with the rising wheel velocity at the
beginning of the seam, and exact scaling and coordination of the heat
downslope with falling velocity at the
end of the seam. This can be difficult
to achieve in practice.
As wheel speed is increased, instantaneous velocity fluctuations also increase from factors such as variable
loading of the part presented to the
machine. All of these variations can
translate into variations in the size of
the welds produced.
3. Welding occurs edge-to-edge
across the entire part. Typical applications of edge-to-edge seam welding
are used in manufacturing products
such as water heaters, 55-gal drums,
pails, and aerosol cans. As each part to
be welded feeds through the machine,
the seam wheels have to roll up on the
front edge of the part, travel along the
entire length of the part, and roll off
the back edge. Seam integrity over the
entire length of the part is required to
prevent it from being rejected.
Conventional System
The majority of operations manufacturing these types of parts attempt
to control the process by employing
upslope heat at the start of the seam
and downslope heat at the end of the
seam. A limit switch or proximity sensor detects the part approaching the
seam wheels and triggers the start of
the weld schedule sequence. A sensor
that detects the back end of the part
approaching triggers the downslope at
the end of the seam. Manufacturers

employing this type of operation have
high scrap rates from inconsistent
weld performance.
In addition, instrumentation for
seam welding operations employing
this scheme reveal welds on the front
edge of the part are either too cold or
too hot. No matter what adjustments
are made to the proximity sensors, the
time uncertainty of the part front end
detection system, coupled with variability in the time from when the detection takes place until the part
comes in contact with the seam
wheels, make it nearly impossible to
accurately synchronize the start of
heat with the front edge of the part
entering the seam wheels.
Synchronizing the downslope on
the back end of the part, and turning
off the heat at the right time, creates
similar issues. If the heat turns off too
soon, before the wheels begin to roll
off the back edge, then the welds will
be too cold. If the heat stays on too
long, after the wheels are rolling off
the back edge, then the welds will be
too hot. If the last weld on the part is
still in progress when the wheels have
rolled too far off the back edge of the
part, then excessive sparking from expulsion and material loss will occur.
Case Study Features

A manufacturer of 55-gal steel
drums in New Jersey performs edgeto-edge seam welding at a rate of 50
ft/min. To improve weld consistency
and reduce scrap, the company replaced its single-phase alternating current (AC) welding transformer and silicon controlled rectifier (SCR)-based
weld control with a mid-frequency direct current (MFDC) transformer and

conventional inverter control.
Instead of increasing production
throughput and decreasing scrap,
these equipment upgrades resulted in
decreased production throughput and
increased scrap. The manufacturer requested WeldComputer Corp., Troy,
N.Y., to analyze the welding operation.
A portable WeldView monitor was
connected to a machine on the production line to instrument the existing
welding process. Examination of data
recorded over a course of several hours
during actual production revealed
multiple issues, the most dominant of
which were as follows: inconsistent
heat control delivery of each welding
impulse and inconsistent synchronization of the start of heat with the front
edge of the part, plus the stop of heat
with the back edge of the part.
The first concern observed was inconsistent heat delivery of each welding impulse. The monitor documented
multiple occurrences of greater than
10% current fluctuations and greater
than 50% weld impulse duration fluctuations. Inconsistent high residual
current during the cool interval between each weld impulse was also observed. These current fluctuations
varied over a wide enough range to
produce welds that were too hot and
welds that were too cold.
The second concern viewed was inconsistent synchronization of the
start of heat with the parts front edge,
and the stop of heat with the parts
back edge. The monitor documented
repeated occurrences of heat starting
before the part reached the welding
wheels, followed by other occurrences
Fig. 1 The current starting too late makes an undersized front

edge weld.
of the wheels already rolling up on the

part before the current turned on.
In instances when heat started before the part made contact with the
welding wheels, the weld at the parts
front edge was too hot. Sparks were
produced at the onset of part contact
with the welding wheels, and expulsed
material was observed depositing on
the welding wheels.
In instances when the wheels were
already rolling up on the part before
the current started, the front edge of
the part was inadequately welded. A
similar phenomenon occurred on the
parts back edge. Excessive heating and
expulsion of material occurred whenever the heat was still on as the wheels
rolled off the parts back end, and inadequate welding occurred when the
heat cut off before the wheels started
rolling off the parts back end.
Instances were also observed of the
heat starting too soon on one part and
too late on the next part without any
adjustments having been made on the
production line. This led to the conclusion that the system in place was incapable of reliably coordinating the synchronization of heat vs. time needed
to apply proper heating to every part
as it passes through the machine.
The recorded monitor traces document the control delivering inconsistent heat pulses that are inconsistently synchronized with the parts feeding
through the machine Figs. 1, 2.
Adaptive Welding System

Employing adaptive control detects
when the wheels start to roll up on the
parts front and dynamically adjust the
heat in relation to the profile pattern
Fig. 2 The current starting too early overheats the front edge
of the part.
Fig. 3 Front end of the part. Adaptive seam welding is at 22.5

in./s.
of the wheels rolling up on the part

Figs. 3, 4.
Optimum heating on the parts
back end can similarly be controlled by
profiling the heat in direct response to
the wheels rolling off the parts back
end. The adaptive control can also instantly terminate the heat, within 1
ms, upon detection that the wheels
have finished rolling a specified distance off the parts back. This limits
the process susceptibility to sparking
and material expulsion from keeping
current on too long. It also extends the
amount of time that production can
continue before the electrodes have to
be cleaned.
Continuous Seam Welding

Speed Limiting Factors
The two factors that limit how fast
a production seam welding process can
operate are machine capability and
control capability.
As wheel velocity is increased, more
current is required to produce each
weld. As current is increased, more
cooling is needed to keep the electrodes and current carrying conductors from getting too hot, and more
electrode force is required to maintain
material containment during the formation of each weld. The seam welding process speed can be increased until a limit is reached on how much one
of these four parameters can be further increased.
Selecting a control with a high
enough operating current limit, such
that current is not the limiting factor
in determining how fast welding can
Fig. 4 Back end of the part. Adaptive seam welding is at 22.5

in./s.
occur, will ensure the adaptive control

will be able to run the machine at the
maximum speed that can be achieved
while maintaining weld consistency
meeting the welding operation standards.
Velocity
As the speed of a seam welding machine is increased, variable loading of
the part presented to the machine,
motor torque limitation, gear backlash, belt oscillation, less than optimum tuning of the motor control
feedback parameters, and machine
mechanical resonances, can cause instantaneous wheel velocity fluctuations. Increasing the speed also reduces the time available to make each
weld. As the weld time is reduced, instantaneous velocity fluctuations become an increasing source of weld
variation.
Velocity variations on a seam welding machine translate into variations
in the size of the welds produced. Reducing the velocity fluctuations from
an existing machine could require engineering design changes and retrofits.
The weld variations from these fluctuations can be reduced by retrofitting
an adaptive control to the machine
that automatically adjusts heat up and
down in response to these instantaneous velocity fluctuations.
Vibration
As the speed of a seam welding machine is increased, increased electrode
force variation becomes an increasing
source of weld variation. As the seam
wheels roll up onto the front of the

part at high speeds, the wheels will often overshoot and bounce onto the
part. The momentary higher electrode
force caused by the bounce can translate into an undersized weld that could
cause a leak. Depending on the resonant characteristics of the electrode
force system, the step of the wheels
rolling up onto the part can excite a
machine resonance that could take
several oscillation cycles to subside.
Each of these oscillation cycles can
translate into a weld that is too cold as
the wheel bounces down on the part,
followed by a weld that is too hot as
the wheel bounces off of the part.
Eliminating electrode force fluctuations caused from exciting resonances
on an existing machine could require
engineering design changes and retrofits. In addition to compensating for
machine velocity fluctuations, the
adaptive control can reduce weld variation from electrode force fluctuations
by automatically adjusting the heat up
and down in response to these instantaneous force fluctuations.
Current
As wheel speed is increased, in addition to requiring higher current,
each weld must be produced in a
shorter period of time. Less time is
available to make each spot, because
the spot has to be produced and completed before a substantial portion of
the wheel surface rolls away from the
site of the weld being produced.
Accurate delivery of short duration
high current impulses are required to
control weld repeatability. Cool time
between each of these weld impulses is

beneficial because it aids the formation of individual overlapping weld
nuggets, and reduces the operating
temperature of the seam welding
wheels. Reducing the temperature of
the seam welding wheels generally improves weld quality, extends electrode
life, and reduces machine maintenance
requirements.
SCR Controls
In many seam welding operations,
the control is the limiting factor that
limits the speed the machine can operate. As the manufacturer attempts to
increase production line speed, the
control often becomes the biggest
variability source in the welding operation. This causes high scrap rates, high
losses due to reduction in overall production throughput, losses from destructive testing, and labor losses.
Existing seam welding operations,
utilizing older technology SCR-based
weld controls to drive a single-phase
AC welding transformer, are speed
limited by the control technology being used. This limitation is coupled to
the frequency of the power delivered
by the power company. The number of
welds per second that can be produced
by the seam welding machine is equal
to the number of power half-cycles
per second delivered by the power
company.
On 60-Hz AC power lines, this
means that the seam welding operation is limited to 120 weld impulses
per second. On 50-Hz AC power, this
reduces to 100 weld impulses per sec-
ond. The time of occurrence for each

weld is predetermined because it must
be synchronized with the time the
power company delivers the half-cycle
and not with the time it is desired to
have the weld take place. As seam
wheel velocity is increased, the requirement of having to synchronize
the weld with the delivery time of the
half-cycle, instead of with the time
that the part enters the machine, becomes a bigger source of weld variability that affects weld consistency on
the part edges.
The ability to regulate the heat of
any individual weld impulse with a
SCR control is also limited, because
once the control initiates a weld halfcycle impulse, it has no further influence over what happens during the
weld. The actual weld heat delivered is
determined by what the power company delivers during the half-cycle interval that the weld takes place. The weld
is also affected by the transient loading of other factory machines.
Another limitation of SCR control
technology is that once a weld impulse
is initiated, it cannot be turned off by
the control.
Inverter Controls
To overcome limitations imposed
by SCR control technology, manufacturers that perform high-speed seam
welding are switching to inverter technology. The expectation is that the
newer inverter control technology will
deliver superior weld current regulation, improve weld quality, and increase production throughput.
Fig. 5 The current trace of a MFDC control documents that

current has not stabilized at the programmed value prior to
completion of an 8-ms duration weld, has big current fluctuations occurring twice per ms, and excessive current decay time.
Manufacturers seeking expert advice are often informed to take advantage of the newer inverter technology,
it will be necessary to throw away the
existing AC welding transformer and
replace it with a newer technology
MFDC welding transformer.
In case studies of seam welding
manufacturers that made the conversion from single-phase AC to MFDC,
they reported that instead of increasing production throughput and improving weld quality, decreased production throughput, reduced weld
quality, and increased maintenance occurred instead. These issues worsened
when the manufacturers programed a
shorter weld impulse time and shorter
cool time between each impulse in an
attempt to try meeting or exceeding
the 120 weld per second impulse rate
realized with the older technology
control.
Instrumentation of these welding
operations reveal two causes, listed
below, for the degraded welding
performance.
The inverter control selected, when
programmed to produce short duration impulses, delivers inaccurate
and/or unstable current regulation
that results in greater weld impulse
current variability than what was previously achieved with the older SCRbased control.
During the programmed cool time
between each impulse, the current decays slowly, and often doesnt decay to
zero before the next welding impulse
begins. This high residual current during each cool interval, which is caused
by the introduction of the MFDC
Fig. 6 The RMS current trace of 1-kHz MFDC optimally tuned

heat impulses, 4-ms heat, 1-ms cool, in a repeating pattern has
2 current fluctuations per ms. Slow current decay at the end of
each heat impulse, caused by the MFDC transformer, degrades
the effectiveness of the cool time function.
Fig. 7 The RMS current trace of 4-ms heat, 1-ms cool, weld
impulses produced with a WeldComputer inverter wave synthesis control driving a standard 60-Hz AC welding transformer. (Monitor set to record in 10-s intervals to document
current ripple.)
transformer, degrades the effectiveness of the cool time function

Fig. 5.
This causes the seam wheels to operate at a higher temperature to make
the same size welds than what previously occurred when the current was
able to be brought to zero during the
majority of the programmed cool interval. The elevated wheel temperature caused from switching to a MFDC
transformer creates secondary issues,
including faster material pickup on the
wheel surfaces.
MFDC Considerations
In addition to poorly defined cooling intervals when operating at high
speeds, other factors experienced with
MFDC include the following:
Increased mechanical wear on the
machine. On machines with short
throats, the normal switching function
of 1-kHz MFDC controls cause two
current fluctuations during each ms of
programmed weld heat. These fluctuations cause thermal expansion and
contraction, twice per ms, of many
moving parts on the welding machine.
The extra stress and motion on the
machine from these expansions and
contractions cause the bearings and
moving linkages to wear out faster.
Increasing the throat size of the
welding machine helps subdue these
current fluctuations that occur during
each programmed ms of operation, but
it slows down the rate that the current
can be adjusted by the control.
Machine and product become
magnetized. When magnetic material
is welded on a machine with a MFDC
Fig. 8 The balanced polarity welding waveform on sequential

welds eliminates the issue of asymmetrical electrode wear and
unbalanced electrode heating due to the Peltier Effect.
transformer, the machine and the

parts being welded become magnetized. Metal filings become attracted to
the machine surfaces. These accumulating filings eventually work their way
into the moving bearings, guides, and
linkages of the welding machine. This
increases the incidence of machine
failures and imposes additional maintenance requirements.
Unbalanced temperature and wear
of the two electrodes. Commonly
known as the Peltier Effect, the rectified secondary current created by a
MFDC welding transformer causes the
anode electrode (the wheel connecting
to the + side of the MFDC transformer) to have a hotter operating
temperature than the other electrode.
In addition to creating a temperature
imbalance that can shift the location
of the nuggets in the welded part, instead of both electrodes wearing uniformly, the positive electrode deforms
and picks up contaminants faster than
the negative electrode.
AC Wave Synthesis
Analyses of several high-speed
seam welding operations have revealed
that proper application of inverter
technology to the existing AC welding
transformer produces better results
than what could be achieved by replacing the AC transformer with a MFDC
transformer.
In addition to incurring extra costs
for reducing the performance of the
welding process, the new MFDC transformer will not last as long as the existing AC transformer. The MFDC
transformer has diodes built into the
unit that are subject to failure. A single

overcurrent event could damage the
diodes. In contrast, the AC transformer is a more robust component
that can handle overcurrents without
degrading or reducing the transformers life expectancy.
Outfits that instruct the manufacturer to incur the expense of throwing
away an existing AC welding transformer and replacing it with a MFDC
transformer are either unaware that
inverter technology can be applied directly to the AC transformer or have
not taken actual measurements comparing the performance of the same
process with an AC transformer and
MFDC transformer where the transformer selection is the only variable
introduced to the process.
Figure 6 shows the root mean
square (RMS) current, in 10-s intervals, of a sequence of impulses produced by an inverter WeldComputer
control configured to produce an optimally tuned MFDC switching pattern
with each impulse consisting of 4 ms
heat and 1 ms cool in a repeating
pattern.
Figure 7 documents the RMS current, in 10-s intervals, of a sequence
of impulses produced by a WeldComputer inverter wave synthesis control
driving a standard fixture type 60-Hz
AC transformer with each impulse
consisting of 4 ms heat and 1 ms cool
in a repeating pattern. (This is the
same heat-cool pattern as programmed with the previous MFDC
configuration.)
Note that a RMS current plot does
not provide information about the actual polarity of the current.
Figure 8 shows the actual current

waveform with the same signal acquisition shown in Fig. 7. It reveals the alternating polarity of each weld produced by the AC inverter wave synthesis control.
Conclusions
Among the AC transformer highlights are 1) allowing shorter duration
welds to be produced with a good transient response; 2) providing regulation
by allowing more adjustments per ms
and control when short cool times are
involved; 3) letting seam wheels and
machine current carrying conductors
to operate at a lower temperature; 4)
not magnetizing the machine or parts
being welded; 5) avoiding the issue
with the Peltier Effect causing the anode electrode to achieve a higher temperature operating point than the
cathode electrode after making several
welds; and 6) preventing the issue

with asymmetrical degrading of the
electrodes linked to the current flow
polarity.
Employing a control capable of ensuring that every produced current impulse stabilizes at the programmed
setting before a new value is programmed is necessary to maintain a
repeatable process that is accurately
regulated by the control.
Also, the speed that a seam can be
produced while maintaining control
of the process can be maximized by
employing multivariable adaptive control that can dynamically compensate
for variations in electrode contact area
on the part, electrode force, position,
and velocity as the seam is being
produced. WJ
References
The author cites his research in the
following six reports:

1. 2014. Multi-variable adaptive
weld schedule for commercial water
heater seam welding operation. WeldComputer Corp. Report WC60214-1.
2. 2012. Analysis of MFDC applied
to 55 gallon steel drum welder. WeldComputer Corp. Report WC42412-1.
3. 2011. Analysis of shift in nugget
location seam welding 5 mil stainless
steel with MFDC. WeldComputer
Corp. Report WC21711-1.
to radiator manufacturing operation.
WeldComputer Corp. Report
WC93010-1.
5. 2006. Controlled experiment of
MFDC vs. AC wave synthesis in a high
speed seam welding operation. WeldComputer Corp. Report WC62706-1.
to paint can seam welding operation.
WeldComputer Corp. Report
WC32106-1.
ROBERT K. COHEN is president of WeldComputer Corp. (info@weldcomputer.com), Troy, N.Y. He is also a member of the AWS C1 Committee
on Resistance Welding and D17D Subcommittee on Resistance Welding in the Aircraft and Aerospace Industries.
Based on a presentation at the Sheet Metal Welding Conference (SMWC) XVI, October 2224, 2014, Livonia, Mich.
Where is the welding

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The CEO of Lincoln knows. Economist Alan Beaulieu knows.
Head to WEMCOs
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MEET THE SPEAKERS
An Association of Welding Manufacturers
2015 Annual Meeting

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Vinoy Renaissance Resort & Golf Club
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Chris Mapes
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Theme: Welding Industry

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ECourses in Destructive and Nondestructive Testing of

Welds. Online video courses taken at ones own pace offer
certificates of completion and continuing education units.
For information, contact Hobart Institute of Welding Technology. hiwt@welding.org; www.welding.org.
Hypertherm Cutting Institute Online. Includes video tutorials, interactive e-learning courses, discussion forums, webinars, and blogs. Visit www.hypertherm.com, www.hyperthermcuttinginstitute.com.
INTEG Courses. Courses in NDE disciplines to meet certifications to Canadian General Standards Board or Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. The Canadian Welding Bureau;
(800) 844-6790; www.cwbgroup.org.
Laser Safety Online Courses. Courses include Medical Laser
Safety Officer, Laser Safety Training for Physicians, Industrial Laser Safety, and Laser Safety in Educational Institutions. Laser Institute of America; (800) 345-2737;
www.lia.org.
Laser Safety Training Courses. Courses based on ANSI
Z136.1, Safe Use of Lasers, Orlando, Fla., or customers site.
Laser Institute of America; (800) 345-2737; www.lia.org.
Laser U Online Education Portal. Offers practical information to use on the job. Topics range from 3D printing to
drilling, welding, wireless and optical product requirements,
and many others. Visit website for complete information
and to sign up for modules. Laser Institute of America;
www.lia.org/laseru.
Laser Vision Seminars. Two-day classes, offered monthly
and on request, include tutorials and practical training. Presented at Servo-Robot, Inc., St. Bruno, QC, Canada. For
schedule, cost, and availability, send your request to
info@servorobot.com.
Machine Safeguarding Seminars. Rockford Systems, Inc.;
(800) 922-7533; www.rockfordsystems.com.
Machining and Grinding Courses. TechSolve, www.TechSolve.org.
NACE International Training and Certification Courses. National Assoc. of Corrosion Engineers; (281) 228-6223;
www.nace.org.
NDT Courses and Exams. Brea, Calif., and customers locations. Level I and II and refresher courses in PA, UT, MP, radiation safety, radiography, visual, etc. Test NDT, LLC; (714)
255-1500; www.testndt.com.
Online Education Courses. Topics include Introduction to
Die Casting ($99), Metal Melting and Handling ($99), Product Design ($59), Energy Training ($19), Dross Training
($19), Managing Dust Hazards ($19), Safety (free). North
American Die Casting Assn.; (847) 808-3161; www.diecasting.org/education/online.
Plastics Welding School. A two-day course for certification
to European plastics welding standards. Malcom Hot Air
Systems; www.plasticweldingtools.com.
MAY
MAY 5-7,
5-7, 2015
2015
Cintermex,
Monterrey,
Cin
termex, Mon
terrey, Mxico
Mxico
THE 4 EVEN
EVENTS
TS LEADING THE METAL
FABRICATION INDUSTRY IN MONTERREY
258,000+
SQUARE FEET
OF FLOOR SPACE
LIVE
TALKS
AND WORKSHOPS
DEMONSTRATIONS
550
EXHIBITORS
For more information about registering

to attend or reserving booth space, go to
ww
www.fabtechmexico.com
w.fabtechmexico.com
COMING EVENTS
Protective Coatings Training and Certification Courses. At

various locations and online. The Society for Protective
Coatings; (877) 281-7772; www.sspc.org.
Resistance Welding Basics Seminar. Feb. 18 (Chattanooga,
Tenn.); March 18 (Aiken, S.C.); April 22 (Cleveland, Ohio);
June 17 (Elkhart, Ind.); July 22 (Chicago, Ill.); Aug. 12 (Ft.
Worth, Tex.); Aug. 26 (Birmingham, Ala.); Sept. 23 (Richmond, Va.); Oct. 14 (Columbus, Ohio). T. J. Snow Co. Inc.;
www.tjsnow.com/service/offsite_seminar_index.htm.
Robotics Operator Training. Presented by ABB University at

13 locations nationwide. For course titles and locations:
(800) 435-7365, opt. 2, opt. 4; www.abb.us/abbuniversity.
Safety Training Online. Unlimited training on myriad industrial safety course titles. Visit website for complete information and previews of several courses; www.safety99.com.
Service Manager Course. Designed for sheet metal workers
and HVAC service shop owners. Various locations and dates.
International Training Institute. (703) 739-7200;
www.sheetmetal-iti.org.
ServoRobot Training Seminars. Two-day laser-vision seminars held throughout the year at Servo-Robot, Inc., near
Montreal, Canada. Seminars include tutorials and hands-on
practical training. For seminar schedule and costs, e-mail
request to info@servorobot.com.
Shielded Metal Arc Welding of 2in. Pipe in the 6G Position
Uphill. Troy, Ohio. Hobart Institute of Welding
Technology; (800) 332-9448; www.welding.org.
Soldering Training, LiveInteractive Online Courses. Three
courses offered: basic hand soldering, through-hole technology, and surface-mount technology. Visit site for course outlines, schedules, prices, and to register. Soldering Training &
Certification (STC), www.solderingtraining.com/ online-soldering-training.php.
SSPC Training and Certification Courses. Courses in protective coatings, abrasive blasting, paint inspector, bridge coatings inspector, surface preparation, NAVSEA inspector, and
many others. The Society for Protective Coatings;
www.sspc.org.
Thermadyne Distributor Training. Year-around training at

Denton, Tex.; West Lebanon, N.H.; Bowling Green, Ky.; and
Chino, Calif. trainingteam@victortechnologies.com.
Tool and Die Welding Courses. Troy, Ohio. Hobart Institute
of Welding Technology; (800) 332-9448; www.welding.org. WJ
For more information on AWS events:

www.aws.org/w/a/conferences/index
(800/305) 4439353, ext. 234, belkys@aws.org
CERTIFICATION SCHEDULE
Certication Seminars, Code Clinics, and Examinations
Note: The 2015 schedule for all certifications is posted online at

www.aws.org/w/a/registrations/prices_schedules.html.
Certified Welding Inspector (CWI)

Location
Mobile, AL
Houston, TX
Kansas City, MO
Norfolk, VA
Boston, MA
Indianapolis, IN
Rochester, NY
Edmonton, AB Canada
Corpus Christi, TX
Birmingham, AL
Chicago, IL
Dallas, TX
Miami, FL
Springfield, MO
York, PA
Las Vegas, NV
Minneapolis, MN
Portland, OR
Syracuse, NY
St. Louis, MO
Nashville, TN
New Orleans, LA
San Francisco, CA
Calgary, Canada
Perrysburg, OH
Miami, FL
Annapolis, MD
Detroit, MI
Corpus Christi, TX
Albuquerque, NM
Fresno, CA
Miami, FL
Oklahoma City, OK
Corpus Christi, TX
Knoxville, TN
Birmingham, AL
Hutchinson, KS
Spokane, WA
Bakersfield, CA
Pittsburgh, PA
Beaumont, TX
Hartford, CT
Orlando, FL
Memphis, TN
Miami, FL
Corpus Christi, TX
Miami, FL
Cleveland, OH
Seminar Dates
Mar. 16
Mar. 16
Mar. 16
Mar. 16
Mar. 813
Mar. 813
Exam only
Exam only
Exam only
Mar. 2227
Mar. 2227
Mar. 2227
Mar. 2227
Mar. 2227
Exam only
Mar. 29Apr. 3
Mar. 29Apr. 3
Mar. 29Apr. 3
Mar. 29Apr. 3
Exam only
Apr. 1217
Apr. 1217
Apr. 1217
Apr. 1924
Exam only
Exam only
Apr. 26May 1
Apr. 26May 1
Apr. 26May 1
May 38
May 38
May 38
May 38
Exam only
Exam only
May 31June 5
May 31June 5
May 31June 5
June 712
June 712
June 1419
June 1419
June 1419
June 1419
Exam only
Exam only
Exam only
July 1217
Exam Date
Mar. 7
Mar. 7
Mar. 7
Mar. 7
Mar. 14
Mar. 14
Mar. 14
Mar. 16
Mar. 21
Mar. 28
Mar. 28
Mar. 28
Mar. 28
Mar. 28
Mar. 28
Apr. 4
Apr. 4
Apr. 4
Apr. 4
Apr. 11
Apr. 18
Apr. 18
Apr. 18
Apr. 25
Apr. 18
Apr. 23
May 2
May 2
May 2
May 9
May 9
May 9
May 9
May 16
May 23
June 6
June 6
June 6
June 13
June 13
June 20
June 20
June 20
June 20
June 25
June 27
July 16
July 18
Certified Welding Educator (CWE)

Seminar and exam are given at all sites listed under Certified
Welding Inspector. Seminar attendees will not attend the Code
Clinic portion of the seminar (usually the first two days).
Certified Welding Sales Representative (CWSR)

CWSR exams will be given at CWI exam sites.
Certified Welding Supervisor (CWS)

CWS exams are also given at all CWI exam sites.
Location
New Orleans, LA
Minneapolis, MN
Seminar Dates
Mar. 30Apr. 3
July 1317
Exam Date
Apr. 4
July 18
9Year Recertification Seminar for CWI/SCWI

For current CWIs and SCWIs needing to meet education requirements without taking the exam. The exam can be taken at any site listed under Certified Welding Inspector.
Location
Dallas, TX
Miami, FL
Sacramento, CA
Boston, MA
Charlotte, NC
Pittsburgh, PA
San Diego, CA
Miami, FL
Orlando, FL
Seminar Dates
March 0813
March 2227
April 1217
April 26May 1
May 38
May 31June 5
July 1924
July 2631
Aug. 1621
Certified Radiographic Interpreter (CRI)

The CRI certification can be a stand-alone credential or can
exempt you from your next 9-Year Recertification.
Location
Houston, TX
Las Vegas, NV
Cleveland, OH
Dallas, TX
Seminar Dates
Mar. 30Apr. 3
May 48
June 812
Aug. 1721
Exam Date
Apr. 5
May 9
June 13
Aug. 22
Certified Robotic Arc Welding (CRAW)

ABB, Inc., Auburn Hills, MI; (248) 3918421
OTC Daihen, Inc., Tipp City, OH; (937) 667-0800
Lincoln Electric Co., Cleveland, OH; (216) 383-8542
Genesis-Systems Group, Davenport, IA; (563) 445-5688
Wolf Robotics, Fort Collins, CO; (970) 225-7736
On request at MATC, Milwaukee, WI; (414) 456-5454
IMPORTANT: This schedule is subject to change without notice. Please verify your event dates with the Certification Dept. to confirm your course status before
making travel plans. Applications are to be received at least six weeks prior to the seminar/exam or exam. Applications received after that time will be assessed
a $250 Fast Track fee. Please verify application deadline dates by visiting our website www.aws.org/certication/docs/schedules.html. For information on AWS
seminars and certification programs, or to register online, visit www.aws.org/certification or call (800/305) 4439353, ext. 273, for Certification; or ext. 455 for
Seminars.
BY HOWARD WOODWARD woodward@aws.org
SOCIETY NEWS
Industry Leaders Recognized at FABTECH
The AWS 2015 board of directors assembled at FABTECH in Atlanta, Ga.
Class of 2014 Counselors and Fellows Announced

The 2014 classes of AWS Fellows and
Counselors were recognized Nov. 10 during
FABTECH in Atlanta, Ga.
The Fellows are Carl E. Cross and Patricio F. Mendez. The Counselors are Tony
Anderson, George D. Fairbanks Jr., W.
Richard Polanin, and Martin Prager.
AWS Fellows are cited for serving the
welding community and industry with great
distinction as individuals whose careers have
contributed significantly to the knowledge,
science, and application of welding.
Carl E. Cross is recognized for his contributions in the areas of nonferrous welding of aluminum, magnesium, and titanium alloys; weldability testing; and weld solidification cracking mechanisms.
Patricio F. Mendez is recognized for his
contributions to research into defect formation in welding, mathematical modeling
of welding processes, the physics of metal
transfer, wear-resistant surfacing, phase
transformations, and his promotion of
welding education and training.
AWS Counselors are recognized for
serving the welding community and industry
with distinction and organizational leadership
that has enhanced the image and impact of
the welding industry.
From left are Fellow Carl E. Cross; Counselors George D. Fairbanks Jr., Tony Ander
son, and W. Richard Polanin; and Fellow Patricio F. Mendez.
Tony Anderson, an AWS director-at-large and a Fellow of The

British Welding Institute, is director of aluminum technology at
ITW Welding North America. He is
a world renouned expert and author on aluminum welding who
works on several AWS technical
committees and chairs the Aluminum Association Technical Advisory Committee for Welding.
George D. Fairbanks Jr. has a
distinguished career in inspection,
active in the training and certification of welding inspectors (CWIs)

and AWS technical committees. A
veteran CWI, he owns Fairbanks
Inspection & Testing Services LLC
in Donaldsonville, La., has held
leadership posts for the Baton
Rouge Section, and served eight
years as AWS Dist. 9 director.
W. Richard Polanin has made
distinguished contributions to
welding education as a Principal
Investigator for Weld-Ed (The NaFEBRUARY 2015 / WELDING JOURNAL 65
SOCIETY NEWS
tional Center for Welding Education
and Training) at Lorain County Community College in Elyria, Ohio. He is
an AWS director-at-large, a presenter
at the AWS Welding Instructors Institute, author of two textbooks, and
lecturer on manuacturing, robotics,
welding, and education.

Martin Prager, as executive director of the Welding Research Council
and the Materials Properties Council,
has contributed extensively to welding research that has aided in the development of the API codes. He has
served on the American Council of

the IIW; as chair of Commission XI on
Boilers, Pressure Vessels, and
Pipelines; and on the organizing committee for the 2010 IIW Annual Assembly and as cochair of the International Conference.
Achievement Awards Presented at FABTECH
John Goldak
Patricio Mendez
Comfort A. Adams Lecture Award

This award is presented to an outstanding scientist or engineer for a lecture describing a new or distinctive development in the field of welding. The lecture is presented during FABTECH.
Four Decades of Research in
Developing Computational Weld
Mechanics at Carleton University
John Goldak, a Distinguished Research and Lifetime Emeritus Professor, holds a PhD in physical metallurgy
from the University of Alberta. Since
1965, he has been a professor at Carleton University. He is well known for
his research in the computational mechanics of welds, and development of
the double ellipsoid weld pool model.
He is founder and president of Goldak
Technologies, Inc. (GTI), a developer
of software for design-driven analysis
of welded structures.
Shujun Chen
YuMing Zhang
W. Richard Polanin
Jun Xiao
Adams Memorial Membership Award

This award recognizes educators for
outstanding teaching activities in undergraduate and postgraduate engineering
institutions.
Patricio F. Mendez, an AWS Fellow,
is the Weldco/Industry chair in Welding and Joining and director of the
Canadian Centre for Welding and
Joining, University of Alberta. Before
joining the university in 2009, he
taught and researched at Colorado
School of Mines. His research focuses
on the physics of welding with applications to metal transfer in gas metal arc
welding, weld pool defects, friction stir
welding, plasma arcs, microjoining,
and consumables for hard facing.
Howard E. Adkins Memorial
Instructor Membership Award
This award recognizes instructors for
outstanding teaching accomplishments at
the high school, trade school, technical institute, and community college levels.
Uwe Aschemeier
Kevin Peters
Guangjun Zhang
Lin Wu
W. Richard Polanin, an AWS Counselor, is a professor and program chair

for the welding technology programs
at Illinois Central College where he has
taught since 1979. He is a principal investigator for Weld-Ed (The National
Center for Welding Education and
Training).
Kenneth L. Brown Memorial
Safety and Health Award
This AWS-sponsored award recognizes individuals for promoting welding
safety and health through research, educational activities, development of safe
practices, or dissemination of information through publications or other means,
to foster public safety awareness.
Luca Costa, an engineering graduate of the University of Genoa, works
for IIS Progress, a company engaged in
education, training, research, and laboratory activities. Currently, he serves
as director of education, concerned
with safety and environment issues.
William Jody Collier
Andrew Dueld
SOCIETY NEWS
D. Shad Glidewell
David Kincaid
Robert J. Conkling Memorial Award

2014 SkillsUSA Championships
Gold Medalists FirstPlace Schools
High School: San Luis Obispo High
School, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Postsecondary School: North Central
Kansas Technical College, Beloit, Kan.
A. F. Davis Silver Medal Award
This award recognizes authors of papers published in the Welding Journal
during the previous calendar year that
represent the best contributions to the
progress of welding in the categories of
Machine Design, Maintenance and Surfacing, and Structural Design.
Machine Design
Active Droplet Oscillation Excited
by Optimized Waveform
Jun Xiao received his PhD with a
welding major at Harbin Institute of
Technology (HIT), China, in 2014.
Guangjun Zhang has been a professor at the HIT State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and Joining
since 1994.
Lin Wu joined the HIT State Key
Laboratory in 1959 where he currently is a professor in Welding Science
and Engineering.
Shujun Chen received his PhD
from HIT and a postdoctoral engineering degree from Beijing University of Technology in 2001.
YuMing Zhang, an AWS Fellow,
holds the James R. Boyd Professorship in Electrical Engineering at the
Mary V. Andringa
Edward Yevick
DeCall Thomas
Bishal Silwal
Leijun Li
Andrew Deceuster
University of Kentucky, and is president of Adaptive Intelligent Systems,

LLC, a developer of welding-related
technologies.
Maintenance and Surfacing
Repair of a Hull 15 Meters
below the Waterline
Uwe W. Aschemeier, AWS Dist. 7
director, is with Subsea Global Systems. He has worked as a senior welding engineer, commercial underwater
welder, and consultant. Earlier, he
served with the German Welding Society, Chicago Manufacturing Center,
Charcas Engineering/Domson Engineering, H. C. Nutting Co., and Miami Diver LLC.
Kevin Peters is vice president of
business development at Subsea
Global Solutions LLC with more than
30 years experience as an underwater and top-side welder.
teaching, FABTECH Professional Programs, welding and brazing fabrication, and nuclear submarine repair
work for the U.S. Navy.
D. Shad Glidewell, a CWI, specializes in confinement-vessel repair
welding at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He works with students and
local universities to develop robotic
methods for making weld repairs.
David Kincaid, a CWI, Certified
Welding Educator, and Journeyman
Ironworker, is a craftsman boilermaker for Norfolk Southern Railroad
where he repairs locomotives and
trains welders.
DeCall Thomas, CEO of Certified
Welding Services Corp. in Las Vegas,
Nev., opens his shop free of charge to
the public to improve their welding
skills, and trains the public via his
website www.weldcomm.com.
Distinguished Welder Award

This AWS-sponsored award recognizes individuals who have exceptional
welding skills and experiences related to
all aspects of the art of welding.
William Jody Collier has trained
and certified more than 500 welders
and in his retirement trains millions
of others via his website www.weldingtipsandtricks.com.
Andrew Duffield, a Certified
Welder and Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) with 22 years in the industry, has extensive experience in
W. H. Hobart Memorial Award

This award is presented to the authors of the paper published in the
Welding Journal during the previous
calendar year that describes the best
contribution to pipe welding, the structural use of pipe or similar applications,
excluding the manufacture of pipe.
Bishal Silwal is an assistant professor at Georgia Southern University,
Mechanical Engineering Department,
Statesboro, Ga.
Leijun Li is a professor of physical
metallurgy at the University of Alber-
Fernando Diez
PengSheng Wei
Dustin Wagner
Youngki Yang
SOCIETY NEWS
Sindo Kou
Jose Ramirez
John DuPont
ta Canadian Center for Welding and

Joining.
Andrew Deceuster is a professor of
engineering technology at Weber
State University, Ogden, Utah.
B. Griffiths is with the Mechanical
and Aerospace Engineering, Utah
State University in Logan, Utah.
Honorary Membership Award
This award is presented to a person
of acknowledged eminence in the welding profession or to an individual who is
credited with exceptional accomplishments in the industry.
Mary Vermeer Andringa, president
and CEO of Vermeer Corp., is a director of Herman Miller Co. and Milliken & Co., a director and past chair
of the National Association of Manufacturers, member of the Presidents
Export Council, and a trustee emeritus at Central College, Pella, Iowa.
Edward G. Yevick, a 50-year AWS
member, is president and consulting
welding engineer for WeldMet International Group, Inc. He is a renowned
expert on nondestructive evaluation,
and welding for the metal-rolling, extrusions, plastics, paper, and hydroelectric industries, and contributes to
the D11 and D14.7 Committees.
International Meritorious
Certificate Award
This certificate recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions or services to benefit the world-
Stanley Raymond
wide welding industry.

Fernando Martinez Diez, after receiving the Henry Granjon Prize in
2007 for his PhD paper researched at
the Colorado School of Mines, founded the AWS Monterrey Section in
Mexico. He is a Principal Reviewer for
the Welding Journal and ASM International, and serves as an engineering
manager for the Product Development and Global Technology Division
at Caterpillar in Mossville, Ill.
William Irrgang Memorial Award
This award recognizes the individual
who has done the most to enhance the
American Welding Societys goal of advancing the science and technology of
welding over the past five years.
Peng-Sheng Wei, an AWS Fellow,
has been a professor at National Sun
Yat-Sen University in Taiwan, ROC,
since 1989. His research centers on
analyses of the electron and laser
beam, plasma, and resistance welding
processes, and studies on the causes
of porosity and other weld defects.
Charles H. Jennings Memorial Award
This award recognizes the authors of
the most valuable paper written by a
college student or faculty representative
published in the Welding Journal during the previous calendar year.
Spatter and Porosity in Gas Metal
Arc Welding of Magnesium Alloys:
Mechanisms and Elimination
Dustin C. Wagner, a graduate of
Ali Nasiri
Andrew Stockdale
David Weckman
Fredick Noecker II
Jack Devletian
the University of Wisconsin-Madison,

is currently a welding engineer for
Miller Electric Mfg. Co.
Youngki Yang, who earned his PhD
at the University of Wisconsin, is an
engineering consultant for Ko & G.
Co. in Seoul, South Korea.
Sindo Kou, a Fellow of AWS and
ASM International, has served as a
professor at the University of Wisconsin since 1983.
James F. Lincoln Gold Medal Award
This award is presented for the paper
with a single author that represents the
best original contribution to the advancement and use of welding published
in the Welding Journal during the previous calendar year.
Evaluation of Susceptibility of
Alloy IN740 to HAZ Stress
Relaxation Cracking
Jose E. Ramirez is the principal
engineer with DNVGL in the Materials and Corrosion Technology Center.
A renowned authority on corrosion,
he is a Peer Reviewer for the Welding
Journal, and serves on the Welding
Research Council, International Institute of Welding, and several NACE International Committees.
McKayHelm Award
This award is presented for best contribution to the advancement of knowledge of low-alloy steel, stainless steel or
surfacing welding metals, involving the
use, development, or testing of these
Y. (Norman) Zhou
Leland Vetter
SOCIETY NEWS
Jeremy Caron
Suresh Babu
materials, as represented by articles

published in the Welding Journal during the previous calendar year.
HighTemperature Corrosion
Behavior of Alloy 600 and 622 Weld
Claddings and Coextruded Coating
John N. DuPont, an AWS Fellow, is
the R. D. Stout Distinguished Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at Lehigh University, and associate director of the universitys Energy
Research Center.
Andrew Stockdale, who received
his PhD from Lehigh University, is a
welding engineer at Bechtel Marine
Propulsion Corp.
Anthony Caizza, with Plymouth
Engineered Shapes, Hopkinsville, Ky.,
has developed numerous applications
for net- and near-net shaped technology using various metals.
Antonio Esposito is with Plymouth
Engineered Shapes.
Professor Koichi Masubuchi Award
This award is presented to an individual who has made significant contributions to the advancement of science
and technology of materials joining
through research and development.
Fredick F. Noecker II joined ExxonMobil Development Co. after receiving his PhD based on a study of ductility dip cracking. He leads a team of
engineers solving problems in the
field using failure analysis and fitness-for-service assessments.
Samuel Wylie Miller
Memorial Medal Award
This medal is awarded for meritorious achievements that have contributed
conspicuously to the advancement of the
art and science of welding and cutting.
Jack H. Devletian, an AWS Fellow,
now retired, was a professor and associate dean at Portland State University for eleven years. He performed
contract positions for The Lincoln
Electric Co., NASA Glenn Research
John Lippold
Eun Joon Chun
Center, and held positions at Rocketdyne, Raytheon, and Union Carbide.

He served on a number of AWS Technical Committees, holds three
patents, and was a Principal Peer Reviewer for the Welding Journal.
National Meritorious Award
This award is given in recognition of
good counsel, loyalty, and devotion to
the affairs of the Society, and for promoting cordial relations with industry
and other organizations.
Stanley L. Raymond, a 31-year
member of AWS, is an AWS Senior
Certified Welding Inspector experienced with the ASME and AWS aluminum and bridge structural welding
codes. He has served on the Certification Committee since 1992, and as
chair or a member of numerous technical committees.
Robert L. Peaslee
Memorial Brazing Award
This award recognizes the paper considered to be the best contribution to the
science or technology of brazing published in the Welding Journal during
the previous calendar year.
Interfacial Microstructure of Diode
Laser Brazed AZ31B Magnesium to
Steel Sheet Using a Nickel Interlayer
Ali M. Nasiri is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Centre for Advanced Materials Joining at the University of Waterloo, Canada.
David C. Weckman is a professor
in the Mechanical & Mechatronics
Engineering Dept. at the University
of Waterloo.
Y. (Norman) Zhou is a Research
Chair and director of the Centre for
Advanced Materials and Joining at
the University of Waterloo.
Plummer Memorial Education
Lecture Award
This award honors welding educators
who teach in private facilities who have
Baba Hayato
Koji Terashima
advanced the knowledge of welding.

Welding in the West
Training the Way I Do It
Leland Vetter, an AWS Certified
Welding Inspector, Educator, and
Welding Supervisor, has been director
of Welding and Joining Technology at
Eastern Wyoming College since 1980.
His expertise has been honed by 34
years experience teaching to the
codes for the construction, oil and gas
pipelines, pressure vessels, energy,
and plant maintenance sectors.
Warren F. Savage Memorial Award
This award recognizes the paper published in the Welding Journal Research
Supplement during the previous calendar year that best represents innovative
research resulting in a better understanding of the metallurgical principles
related to welding.
The Weld HeatAffected Zone
Liquation Cracking Susceptibility
of Naval Steels
Jeremy L. Caron obtained his PhD
in welding engineering from The
Ohio State University and then in
2010 joined Haynes International,
Inc., Research & Technology Group.
Suresh Babu is a professor at The
Ohio State University and director of
the Center for Materials Joining Science for Energy Applications, and
chair of Advanced Manufacturing at
the University of Tennessee,
Knoxville.
John C. Lippold, an AWS Fellow,
has served on the faculty of The Ohio
State University welding engineering
program since 1995. Lippold has
coauthored textbooks on welding
metallurgy and the weldability of
stainless steels.
William Spraragen Memorial Award
This award recognizes the best paper
published in the Welding Journal Research Supplement during the previous
calendar year.
SOCIETY NEWS
Prediction of Phase
Embrittlement in Type 316FR
Weld Metal
Eun Joon Chun is a PhD candidate at Pusan National University,
Republic of Korea.
Baba Hayato is with DAIHEN
Corp. where he performs research
studies on welding metallurgy for
nickel-based superalloys and stainless and high-alloy steels.
Koji Terashima joined Toyota Motor Corp. in 2012 where his research
concerns metallography and structural transformations.
Kazuyoshi Saida since 2012 has
served as a full professor at Osaka
University where his PhD studies focused on bonding of silicon nitride
ceramics to metals.
Kazutoshi Nishimoto is head of
the Manufacturing and Materials Science Division and a professor at Osaka University. He is also a professor
in the Applied Nuclear Engineering
Department at Fukui University of
Technology.
R. D. Thomas Memorial Award
This award recognizes a member of
the American Council of the International Institute of Welding (IIW) or an
AWS member who has made a substantial contribution to IIW activities.
John C. Lippold, an AWS Fellow,

is a coeditor of Welding in the World,
published by the International Institute of Welding. He has served as a
professor for The Ohio State University welding engineering program
since 1995.
Elihu Thomson
Resistance Welding Award
This award recognizes an outstanding contribution to the technology and
application of resistance welding, including equipment innovations, unique
applications in production, a published
paper, or other activity of merit.
Jerry E. Gould has served since
1985 on the senior technical staff at
EWI where he concentrates on forge
welding projects. Earlier, at Inland
Steel Co. Research Laboratory, he
worked on resistance spot welding of
sheet steels and process kinetics.
Mike Bernasek is president and CEO

of ASMeix Corp. where he has developed innovative software used by the
industry that addresses welding code
requirements for the qualification of
procedure and personnel. He serves on
The AWS D1 and B2 Committees and
since 2005 has served as a U.S. Delegate to ISO TC44/SC10 and SC11.
Kazuyoshi Saida
K. Nishimoto
Jerry Gould
Mike Bernasek
George E. Willis Award

This award is presented to an individual for promoting the advancement
of welding internationally, by fostering
cooperative participation in areas such
as technology transfer, standards rationalization, and promotion of industrial goodwill.
Member Service Anniversaries Recognized at FABTECH
AWS President Dean Wilson (far right) is shown with Gold Members celebrating 50
years of service to the Society. From left are Leonard Connor, Robert Olson, Jon Van
Pelt, and Gerald Uttrachi.
Keith Bernier (left) celebrated 35 years

of membership with his father, Fred,
who celebrated 50 years of service.
SOCIETY NEWS
Life Members, with 35 years of service to the Society included Daniel Allford, Terry Byrd, Andrew Cullison, Dale Ferguson, Russel
Fuchs, Jay Ginder, William Harris, Michael Hayes, Gary Heinly, Ron Hunnicutt, Eric Johnson, Roger Johnson, Dale Knife, Dennis Ledo,
Dwight Myers, Donald Olson, Jophn Pearson,Ronald Theiss, Robert Udy, Omar Serrano, Murali Tumuluru, and Jeffrey Weber. Everyone
is not pictured.
Silver Members celebrating 25 years of membership this year are John Bray, Victor Fuhrman, Robert Guenther, Ian Harris, Paul
Hebert, David Keck, Thomas Lienert, Pascal Logue, Stephen McCullough, Chris Nielsen, Michael Pittman, Wendy Sue Reeve, and
Tomoyuki Ueyama. Everyone is not pictured.
Sections Recognized for Sponsoring New Welding Scholarships
Representing the Sections sponsoring new scholarships are Dustin Meunier and Chris Vrolyk (Alberta), George Fairbanks
(Baton Rouge), Tom Ferri and Geoff Putnam (Green & White Mountains), Greg Siepert and Royce Altendorf (Kansas),
and Ed Calaman (YorkCentral Pennsylvania). Gerald Uttrachi, chair of the AWS Foundation, is shown in both photos at
the far right.
SOCIETY NEWS
TECH TOPICS
AWS was approved as an accredited standards-preparing organization
by the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI) in 1979. AWS rules,
as approved by ANSI, require that all
standards be open to public review
for comment during the approval
process. This column also advises of
ANSI approval of documents. The following standards are submitted for
public review.
Handbook Chair Receives Appreciation Award
ISO Standards for Public Review

ISO/DIS 6848.2, Arc welding and
cutting Nonconsumables tungsten
electrodes Classification
ISO/DIS 19288, Welding consumables Solid wire electrodes, solid
wires and rods for fusion welding of
magnesium and magnesium alloys
Classification
Copies of these two draft standards are available for review and
comment through your national standards body, which in the United
States is ANSI, 25 W. 43rd St., 4th Fl.,
New York, NY, 10036; (212) 6424900. Any comments regarding ISO
documents should be sent to your national standards body. In the United
States, if you want to contribute to
the development of international
welding standards, contact A. Davis,
adavis@aws.org.
Standard Approved by ANSI
D16.4M/D16.4:2015, Specification
for the Qualification of Robotic Arc
Welding Personnel. Revised.
Welding Handbook Committee Vice Chair Doug Kautz, front left, presents an apprecia
tion of service award to outgoing Welding Handbook Committee Chair Wangen Lin dur
ing the annual Welding Handbook Committee meeting held Nov. 11 in Atlanta, Ga.,
during FABTECH. Other Welding Handbook Committee members in attendance
included are, from left, Carl Cross, Michael Hayes, George Young, Chapter Chair Brett
Krueger, and Phil Temple.
Technical Committee Meetings

All AWS technical committee
meetings are open to the public. To
attend a meeting, contact the staff
member listed.
Feb. 10. D15 Committee on Railroad Welding. Miami, Fla. J. Rosario,
ext. 308, jrosario@aws.org.
Feb. 10. D15A Subcommittee on
Cars and Locomotives. Miami, Fla. J.
Rosario, ext. 308, jrosario@aws.org.
Feb. 12. D3B Subcommittee on
Underwater Welding. New Orleans,
La. B. McGrath, ext. 311, bmcgrath@
aws.org.
Feb. 25. B2F Subcommittee on
Plastic Welding Qualification. Miami,
Fla. S. Hedrick, ext. 305, steveh@
aws.org.
Feb. 25. G1A Subcommittee on

Hot Gas Welding and Extrusion Welding. Miami, Fla. S. Hedrick, ext. 305,
steveh@aws.org.
March 9, 10. D16 Committee on
Robotic and Automatic Welding.
Columbus, Ohio. C. Lewis, ext. 306,
clewis@aws.org.
March 10. D15C Subcommittee on
Track Welding. St. Louis, Mo. J.
Rosario, ext. 308, jrosario@aws.org.
March 25, 26. A5 Committee on
Filler Metals and Allied Materials.
Orlando, Fla. R. Gupta, ext. 301,
gupta@aws.org.
April 710. D1 Committee and
Subcommittees on Structural Welding. Miami, Fla. B. McGrath, ext. 311,
bmcgrath@ aws.org.
Nominate Your Candidate for the MIT Masubuchi Award

The Prof. Koichi Masubuchi award,
with a $5000 honorarium, is presented
to one person, 40 or younger, who has
made significant contributions to the
advancement of materials joining
through research and development.

Send a list of your candidates experience, publications, honors, awards,
and at least three letters of recommendation from fellow researchers to Prof.
Todd Palmer, tap103@psu.edu. This

award is sponsored annually by the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Dept. of Ocean Engineering.
SOCIETY NEWS
Opportunities to Contribute to AWS Technical Committees
The following committees welcome new members. Some committees are recruiting members with specific interests in re
gard to the committees scope, as marked below: Producers (P), General Interest (G); Educators (E); Consultants (C); and
Users (U). For more information, contact the staff member listed or visit www.aws.org/w/a/technical/comm_stand.html.
E. Abrams, ext. 307, eabrams@aws.org:
Methods of weld inspection, B1
Committee (E, U). Automotive, D8
Committee (C, E, G, U). Cranes, press
es, and industrial mill rolls, D14E and
H Subcommittees (C, E, G, U). Resist
ance welding, C1 Committee (C, E, G,
U). Resistance welding equipment, J1
Committee (E, G, U).
C. Lewis, ext. 306, clewis@aws.org:
Oxyfuel gas welding and cutting,
C4 Committee (C, E, G, U). Friction
welding, C6 Committee. Highenergy
beam welding and cutting, C7 Committee. Robotic and automatic weld
ing, D16 Committee (C, E, G). Hybrid
welding, C7D Subcommittee (G).
J. Molin, ext. 304, jmolin@aws.org:

Welding practices and procedures
for austenitic steels, D10C Subcommittee. Aluminum piping, D10H Subcommittee. Chromium molybdenum
steel piping, D10I Subcommittee.
Welding of titanium piping, D10K
Subcommittee. Purging and root pass
welding, D10S Subcommittee. Low
carbon steel pipe, D10T Subcommittee. Orbital pipe welding, D10U Subcommittee. Duplex pipe welding,
D10Y Subcommittee. Committee on
Welding of Sheet Metal, D9 Committee (G, P). Reactive alloys, G2D Subcommittee (G). Titanium and zirconi
um filler metals, A5K Subcommittee.
J. Rosario, ext. 308, jrosario@aws.org:

Thermal spraying, C2 Committee
(E, G, U). Welding iron castings, D11
Committee (G).
S. Hedrick, ext. 305, steveh@aws.org:
Joining of plastics and composites,
G1 Committee. Safety and Health
Committee (E, U, G, C). Mechanical
testing of welds, B4 Committee.
R. Gupta, ext. 301, gupta@aws.org:
Magnesium alloy filler metals, A5L
Subcommittee.
MEMBERSHIP ACTIVITIES New AWS Supporters

Sustaining Members
Affiliate Companies
Educational Institutions
Endress+Hauser Flowtec AG
Div. USA
2350 Endress Pl., Greenwood, IN 46143
Representative: Michael DuValle
www.us.endress.com
Khalid Ali AlKharafi & Bros. Co.

PO Box 2886, Safat 13029
Al Kuwayt 13029, Kuwait
Brigham Young University, Idaho

525 S. Center St.
Rexburg, ID 83460
McGill Engineering, Inc.

5305 S. MacGill Ave., Tampa, FL 33611
Goppert Eastern Kansas Rural

Technology Center
307 N. Walnut
Garnett, KS 66032
Fisher Barton Specialty Products

1040 S. 12th St., Watertown, WI 53094
Representative: R. Diaz
www.fisher-barton.com
Gonzalez Contract Services
1670 High Wood E., Pontiac, MI 48340
Representative: William Kelly
www.gonzalez-group.com
Harlequin International (GH) Ltd.
Old Rectory Ave., West Lodge
Ellon Aberdeens AB419BT, UK
Representative: Scott Thomson
www.us.endress.com
Henderson Steel
8370 Eastgate Rd.
Henderson, NV 89015
Representative: Juan L. Garcia
www.hendersonsteelnv.com
Welding Consultants LLC
889 N. 22nd St., Columbus, OH 43219
Representative: Richard Holdren
www.weldingconsultantsllc.com
Precision Surveillance Corp.

3468 Watling St.
East Chicago, IN 46312
Regal Machine Mfg.
10893 Hwy. 271, Tyler, TX 75708
Rhino Mfg., Inc.
16705 Tye St. SE, Monroe, WA 98272
UACJ Corp.
Library of Kenkyu Kaihatsu Ctr.
3-1-12 Chitose Minato Ku
Nagoya 4550011, Japan
Supporting Companies
CO SW Ironworkers JAT
501 W. 4th Ave., Denver, CO 80223
Holland College Georgetown Center

PO Box 29, Georgetown
Prince Edward Island C0A 1L0
Canada
Page & Howard International
Technical Training Institute, Inc.
Blk 6, Lot 3, Hologram St.
Light Industry Science Park 1
Diezmo, Cabuyao Laguna 4025
Philippines
Southeast Area Technical Skill Center
525 Campus Loop
Walla Walla, WA 99362
Surface Equipment Corp.

337 Cargill Rd., Kilgore, TX 75662
VanceGranville C. C.
PO Box 917
Henderson, NC 27536
Technical International Experts Co.

42 Broadway, 12 Fl., Ste. 146
New York, NY 10004
Western Nebraska C. C.
1601 E. 27th St.
Scottsbluff, NE 69361
SOCIETY NEWS
MemberGetaMember
Listed are the members who participated in the MGM Campaign that ran
from Jan. 1Dec. 31, 2014. Five points
were awarded for each Individual
Member and 1 point for every Student
Member recruited. For campaign rules
and a prize list, see page 81 of this
Welding Journal. Questions? Call the
AWS Membership Dept. (800/305)
443-9353, ext. 480.
J. Morris, Mobile 230
M. Eiswirth, Mobile 74
D. Saunders, Lakeshore 45
J. Foley, Pittsburgh 41
M. Pelegrino, Chicago 40
D. Thompson, SW Virginia 38
R. Bulthouse, West Michigan 35
C. Lariche, Cleveland 35
G. Gammill, NE Mississippi 34
D. Box, Mobile 33
R. Barber, East Texas 30
R. Richwine, Indiana 29
A. Stute, Madison-Beloit 28
M. Haggard, Inland Empire 27
D. Ebenhoe, Kern 25
D. Mandina, New Orleans 25
J. Mckenzie, Detroit 25
R. Purvis, Sacramento Valley 25
S. Siviski, Maine 25
E. Donaldson, Cumberland Valley 24

A. Theriot, New Orleans 24
S. Miner, San Francisco 22
R. Zabel, SE Nebraska 22
C. Bridwell, Ozark 20
S. Hodges, North Texas 20
D. Galiher, Detroit 19
D. Lynnes, Northern Plains 19
R. Munns, Utah 19
J. Kline, Northern New York 18
R. Polito, Spokane 18
D. Porter, Nashville 18
C. Donnell, NW Ohio 17
G. Smith, Lehigh Valley 17
M. Anderson, Indiana 16
C. Galbavy, Idaho/Montana 16
G. Deem, Columbia 15
R. Farquhar, Cleveland 15
M. Trute, Atlanta 15
J. Tso, L.A./Inland Empire 15
J. Carney, West Michigan 14
R. Eckstein, Northwest 14
S. Robeson, Cumberland Valley 14
J. Russell, Fox Valley 14
T. Zablocki, Pittsburgh 14
B. Cheatham, Columbia 13
J. McClung, Mid-Ohio Valley 13
C. Wolfman, Sacramento Valley 12
R. Bubb, Philadelphia 11
J. Knapp, Nebraska 11
C. Ortega, North Texas 11
District 8 Director Award

Presented
D. Joshua Burgess, Dist. 8 director,
has nominated the following member
to receive this years award:
Delbert Butler
Chattanooga Section
The District Director Award provides a means for District directors to
recognize individuals and corporations who have contributed their time
and effort to the affairs of their local
Section and/or District.
AWS Member Counts

December 1, 2014
Sustaining.................................603
Supporting ...............................352
Educational...............................705
Affiliate.....................................597
Welding Distributor ...................56
Total Corporate ......................2,313
Individual ...........................59,919
Student + Transitional ...........10,831
Total Members ..................70,750
Nominate Your Candidates for These WeldingRelated Awards

The deadline for nominating candidates for the following awards is December 31 prior to the year of the awards presentations.
E-mail Wendy Sue Reeve at wreeve@aws.org or call (800/305) 443-9353, ext. 293.
William Irrgang Memorial Award
This award includes a $2500 honorarium to recognize the individual
who has done the most over the past
five years to advance the science and
technology of welding.
International Meritorious
Certificate Award
The award recognizes, in the
broadest terms, the honorees significant contributions and service to the
international welding community.
National Meritorious Award

The award includes a $2500 honorarium to recognize the recipients
loyalty, good counsel, dedication to
AWS affairs, and promotion of cordial
relations with industry and other
technical organizations.
Honorary Membership Award
This award cites an individual who
has eminence in the welding profession or has made outstanding developments in the field of welding arts.
George E. Willis Award

The award is presented to an individual who has promoted the advancement of welding internationally
by fostering cooperative participation
in technology transfer, standards rationalization, and promotion of industrial goodwill for the Society.
SOCIETY NEWS
SECTION NEWS
District 1
Thomas Ferri, director

(508) 527-1884
thomas_ferri@victortechnologies.com
CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS/
RHODE ISLAND
November 6
Activity: The executive committee
met to plan events for the coming
year. Participating were Dist. 1 Director Tom Ferri, Chair Brendon Pequita, First Vice Chair Tim Kinnaman,
and Secretary/Treasurer Doug
Desrochers.
CENTRAL MASS./RHODE ISLAND From left are Chair Brendon Pequita, Dist. 1 Director
Tom Ferri, Tim Kinnaman, and Doug Desrochers.
GREEN & WHITE MOUNTAINS

December 18
Activity: The Section held an executive committee meeting at River Valley Tech School in Springeld, Vt.
Gerry Ouelette received his Silver
Member certicate for 25 years of
service to the Society.
District 2
Harland W. Thompson, director

(631) 546-2903
harland.w.thompson@us.ul.com
LONG ISLAND From left are Chair Brian Cassidy, Deborah McInnis, Ray OLeary, Ron
Pandolf, Tom Gartland, Alex Duschere, Dist. 2 Director Harland Thompson, and Mario
Conte.
LONG ISLAND
December 11
Activity: The Section held its awardspresentation night citing Chair Brian
Cassidy and Alex Duschere (District
Director), Ray OLeary (Section Meritorious), and Tom Gartland (District
Meritorious). Harland Thompson,
Dist. 2 director, presided at the event.
The meeting was held in Wantagh,
N.Y.
CUMBERLAND VALLEY From left are James Pan, Brian Bain, and speaker Dale Flood,
an AWS vice president.
GREEN & WHITE MOUNTAINS From left are Ernie Plumb, Phil Witteman, Brendan Kelley, Geoff Putnam, Garry Buckley, John Steel,
Gerry Ouelette, Rich Fuller, and Ray Henderson.
SECTION NEWS
District 3
Michael Sebergandio, director
(717) 471-2065
drweld13@gmail.com
CUMBERLAND VALLEY
November 19
Speaker: Dale Flood, AWS vice president
Affiliation: Tri Tool, Inc.
Topic: AWS activities and motivation
Activity: Brian Bain received his Gold
Member certicate for 50 years of
service to the Society and James Pan
received his Life Member certicate
for 35 years of service. The program
was held at DoubleTree Hotel in Baltimore, Md.
LANCASTERYORK
December 3
Activity: Members of the two Sections visited New Standard Corp. in
York, Pa., to study its welding, metal
forming, and stamping operations.
The tour guides included Paul Eichelberger, Warren Draper, Bennet Zifferer, and Todd Troutman.
READINGLANCASTER
November 20
Activity: Members of the two Sections visited PRL Industries in Cornwall, Pa., an AWS Sustaining Member
company. Owners Jan and Pat Herschkowitz detailed the ve companies
that make up the PRL group then led
the tour assisted by employee and
Reading Section member Randy Jacobs and others.
READINGLANCASTER Randy Jacobs
discussed digital inspection processes.
District 4
Stewart A. Harris, director
(919) 824-0520
stewart.harris@altec.com
Central Piedmont C. C.
Student Chapter
Week of November 17
Activity: Advisor Ray Sosko and his
welding students manned a booth at
the colleges annual The Geek Fest
2014, a celebration of the geek in all
of us that highlights innovations in
technology, media, and industry.
CENTRAL PIEDMONT C. C. S. C.
George Works (center) and Jose Guevara
(right) interest high school students in
taking courses in welding.
LANCASTERYORK From left are Alex Barlow, Paul Eichelberger, Brad Bergman, Rick Stein, Bennett Zifferer, Frank Kelkis, Dean Whit
mer, York Section Chair Ed Calaman, Matt Schmidt, John Boyer, Mike Fink, Dave Watson, Dist. 3 Director Mike Sebergandio, and Justin
Heistand, Lancaster Section chair.
READINGLANCASTER Attendees are shown at PRL Industries in November.

SECTION NEWS
Floyd County High School
Student Chapter (Roanoke)
November 30
Activity: Advisor Doug Thompson
and his Student Chapter members
constructed a oat they entered in
the Floyd County Christmas parade.
The oat displayed several members
performing various welding operations. The Chapter is affiliated with
the Southwest Virginia Section.
SOUTH CAROLINA
November 20
Speaker: Richard Temple, district
sales manager
Affiliation: National Standard Wire
Co.
Topic: Manufacture of solid and ux
cored wires
Activity: The program was held at
Trident Technical College in North
Charleston, S.C.
District 5
District 6
Carl Matricardi, director

(770) 356-2107
cmatricardi@aol.com
Michael Krupnicki, director

(585) 705-1764
mkrup@mahanyweld.com
COLUMBIA
NORTHERN NEW YORK
November 20
Activity: The Section members visited Hagler Systems in Augusta, Ga., to
study the manufacture of dredging
and mining equipment. Joshua
Thomas with the Operations Div.
conducted the tour.
December 2
Activity: The Section members met at
Zak Machine in Green Island, N.Y., to
study the manufacture of watercooled copper molds and crucibles.
Michael J. Dagle, president, conducted the program.
FLOYD COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL S. C. Above, students perform pipe welding on the
oat they built for the county parade. Below, Advisor Doug Thompson (far left) is shown
with his Student Chapter members.
SOUTH CAROLINA From left are Ken

ny Inabinette, speaker Richard Temple,
and Chair Gale Mole.
COLUMBIA Presenter Joshua Thomas

is shown with Chair Robyn Westphal.
CENTRAL PIEDMONT C. C. S. C. From

left are Advisor Ray Sosko, Chris Salley,
Josh Kaplan, and Paige Hoose.
SECTION NEWS
District 7
Uwe Aschemeier, director
(786) 473-9540
uwe@sgsdiving.com
the Society. A highlight was a performance by the Sagacity Barbershop

Quartet members Larry Deters, Paul
Wietlisbach, Kirk Jordan, and Bob
Davenport.
COLUMBUS
November 19
Activity: The Section joined members
of local technical societies to tour
Phoenix Bat Co. in Plain City, Ohio.
The program began with the history
of baseball bats followed by the details of their manufacture. The program was organized by Jessica Rannow and led by CEO Seth Cramer.
District 9
Michael Skiles, director
(337) 501-0304
michaelskiles@cox.net
District 10
Robert E. Brenner, director
(330) 484-3650
Oil Region Student Chapter

November 21
Activity: Advisor Travis Crate and
Chapter members toured The Lincoln
Electric Co. Automation Div. manufacturing facility and welding school
in Cleveland, Ohio. The guide was Vic
PITTSBURGH
October 28
Speaker: Tim Kaulen, sculptor
Topic: Creating metal art works
Activity: The event was held at
Springeld Grille in Mars, Pa.
November 17
Speaker: Uwe Aschemeier, Dist. 7 director
Affiliation: Subsea Global Solutions,
senior engineer
Topic: Underwater welding
Activity: Fifty members attended this
program held at Buca di Beppo Italian
Restaurant in Pittsburgh, Pa. Dave
McQuaid, an AWS vice president, attended the event.
NORTHERN NEW YORK Chair Pat

ODonnell (left) is shown with presenter
Michael Dagle.
District 8
D. Joshua Burgess, director
(931) 260-7039
djoshuaburgess@gmail.com
COLUMBUS (Top photo) Jessica Ran

now sets the CNC to begin the batmak
ing process. Above, CEO Seth Cramer is
shown in the wood storage area.
CHATTANOOGA
November 20
Speaker: Max Trent, metallurgical engineer
Affiliation: Alstom Power, Materials
Technology Center
Topic: On-cooling behaviors of welds
Activity: Komatsu America, Chattanooga, Tenn., hosted the event.
NASHVILLE
December 1
Activity: The Section hosted its annual holiday party at Holiday Inn Express in Mt. Juliet, Tenn. James E.
Kirby Jr. received his Silver Member
certicate for 25 years of service to
PITTSBURGH (Top photo) Sculptor Tim

Kaulen (left) is shown with Chair George
Kirk. (Above photo) From left are AWS
Vice President David McQuaid; Uwe As
chemeier, Dist. 7 director; and Chair
George Kirk.
CHATTANOOGA From left are Dist. 8

Director Josh Burgess and speaker Max
Trent.
SECTION NEWS
Matthews, AWS president in 1999.
The Chapter, based at Venango Technology Center in Oil City, Pa., is affiliated with the Drake Well Section.
District 11
Robert P. Wilcox, director

(734) 721-8272
rmwilcox@wowway.com
DETROIT
December 12
Activity: The Section held its annual
holiday party at Western Golf &
Country Club in Redford, Mich., for
85 attendees. This years host was
Chair Dan Wellman, vice president of
sales and marketing for OBARA Corp.
USA.
DETROIT From left are (front) Theresa Pakalnins and Ashley Webel and (standing) Jeff
Peterson, Eric Pakalnins, Don Maatz, Reggie Scales, and Ryan Jones.
Ferris State University

Student Chapter
December 2
Activity: Advisor Jeff Carney and his
Chapter members participated in the
Salvation Armys Angel Tree project.
The students used their Chapter
funds to purchase Christmas gifts for
needy children in the Big Rapids,
Mich., area.
LAKESHORE Chair Brian Strebe (left) is

shown with presenter Josh Baldwin at
Manitowoc Cranes.
NASHVILLE At left (from left) are Sagacity Barbershop Quartet songsters Larry Deters, Paul Wietlisbach, Kirk Jordan, and Bob Daven
port. At right, James Kirby Jr. (right) receives his Silver Member certicate from Joe Livesay.
OIL REGION S. C. Advisor Travis Crate (kneeling at left) is shown with his Chapter members during their Lincoln Electric Co. tour.
SECTION NEWS
District 12
Daniel J. Roland, director

(920) 241-1542
daniel.roland@airgas.com
LAKESHORE
November 13
Activity: The members visited Manitowoc Cranes in Manitowoc, Wis., a
second time to study the newly installed robotic boom chord welding
system that automatically adapts to
variations in parts to maintain production speed and weld quality. Josh
Baldwin, manager of manufacturing
engineering, conducted the program.
MADISONBELOIT
CHICAGO
December 6
Activity: The Sections Blackhawk
Technical College Student Chapter,
led by Advisor Dan Crifase, participated in a school community event
named Winter Carnival. The Chapter
members designed and built three
games that were used in the event.
More than 200 children attended the
activities.
November 13
Activity: The Section hosted a CWI
testing and 9-year recertication
seminar at South Suburban College in
South Holland, Ill. Jim Greer, a past
AWS president and president of TechnoWeld, conducted the event.
District 13
John Willard, director

(815) 954-4838
kustom_bilt@msn.com
December 11
Activity: The Sections board members assembled at Mama Luigis
Restaurant in Bridgeview, Ill., for a
planning meeting. Attending were
Chair Erik Purkey, Pete Host, Bob
Zimny, Cliff Iftimie, Jeff Stanczak,
Craig Tichelar, John Hesseltine, and
Marty Vondra.
CHICAGO Jim Greer, center wearing a white shirt, conducted the CWI program in November.
MADISONBELOIT From left are Student Chapter Advisor Dan Crifase, Jeff Loathary, Jacob Hammond, Seth Gravert holding his son Ja
cob Behrend, Brent Baskin, Cole Yanchik, Andy Martinez, Kyle Johnson, Laurel Majercik, and Jacob Augenstein.
Ferris State University S. C. Chapter members are shown experiencing the joy of giving to the less fortunate in their community.
AWS MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

Join or Renew:
Mail: Form with your payment, to AWS
Call: Membership Department at (800) 443-9353, ext. 480
Fax: Completed form to (305) 443-5647
Online: www.aws.org/membership
CONTACT INFORMATION
q New Member q Renewal
q Mr. q Ms. q Mrs. q Dr.
Please print Duplicate this page as needed
Last Name:_______________________________________________________________________________
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)__________________________ Secondary Phone (
)______________________
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Who pays your dues?: q Company q Self-paid Sex: q Male q Female
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q Check here if you learned of the Society through an AWS Member? Members name:_______________________Members # (if known):________
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REV. 11/14
8669 NW 36 St, # 130

Miami, FL 33166-6672
Telephone (800) 443-9353
FAX (305) 443-5647
Visit our website: www.aws.org
Type of Business (Check ONE only)
A
q Contract construction
B
q Chemicals & allied products
C
q Petroleum & coal industries
D
q Primary metal industries
E
q Fabricated metal products
F
q Machinery except elect. (incl. gas welding)
G
q Electrical equip., supplies, electrodes
H
q Transportation equip. air, aerospace
I
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J
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K
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L
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M
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N
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O
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01
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02
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03
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05
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20
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21
q Engineer manufacturing
06
q Engineer other
10
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12
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13
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22
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07
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08
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14
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09
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Technical Interests (Check all that apply)
A
q Ferrous metals
B
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C
q Nonferrous metals except aluminum
D
q Advanced materials/Intermetallics
E
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F
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G
q Arc welding
H
q Brazing and soldering
I
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J
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K
q Cutting
L
q NDT
M
q Safety and health
N
q Bending and shearing
O
q Roll forming
P
q Stamping and punching
Q
q Aerospace
R
q Automotive
S
q Machinery
T
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U
q Piping and tubing
V
q Pressure vessels and tanks
W
q Sheet metal
X
q Structures
Y
q Other
Z
q Automation
1
q Robotics
2
q Computerization of Welding
SECTION NEWS
District 14
Robert L. Richwine, director

(765) 606-7970
rlrichwine2@aol.com
December 13
Activity: The Indiana Section held its
annual holiday party at UAW 663 in
Anderson, Ind. Chair Dave Jackson
emceed the party.
INDIANA
November 20
Speaker: Nick Bovi
Affiliation: Weld Safety Midwest, Inc.
Topic: Welder safety
Activity: This Students Night program instructed 50 welding students.
The Section provided pizza and soft
drinks for everyone and each student
went home with a prize.
ST. LOUIS
December 5
Activity: The Section held its annual
holiday party at Royale Orleans Banquet Center in St. Louis, Mo. Awards
were presented to Chair Mike Kamp
(District Meritorious, District Director), James Schuette (Section Private
Sector Educator), Steve Stutz and
James Cashdollar (Section CWI), Victor Shorkey (Section Meritorious),

Vince Suria (District CWI), Kevin
Corgan (Section Educator), and Andrew Swyers (Section Meritorious
and District Director). The event,
with more than 150 attendees, raised
funds for the Sections scholarship
program.
District 15
David Lynnes, director

(701) 365-0606
dave@learntoweld.com
DES MOINES HIGH SCHOOL CENTRAL S. C.

From left top row are Tyler Peters, Cam
run Nelson, Hunter Matthews, Jeremy Di
etch, Christian Ponce, and John Trujillo. Bot
tom row are Dustin Kono, Hunter St. John,
Mike Beaman, Daniel Veldes, Lal Mawia,
and Scott Obrien. Not pictured are Alec
Dank, Zach Isaacson, Austin Young, Mitchell
Parker, Jesse Brown, Shirley Klier, and
Spencer Stripe.
ST. LOUIS From left are Chair Mike Kamp, James Schuette, Steve Stutz, Victor Shorkey, Vince Suria, Kevin Corgan, James Cashdollar,
and Andrew Swyers.
CHICAGO Shown at the Dec. 11 meeting are (from left) Pete Host, Bob Zimny, Chair Erik
Purkey, Cliff Iftimie, Jeff Stanczak, Craig Tichelar, John Hesseltine, and Marty Vondra.
INDIANA Safety expert Nick Bovi is

shown at the Students Night program.
SECTION NEWS
District 16
Karl Fogleman, director
(402) 677-2490
fogleman3@cox.net
Des Moines H. S. Central

Student Chapter
December
Activity: Advisor Ralph Young and his
Chapter members assisted the nonprot charity Main Stream Living,
Inc., by using their welding skills to
overhaul an old trailer used to transport materials. The repair work was
completed in two weeks. Geoffrey
Wagner and Julian Simmer from Mr.
Samuelsons auto collision repair class
painted the trailer.
KANSAS CITY
November 13
Activity: The Section members visited Dimensional Innovations in
Kansas City, Kan., a specialty fabrication company. The tour was led by
Project Development Manager Jason
Grove, assisted by Jerald Thompson
and Chris Clay.
NEBRASKA
November 20
Activity: The Section members toured
Valmont Industries in Valley, Neb., a
supplier of infrastructure and agricultural equipment. Nicolette Villwok
led the tour.
EAST TEXAS Attendees are shown at the December ToysforTots event.
NEBRASKA Above, Nicolette Villwok is

shown with Chair Chris Beaty. Below,
Section members are shown during their
tour of Valmont Industries.
District 17
Jerry Knapp, director
(918) 224-6455
jerry.knapp@gasandsupply.com
EAST TEXAS
November 20
Speaker: Kirk Jordan
Affiliation: Airgas
Topic: Shielding gases
Activity: The meeting was held at Papacites Restaurant in Longview, Tex.
December 11
Activity: The Section held a gift-collection event to support the Toys-forTots program.
KANSAS CITY Presenter Jason Grove

(left) is shown with Chair Tim Gill.
EAST TEXAS From left are speaker Kirk Jordan; J. Jones, Section chair; and Jerry Knapp,
Dist. 17 director.
SECTION NEWS
District 18
John Stoll, director

(713) 724-2350
John.Stoll@voestalpine.com
HOUSTON
December 4
Activity: The Section members met
with Maverick Testing Laboratories
officials to express their appreciation
for the companys support of Section
activities, especially for supplying
coupons used for the Sections student welding certication day activities. The award was presented to
Marcus Coronado, Willie Rivera,
Daniel Guerra, Gary Anderson, Carlos
Rivera, Cody Sanders, Mathew
Koons, Dennis Guerra, Scott

Witkowski, Kyle Corrington, and Andrew Davila. The Section also recognized Industrial Welding Academy
(IWA) for its achievements educating
the welding workforce and continued
support of the Section. Chair Barney
Burkes presented IWA Director Andre
Horn an oxyfuel pipe beveler donated
by the Section to expand the academys training operations.
District 19
Ken Johnson, director

(425) 957-3553
kenneth.johnson@vigorindustrial.com
PUGET SOUND OLYMPIC
December 5
Speaker: Bonnie Dunbar, professor,
and a former NASA astronaut
Affiliation: University of Houston
Topic: Career paths for women
Activity: This was a joint meeting
with members of local chapters of the
Society of Women Engineers, ASM
International, and Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Dunbar is director of the STEM Center at the university and a professor of mechanical engineering. She played a key role in the
development of the heat tiles used on
the space shuttle. About 40 students
attended the lecture. The event was
held at Bellevue Coast Hotel in Bellevue, Wash.
PUGET SOUND OLYMPIC Some of the attendees are shown at the Career Paths for Women program.
HOUSTON Above, from left are Marcus Coronado, Willie Rivera, Daniel Guerra, Gary Anderson, Carlos Rivera, Cody Sanders, Mathew
Koons, Dennis Guerra, Scott Witkowski, Kyle Corrington, and Andrew Davila.
Below, Andre Horn (left), director, Industrial Welding Academy, is shown with Barney Burkes, Houston Section chair.
PUGET SOUND OLYMPIC From left are Len Reid, Rowena Beaudry, Mary Davin, Bonnie
Dunbar, and Ken Johnson, Dist. 19 director
SECTION NEWS
SPOKANE
November 19
Speaker: Ben Finnoe
Affiliation: Finnoe Design LLC
Topic: Reading engineering drawings
Activity: Sixty-two members, students and guests attended this program, held at Spokane Community
College in Spokane, Wash.
District 20
Pierrette H. Gorman, director

(505) 284-9644
phgorma@sandia.gov
BYUIDAHO S. C./
IDAHO/MONTANA
December 10
Speakers: Bruce Madigan and four of
his welding students
Affiliation: Montana Tech (MT)
Topic: Welding engineering at MT
Activity: Madigan is lead welding engineering professor and department
head of the MT General Engineering
Dept. Following his talk, welding engineering students Dale Brush and
Tate Patterson discussed their research in ultrasonic sensing for component visualization and real-time
process control. Then, students
Shane Marble and Arthur Davison
discussed their research into additive
manufacturing of meso-scale titanium and steel components using arc
welding. Paul Tremblay received his
Past Chairman certicate in appreciation for his services this past year.
IDAHO/MONTANA
December 3
Activity: The Section members attended the All Engineers Christmas
Social at Shilo Inn in Idaho Falls,
Idaho, sponsored by the Eastern Idaho Engineering Council and cosponsored by AWS, ANS, ASCE, ASME,
AlChE, IEEE, INCOSE, IAS, IWIN,
ISA, ISPE, ACS, and TBP, Basic American Foods, Idaho National Laboratory, Premier Technology, Inc., and
Walker Engineering.
District 21
Sam Lindsey, director

(858) 740-1917
slindsey@sandiego.gov
District 22
Kerry E. Shatell, director

(925) 866-5434
kesi@pge.com
SAN FRANCISCO
December 3
Speakers: Rebecca Anders, Jen Jackson
Affiliation: The Flux Foundation
Topic: Art + Industry
Activity: David Aultman and Douglas
Williams received AWS Life Member
certicates for 35 years of service to
the Society. The program was held at
Spengers Restaurant in Berkeley,
Calif.
SPOKANE Ben Finnoe discussed engi

neering drawings.
BYUIDAHO S. C. From left are Chapter ocers Vance Bullock, Shelby McRae, Austin
Hudman, and Matt Cyran.
IDAHO/MONTANA Outgoing Chair

Paul Tremblay is shown with Nancy Carl
son at the Dec. 10 program.
BYUIDAHO S. C. From left are Advisor

Kevin Orem, speaker Bruce Madigan,
and Advisor Clay Rasmussen.
SAN FRANCISCO From left are Life

Members David Aultman and Douglas
Williams.
SECTION NEWS
International
Section
EMIRATES WELDING
November 26
Speaker: Christophe Herduin
Affiliation: Air Liquide Emirates for
Industrial Gases
Topic: Optimum Ar/CO2 gas mixture
for gas metal arc welding
Activity: This networking, seminar,
and question-and-answer program
was held at Al-Futtaim Training Centre in Dubai, UAE.
SAN FRANCISCO From left, Chair Mike Zinser is shown with speakers Rebecca Anders
and Jen Jackson.
BYUIDAHO S. C. Chapter members are shown at the December meeting.
IDAHO/MONTANA From left are presenters Bruce Madigan, Shane Marble, Arthur
Davison, Dale Brush, and Tate Patterson.
EMIRATES WELDING Speaker

Christophe Herduin (left) is shown with
Chair Bashkar Ra.
EMIRATES WELDING Attendees are shown at the November seminar.

Guide
Guide to
to American
American Welding
Welding Society
Society Services
Services
8669 NW 36th St., #130
Miami, FL 33166-6672
(800/305) 443-9353; Fax: (305) 443-7559
Phone extensions are in parentheses.
AWS PRESIDENT
David Landon . . . . dlandon@vermeermfg.com
Vermeer Mfg. Co.
2010 Vermeer Rd. E., Pella, IA 50219
ADMINISTRATION
Executive Director
Ray Shook.. rshook@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(210)
Senior Associate Executive Directors
Cassie Burrell.. cburrell@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . .(253)
INTERNATIONAL SALES
Managing Director of North American Sales
Joe Krall..jkrall@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(297)
Corporate Director, International Sales
Jeff Kamentz..jkamentz@aws.org . . . . . . . . . .(233)
Oversees international business activities;
certification, publications, and membership.
PUBLICATION SERVICES
Dept. information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(275)
Managing Director
Andrew Cullison.. cullison@aws.org . . . . . . . .(249)
Welding Journal
Publisher
Andrew Cullison.. cullison@aws.org . . . . . . . .(249)
John Gayler.. gayler@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . . . .(472)
Editor
Mary Ruth Johnsen.. mjohnsen@aws.org . . .(238)
Chief Financial Officer

Gesana Villegas.. gvillegas@aws.org . . . . . . . .(252)
Society and Section News Editor

Howard Woodward..woodward@aws.org . . . .(244)
Chief Technology Officer

Dennis Harwig..dharwig@aws.org . . . . . . . . .(213)
Welding Handbook
Editor
Annette OBrien.. aobrien@aws.org . . . . . . . .(303)
Chief Information Officer

Emilio Del Riego..edelriego@aws.org . . . . . . .(247)
Associate Director of Board and
Executive Director Services
Alex Diaz.. adiaz@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(294)
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
Director
Lorena Cora.. lcora@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(417)
Public Relations Manager
Cindy Weihl..cweihl@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . . . .(416)
Administrative Services
Managing Director
Jim Lankford.. jiml@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(214)
Webmaster
Jose Salgado..jsalgado@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . .(456)
Director
Hidail Nuez..hidail@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . . . .(287)
Section Web Editor

Henry Chinea...hchinea@aws.org . . . . . . . . . .(452)
HUMAN RESOURCES
Director
Gricelda Manalich.. gricelda@aws.org . . . . . .(208)
MEMBER SERVICES
Senior Associate Executive Director
Cassie Burrell.. cburrell@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . .(253)
Associate Director
Patrick Henry..phenry@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . .( 211)
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF WELDING
Senior Coordinator
Sissibeth Lopez . . sissi@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . .(319)
Liaison services with other national and international societies and standards organizations.
GOVERNMENT LIAISON SERVICES
Hugh Webster . . . . . . . . . . . . . .hwebster@wc-b.com
Webster, Chamberlain & Bean, Washington, D.C.
(202) 785-9500; F: (202) 835-0243.
Monitors federal issues of importance to the
industry.
CONVENTION AND EXPOSITIONS
Director, Convention and Meeting Services
Matthew Rubin.....mrubin@aws.org . . . . . . . .(239)
ITSA INTERNATIONAL THERMAL
SPRAY ASSOCIATION
Senior Manager and Editor
Kathy Dusa....kathydusa@thermalspray.org . .(232)
RWMA RESISTANCE WELDING
MANUFACTURING ALLIANCE
Management Specialist
Keila DeMoraes....kdemoraes@aws.org . . . . . .(444)
WEMCO ASSOCIATION OF WELDING
MANUFACTURERS
Management Specialist
Keila DeMoraes....kdemoraes@aws.org . . . . . .(444)
BRAZING AND SOLDERING
MANUFACTURERS COMMITTEE
Stephen Borrero..sborrero@aws.org . . . . . . . .(334)
Director
Rhenda Kenny... rhenda@aws.org . . . . . . . . . .(260)
Serves as a liaison between members and AWS
headquarters.
CERTIFICATION SERVICES
Senior Associate Executive Director
John Gayler.. gayler@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . . . .(472)
Director, Certification Operations
Terry Perez..tperez@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(470)
Application processing, renewals, and exams.
Director, Accreditation Programs
Linda Henderson..lindah@aws.org . . . . . . . . .(298)
Oversees the development of new certification programs, as well as AWS-Accredited Test
Facilities, and AWS Certified Welding Fabricators.
TECHNICAL SERVICES
Managing Director
Technical Services Development & Systems
Andrew Davis.. adavis@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . .(466)
International Standards Activities, American
Council of the International Institute of Welding
Director, Operations
Annette Alonso.. aalonso@aws.org . . . . . . . . .(299)
Technical Committee Activities, Welding
Qualification
Manager, Safety and Health
Stephen Hedrick.. steveh@aws.org . . . . . . . . .(305)
Metric Practice, Safety and Health, Joining of
Plastics and Composites, Personnel and Facilities
Qualification, Mechanical Testing of Welds
Program Managers II
Stephen Borrero... sborrero@aws.org . . . . . . .(334)
Brazing and Soldering, Brazing Filler Metals
and Fluxes, Brazing Handbook, Soldering Handbook, Definitions and Symbols, Structural Subcommittees on Bridge Welding, Stainless Steel,
and Reinforcing Steel
Rakesh Gupta.. gupta@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . .(301)
Filler Metals and Allied Materials, International Filler Metals, UNS Numbers Assignment,
Arc Welding and Cutting Processes, Computerization of Welding Information
Brian McGrath .... bmcgrath@aws.org . . . . . .(311)
Structural Welding, Welding in Marine Construction
Program Managers
Efram Abrams.. eabrams@aws.org . . . . . . . . .(307)
Automotive, Resistance Welding, Machinery
and Equipment, Methods of Inspection
Chelsea Lewis.. clewis@aws.org . . . . . . . . . . . .(306)
Friction Welding, Oxyfuel Gas Welding and
Cutting, High-Energy Beam Welding, Robotics
Welding, Welding in Sanitary Applications, Additive Manufacturing
Jennifer Molin.. jmolin@aws.org . . . . . . . . . .(304)
Sheet Metal Welding, Welding and Brazing in
Aerospace, Ti and Zr Filler Metals, Joining of
Metals and Alloys, Piping and Tubing
Jennifer Rosario.. jrosario@aws.org . . . . . . . .(308)
Railroad Welding, Thermal Spraying, Welding
Iron Castings, Welding Qualification
AWS FOUNDATION, INC.
www.aws.org/w/a/foundation
General Information
(800/305) 443-9353, ext. 212, vpinsky@aws.org
Chairman, Board of Trustees
William A. Rice.. brice@oki-bering.com
EDUCATION SERVICES
Director, Operations
Martica Ventura.. mventura@aws.org . . . . . .(224)
Executive Director, Foundation

Sam Gentry.. sgentry@aws.org. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (331)
Director, Development and Systems

David Hernandez.. dhernandez@aws.org . . . .(219)
Corporate Director, Workforce Development

Monica Pfarr.. mpfarr@aws.org. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (461)
AWS AWARDS, FELLOWS, COUNSELORS

Senior Manager
Wendy Sue Reeve.. wreeve@aws.org . . . . . . . .(293)
Coordinates AWS awards and Fellow and
Counselor nominations.
Associate Director of Scholarships

Vicki Pinsky.. vpinsky@aws.org. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (212)
The AWS Foundation is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3)
charitable organization established to provide support for
the educational and scientific endeavors of the American
Welding Society. Promote the Foundations work with your
financial support.
Friends and Colleagues:

The American Welding Society established the honor of Counselor to recognize individual
members for a career of distinguished organizational leadership that has enhanced the image
and impact of the welding industry. Election as a Counsel shall be based on an individuals
career of outstanding accomplishment.
To be eligible for appointment, an individual shall have demonstrated his or her leadership in
the welding industry by one or more of the following:
Leadership of or within an organization that has made a substantial contribution to the
welding industry. The individuals organization shall have shown an ongoing
commitment to the industry, as evidenced by support of participation of its employees
in industry activities.
Leadership of or within an organization that has made a substantial contribution to
training and vocational education in the welding industry. The individuals
organization shall have shown an ongoing commitment to the industry, as evidenced
by support of participation of its employees in industry activities.
For specifics on the nomination requirements, please contact Wendy Sue Reeve at
wreeve@aws.org at AWS headquarters in Miami, or simply follow the instructions on the
Counselor nomination form located at http://www.aws.org/awards/fellow_counselor.html.
Please remember, we all benefit in the honoring of those who have made major contributions to
our chosen profession and livelihood. The deadline for submission is July 1, 2015. The
Counselors Committee looks forward to receiving numerous Counselor nominations for 2016
consideration.
Sincerely,
Lee Kvidahl
Chair, Counselor Selection Committee
PERSONNEL
Marty Baker Retires from
Hobart Institute
Camfil APC Americas

Appoints VP
Following 38
years of service,
Martha Marty
Baker, long-time librarian and editor
of the quarterly
magazine, The
World of Welding,
has retired from
Hobart Institute of
Welding Technology, Troy, Ohio. BakMartha Baker
er was also responsible for maintaining the institutes www.welding.org
website, served as a supervisor for the
Certified Welding Inspector and Certified Welding Educator programs, and
edited several books. She plans to continue her work as president of Troy
City Council and as a volunteer for
several community organizations.
Camfil Air Pollution Control (APC),

Jonesboro, Ark., a
manufacturer of
dust-, fume-, and
mist-collection
equipment, has
promoted Thomas
Tomm Frungillo
to vice president,
Camfil APC Americas. Frungillo
Thomas Frungillo joined the company
in 2000 as a regional sales manager. Following a succession of posts in sales management, he
most recently was responsible for
sales operations for Latin American
and Asian clients.
TV Rheinland Fills Two

Key Posts
TV Rheinland
Industrial Solutions, Boxborough,
Mass., a fullservice inspection,
testing, and certification company,
has appointed
Robert C. Burns
COO and Robert
Djurovic managing
director for U.S.
Robert C. Burns Systems. Burns has
more than 20 years
of experience in
testing and inspection services for oil
and pipeline companies. Most recently, he served as
president and CEO
of Applus RTD
USA, based in
Houston, Tex.
Djurovic, with 15
Robert Djurovic years of experience
in the automotive
and industrial marketplace, most recently served as director of international automotive solutions at SGS North America, based
in Detroit, Mich.
TeraDiode Hires COO

TeraDiode,
Wilmington, Mass.,
a supplier of highpower direct diode
laser systems for
industrial welding
and metal-cutting
operations, has
named Richard
Rick Feldt COO.
With more than 20
years of operational
Richard Feldt
experience at the
executive level, he
most recently served as CEO at Advanced Electron Beams and earlier was
chairman, president, and CEO at Evergreen Solar.
Board Member Named at

Materials Research Society
David J. Parrillo
The Materials
Research Society
(MRS), Warrendale,
Pa., has appointed
David J. Parrillo to
its board of directors to serve a oneyear term on its Finance Committee.
Parrillo, with 20
years experience in
chemical engineering, application development, and
technology commercialization, currently is global research and development director, packaging and specialty
plastics, for The Dow Chemical Co.
The Systems Group

Selects President
The Systems
Group, El Dorado,
Ark., a diverse
group of three companies engaged in
fabrication, plant
maintenance, and
construction for
steel mills,
foundries, metalprocessing plants,
petrochemical
Lee Morgan
plants, and manufacturing facilities,
has named Lee Morgan president.
Morgan will oversee System Contracting Corp., American Steel Co., and
Systems Spray-Cooled, Inc. He joins
the company after working 17 years at
Camfil Air Pollution Control, where he
served as general manager and later as
president of the company.
Cee Kay Names St. Louis

Territory Manager
Cee Kay Supply,
Inc., St. Louis, Mo.,
a supplier of industrial gases, welding
and cutting equipment, and supplies
since 1948, has
promoted Patrick
Howe to territory
manager for the St.
Louis territory.
Howe, with the
Patrick Howe
company for 15
years, previously
served as branch manager based in
OFallon, Mo. He replaces retired Territory Manager Jerry Simpson and Regional Manager Brian Reutiman.
Superior Tube and Fine Tubes

Appoint Global Director
Superior Tube Co., based in the
United States, and Fine Tubes Ltd.,
based in the United Kingdom, both
part of the Watermill Group, have appointed Shion Hung global director of
customer programs
and business intelligence, to be based
in the United
States. Both companies manufacture
precision tubing for
critical applications
for the aerospace,
nuclear, oil and gas,
and medical markets. Prior to joinShion Hung
ing the company,
Hung was platform
director, access and advanced energy
for Johnson & Johnson, where he de-
veloped market forecasts, business

models, and new product development priorities for the medical devices
market.
Obituary
Russell Rux
Russell Rux, 57, died Jan. 4 in
Gillette, Wyo. An AWS member since
1999, he served as the Wyoming Section chairman 20042013. For 16
years, he taught welding at Campbell
County High School. He was a leader
PRODUCT & PRINT

SPOTLIGHT
control of the GTAW process. The

product can be used with most constant current GTAW power sources
and provides machine contactor onoff, gas solenoid activation, and full
range amperage control. The Velcro
style design also allows use on multiple size GTA torch handles.
App Finds Compatability of

Thermoplastic Materials
The companys new free mobile app
features interactive tools for plastics
assembly and welding applications.
The interactive tools enable the user
to quickly match a range of thermoplastic materials to the most suitable
assembly process, see the compatibility of a spectrum of thermoplastic materials, and find handheld welding tip
specifications for spot welding, staking, and insertion processes. The app,
available for Android and Apple devices, provides overviews as well as
more detailed information on welding
processes, applications, and equipment, as well as a handy reference for
OEM systems integrators and special
machinery builders. There are also
videos and a search feature.
Sonics & Materials, Inc.
www.sonics.com
(800) 7451105
CK Worldwide
www.ckworldwide.com
(800) 4260877
Gloves Offered for Various

Jobs and Hobbies
where in the shop or carried along for

work out in the field. The universal Cclamp base allows for mounting on
any flat, square, or angled surface.
Strong Hand Tools
www.stronghandtools.com
(800) 9895244
Remote GTA Amperage

Control Offered
Modular Clamp Bends to

Any Angle for Full Access
The fully articulated and adjustable
Third Hand modular clamp can hold
parts at any position for hands-free access while tacking, welding, cutting,
grinding, sanding, or painting. Two
smooth ball joints allow you to rotate
the clamp arm 360 deg and bend it for
full access to your part. The 112-in.wide portable clamp can be used any-
in helping Boy
Scouts earn their
Welding Merit
Badges and preparing students to
compete in the
SkillsUSA welding
contests. Rux received the Section
Educator and Meritorious Awards in
2002 and 2003, reRussell Rux
spectively, and the
District 20 Educator and Meritorious Awards in 2003
and 2013, respectively. WJ
With a removable or adjustable

pistol grip style handle, the SGACV
Steady Grip gives the operator
smooth and ergonomic trigger finger
The ForneyHide line of work

gloves is designed for the automotive,
hardware, industrial, and farm and
ranch markets, as well as for general
home and workshop use. The line includes utility, driver, high-visibility,
leather-palm, cotton, string-knit, coated, chemical, and welding gloves. The
Signature Welding Glove (pictured)
features heat- and abrasion-resistant
reinforced patches in key areas, 5-in.
split leather safety cuffs, and heat-resistant Kevlar stitching and self-welted seams for extra strength and
durability.
Forney Industries, Inc.
www.forneyind.com
(800) 5216038
THE AMERICAN WELDER
Penn College Dedicates

Centennial Sculpture
Fig. 1 Abstract human forms, crafted

from thousands of pounds of scrap
metal, parade up the mall on the main
campus of Pennsylvania College of
Technology. The installation features
78 life-size structures created by more
than 50 welding students.
Students get a
chance to express
their creative
impulses while
learning some of
the real-life
challenges of
welding
Based on a story from Pennsylvania

College of Technology, Williamsport, Pa.
s part of its centennial anniversary, Pennsylvania College of

Technology, Williamsport, Pa.,
welcomed 78 new students this fall,
many of which just might be around
for the institutions bicentennial.
Some of these freshmen could
sustain a broken body part, and others
might corrode, but if welding majors,
faculty, and staff did their jobs correctly, the Student Bodies centennial sculpture will be still standing in 2114.
Student Bodies Makes

Its Debut
Enhancing the campus mall, the
large-scale project features 78 abstract
human forms made of scrap-metal
pieces welded together Fig. 1. The
college formally dedicated Student
Bodies during homecoming festivities.
Its the third recent art installation
meant to enrich the colleges outdoor
environment.
This work of art is a testament to

the creative abilities and technical
skills of our college community, said
Davie Jane Gilmour, president. Its
very rewarding to know that students,
faculty, staff, and visitors will be able
to marvel at these creations for generations to come.
Gilmour initiated the project two
years ago when she asked metal sculptor and welding instructor Michael K.
Patterson to submit design ideas for
an art piece to help commemorate the
colleges centennial anniversary.
I just came up with this wild idea
about having a bunch of abstract human forms walking down the middle
of campus, said Patterson, and that
really raised her eyebrows.
Welding on a Large Scale

During the past year, Patterson
(Fig. 2) and approximately 50 welding
students used 7000 lb of scrap metal
THE AMERICAN WELDER

to create the 78 life-size structures.
Some took four hours to make; others
required nearly a year. Most weigh
about 80 lb; one tops the scale at 350
lb. Each is distinctive in its own way.
Before they even touched the steel,
the students had to visualize a structure resembling a human being, Patterson said. Then they were presented with a pile of steel and had to convert the design into a tangible shape
by welding it all together. I stressed to
them that these have to be 100-year
welds.
The most challenging part was applying 100-year welds. I had a couple
parts snap off in the making, said
welding technology major Patricia A.
Hintz, of Muncy. What I enjoyed
most was seeing all the things that are
possible with metal. Beautiful, intricate art was made with scrap metal
that the school was going to throw
away.
Many of the students doubted their
artistic ability at the start of the project. In lab and class, they focus on
technical proficiency, not free-flowing
artistic expression.
I would coach them through the
whole process of You are more of an
artist than you thought you were,
Patterson said. I would tell them,
Wait until you see what you are about
to build!
Bringing out the Creativity

Sculpture names such as Pipe Man,
Atlas, Running Girl, and Terminatoresque Man speak to the creativity
and variety of the students handiwork. Their creations also reflect the
hands-on education championed by
Penn College. From a construction
worker, to a chef, to a dental hygienist,
the sculptures depict students in majors from each of the colleges six
schools.
The figures are organized into six
sections spanning the campus mall.
Pieces closest to the Breuder Advanced
Technology and Health Sciences Center are intended to represent freshmen, unclear of their educational direction, according to Patterson. At
the other end, the sculptures are more
ornate, more refined and have some
direction in life, he said.
Welding and fabrication engineering technology major Colt D. Robbins,
of Elizabethtown, appreciated the opportunity to create what you had envisioned in your head. He admitted
that it could be daunting finding the
right-size material and deciding
what looked best on the sculpture.
Creating on deadline challenged Peter K. Ptacek, of Lewisburg, a welding
and fabrication engineering technology major. You had to quickly find a
point where you could declare a sculpture done, despite the near infinite potential for tweaking and improvement, he said.
All of the students worked on the
project outside of class. Patterson believes the welding majors enhanced
their skill set because the nature of the
project forced them outside their comfort zone.
They got to do a lot of out-of-position welding work where its not on a
little tripod right in front of them in a
comfortable booth, he said.
I was kneeling. I was sitting on the
floor. And a few times I was even laying on the floor, Hintz said.
The experience was a good exercise
in welding in odd positions and figuring out how to attack a joint that is
laid out less than ideally, Ptacek said.
The colleges General Services staff
also contributed to the Student Bodies
experience. Seven individuals, led by
Andrea L. Mull, horticulturist/motor
pool supervisor, and Chad L. Karstetter, horticulturist/motor pool lead person, were responsible for preparing
concrete slabs, installing the figures,
and spreading 60 tons of stone to
complement the sculptures.
It was one of the craziest welding
jobs Ive ever been on, said Patterson,
who spent several years welding for
the National Science Foundation in
Antarctica. Ive never done anything
where I had to personally coordinate
so many people, material, substances,
and time. It was very exciting.
A Lasting Satisfaction
Welding and fabrication engineering technology major Matthew H. Gordon, of Milton, summarized the most
exciting aspect of the project for him
and his classmates.
No matter when I come back and
visit over the years, my work will be
there, he said. No matter what happens in life, this art will still be there
with my name on some of it.
For information about welding degrees and other programs offered by
the colleges School of Industrial, Computing, and Engineering Technologies,
call (570) 327-4520 or visit
www.pct.edu/ICET. WJ
Fig. 2 Metal sculptor and welding instructor Michael K. Patterson, who guided his
classes through creation of the Student Bodies centennial art installation, welds a
wildcat (the colleges mascot) in a campus lab.
THE AMERICAN WELDER
Selecting a Plasma Arc Cutting System

Consider the factors presented here to make sure
you purchase cutting equipment that will meet your
expectations for doing the job at the right price
electing a new plasma arc cutting

(PAC) system (Fig. 1) is a lot like
selecting a new truck. Plasma
systems, like trucks, range from lightduty, personal use models to heavyduty industrial models, with specialized versions available to meet specific
customer needs. All share certain attributes, but within each class there
are other features that are unique to
the specific model. In the end, what really matters is which one meets the
customers needs most efficiently and
most cost effectively.
There are no industry standards for
comparing PAC systems, so customers
are left with confusing and contradicting information from the manufacturers. Historically, cutting capacity and
initial purchase cost have been the key
considerations for selecting a system.
While capacity and price contribute to
the decision-making process, additional factors should also be considered.

The operating cost the actual
cost of ownership should be the
most important cost consideration.
There are often significant differences
in operating cost among various systems, and in a year of cutting these
differences can really add up. This article presents a set of questions as a
guide for selecting the best system for
your needs, a list of some attributes
that all PAC systems share with an explanation of why each is important,
and an easy to use method for calculating operating cost.
Getting Started
The first step in selecting a system
is to decide what you will be using it
for, i.e., what you want to cut, and how
Fig. 1 A typical plasma arc cutting system at work.

Based on an article from Hypertherm

(www.hypertherm.com), Hanover, N.H.
you want to cut it. Becoming familiar

with the industry terminology will
help you ask the salesperson the right
questions to get you headed in the
right direction. The following checklist
will provide a good starting point.
Cutting Capacity. Usually quoted
in inches at full output on mild steel,
cutting capacity is a frequently misunderstood figure because each manufacturer may list it differently. Most use
a recommended and a maximum,
while some add in a severance capacity. Capacity ratings are only meaningful when coupled with a cutting speed.
Some manufacturers use 10 in./min
(inches per minute) as their recommended capacity, others use 20.
The recommended capacity is the
target thickness of steel that allows for
good productivity and cut quality. The
general rule of thumb is that 80% of
the cutting should be at this thickness
and below.
At the maximum capacity, a good
quality cut is still possible, but reduced
productivity means that no more than
20% of cutting should be in this thickness range.
The severance capacity indicates
the thickness that can be reasonably
severed, but generally with poor cut
quality and at very slow speeds, usually at 5 in./min or below.
The output current is only one determinant of cutting capacity. The output voltage and torch dynamics also
contribute significantly to the overall
productivity of a system. Like the
horsepower rating for trucks, true cutting power in a plasma system is determined by output power, expressed
in kilowatts. Systems may have similar
output currents but different output
voltages. For example, a 40-A system
with a 110-V output has a 4.4-kW output power; a 40-A system with 140-V
output voltage has a 5.6-kW output
power 27% higher. When both cur-
THE AMERICAN WELDER

Other Considerations
Fig. 2 Maintaining cutting tips and other consumables add to the operating costs.
rent and voltage are considered together, a more complete picture of the
systems capability emerges.
Consumable Life. Often overlooked in the selection process, part
life is a major contributor to operating
cost. Plasma cutting consumables generally include four parts: electrode;
nozzle (Fig. 2); swirl ring (or gas distributor); and cap. In addition to the
upfront costs, consider the durability
of these parts and their life in archours, especially for the most frequently replaced parts the nozzle
and electrode.
Primary Input Power. This refers
to power at the wall or line power
source, in voltage, phase, and available
current. Each plasma system will have
a required input current at maximum
output. It is essential to know the
power that is available when selecting
a system. Some systems are limited to
specific voltages, while others are designed to operate at multivoltage configurations. Several newer systems feature autovoltage. The multi- and autovoltage models should be considered
should you plan to use the system at
multiple job sites.
Gas Supply. While generally not
something that varies much from system to system within a given power
range, the amount of air pressure and
flow required is still significant in evaluating shop setup. Most air plasma
systems require either air or nitrogen
as a gas source, either from a highpressure gas cylinder or, most often,
an air compressor. Operating pres-
sures vary slightly from one power

range to another, but all systems have
both a required pressure (lb/in.2) and a
required flow rate (ft3/min).
Some larger systems can use other
gases, such as oxygen or argonhydrogen mixtures. Oxygen is usually
used for higher cutting speeds on mild
steel, while inert gases are used on aluminum and stainless steel to prevent
oxidation on the cut edge.
Duty Cycle. The duty cycle is the
overall operating time that can be dedicated to actual cutting before the system overheats. It is stated as a percentage of actual arc-on time at a given ambient temperature. For instance,
a system with a 50% duty cycle rating
can cut at full output for 5 min continuously within a 10-min period at XF
before requiring rest.
Unfortunately, as with cut capacity,
there is no agreed upon industry standard when it comes to determining
duty cycle. Some manufacturers will
cut at maximum capacity using a high
ambient temperature (104F for Hypertherm units) to determine duty cycle, while others may cut thinner metal at a lower ambient temperature like
70F. Because of this, it is important
that you, as a purchaser, ask the manufacturer exactly how the duty cycle
was calculated. If youre looking at a
machine with a 1-in. recommended
cut capacity and the manufacturer
tells you the duty cycle was determined while cutting 12-in. material at
70F, youll likely be hard pressed to
reach the stated duty cycle.
The factors above should help narrow your search, but they are not the
only things to evaluate when considering a new system. Here are a few additional attributes that you should consider in choosing the right system for
your specific needs.
Cut Quality. The cut quality you require will be an important factor in deciding which system is right for you.
Cut quality refers to the cut edges
bevel angle and smoothness, dross or
slag formation on the top or bottom of
the cut, and kerf width, which is the
width of the metal removed by the
plasma arc. Cut quality is affected by a
number of factors, including material
type, thickness, operator skill, gas supply, and torch dynamics. Some manufacturers offer various torches
(straight, angled, short, long, etc.) and
specialized consumables, while other
manufacturers use a one-size-fits-all
philosophy.
Application Type. Choosing the
right tool not only impacts cut quality
but also the ease with which you can
get the job done. If you need to gouge
out an old weld for example, you
might want to choose a straight torch
to position your hand farther away
from the work surface. If you cut a lot
of metal on the ground, you may want
a torch that is several feet long so you
dont have to bend down as much. If
you need to cut an oddly shaped piece
with deep grooves, then you may prefer long, tapered consumables designed to cut in hard to reach areas.
Portability. Plasma systems vary
greatly in size and weight. If you plan
to move the system from site to site,
or even around your shop, youll likely
want to choose a smaller and lighter
system for increased portability. Most
PAC systems can be easily moved by
one or two workers. Larger systems,
usually with capacity ratings above 1
in., may require a lift truck or hoist.
Cutting Method. Plasma cutting
can be done manually using a hand
torch or automatically using a machine
torch on a CNC table, track burner, or
pipe beveler. Many systems are designed for either hand or mechanized
use, but some offer both types of
torches, as well as CNC interface capabilities, allowing customers to use the
same unit for both applications.
THE AMERICAN WELDER

Calculating Operating
Cost
System A
System B
$2500
$2000
List Price
Once your list is narrowed down to

Output current
40 A
40 A
two or three systems, its time to deterOutput voltage
140 V
110 V
mine the operating cost of each. This in- Duty cycle
50%
40%
cludes daily expenses for fuel, mainteNozzle cost
$4.00
$4.00
nance, and consumable parts. All of the
Electrode cost
$8.00
$8.00
data needed for these calculations are
24 in./min
12 in./min
Maximum speed on 12in. mild steel
available from the product literature and Nozzle/electrode life, in arch
2.00 h
1.50 h
the manufacturer.
For example, lets compare two hypothetical Systems A and B (reference the table above). Both are rated at 40 A and 12 in. Initially, System B may seem to be the
better choice since it costs $500 less. However, System A has some distinct advantages. Its higher output voltage yields a
higher maximum cutting speed, it offers longer consumable life, plus a longer duty cycle. To determine how much these factors will affect the operating cost, its only necessary to make a few calculations.
1. Total Cost per Work Hour

A. The first step is to calculate the
consumable cost per arc hour. The nozzle + electrode cost for both systems is
the same: $12. To find the consumable
cost per arc hour, divide $12 by the life,
in arc-hours.
B. Next, calculate the total cost per
work hour factor in the duty cycle to adjust for the time actually worked. To do
this, divide the consumable life per arc
hour (calculated above) by the duty
cycle.
C. Then, add in the labor costs. These
are specific to the buyers business, and
should include wages and overhead. For
this example, we used a labor rate of
$30/h.
2. Total Feet Cut per Work Hour

A. Now we need to calculate the total
number of feet each system is capable of
cutting in an hour, the feet per arc-hour.
Multiply the stated cutting speed by 60
min, then divide by 12 in.
B. Since the systems cannot cut 100%
of the time, adjust this potential ft/h
number by the duty cycle to get the
number of feet the system can cut in an
hour.
1A
Total consumable cost

Consumable life
Consumable life/arch
System A
System B
$12.00
2.00 h
= $6.00
$12.00
1.50 h
= $8.00
1B
Consumable life/arch
Duty cycle
Consumable cost/workh
System A
System B
$6.00
50%
= $3.00
$8.00
40%
= $3.20
System A
System B
$3.00
+ $30.00
= $33.00
$3.20
+ $30.00
= $33.20
1C
Consumable cost/workh
Labor rate
Total cost/workh
2A
in. cut/h (max speed 60)

Divide by 12
ft cut/h
System A
System B
(24 in./min 60) = 1440 in.

12
= 120
(12 in./min 60) = 720 in.

12
= 60
2B
ft cut/h
Duty cycle
ft cut/workh
System A
System B
120
50%
= 60
60
40%
= 24
THE AMERICAN WELDER

3. Total Cost per Foot
Now that we have both the total cost

per work hour and the total feet cut per
work hour, we can calculate the total
cost per foot. To do this, we divide the
cost by the feet cut.
Total cost/workh
Total ft cut/workh
Total cost/ft
4. The Bottom Line
System A
System B
$33.00
60
= $0.55
$33.20
24
= $1.38
System A
System B
As these calculations show, there can
be significant differences in cost per foot Total Cost/ft
$0.55
$1.38
Daily Cost @ 5ft/day
2.75
6.90
between outwardly similar systems. In
Weekly Cost
13.75
34.50
just a year of cutting, these differences
$715.00
$1794.00
can really add up. In a typical fabrication Annual Cost to Operate
shop that cuts 5 ft/day, the cost savings
can be significant.
In just one year of use, System A, that cost $500 less initially, would cost $1079 more in operating expenses than System B.
Conclusion
Many of the factors that
determine which system is
right for you will become
obvious when you see the
system demonstrated in
your own shop. Pay particular attention to cut speed,
cut quality, and ease of use.
Find the system that delivers the performance you
want at the price you want
to spend. Though the initial
price is always an important
consideration, take the time
to calculate the operational
costs to make sure you purchase cutting equipment
that will meet your expectations for doing the job at
the best price in the long
run. WJ
$6450.
$6450.
3&13*/54
3&13*/54
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$BMMPSTBMFT!GPTUFSQSJOUJOHDPN
THE AMERICAN WELDER
LEARNING TRACK
Robert Morgan Education Center Sets High Standards

for Its Adult Welding Students
Creative art projects and innovative instruction
techniques led by a visionary instructor prepare
graduates for wellpaying jobs
The welding program at Robert

Morgan Education Center, Postsecondary Campus, Miami, Fla., part of
the Miami-Dade County Public School
System, is committed to preparing students for employment or advanced
training in a variety of occupations in
the welding industry and preparing
them to interview for these well-paying jobs. The program is led by Instructor Ricardo Delgado.
Program Content
The welding curriculum includes
specialized classroom and practical exercises in the cutting and joining of
metal parts through the use of gas and
electric welding equipment. The
processes include oxyacetylene welding (OAW), gas metal arc welding
(GMAW), flux cored arc welding
(FCAW), gas tungsten arc welding
(GTAW), and shielded metal arc welding (SMAW). The metal-cutting methods include flame cutting and plasma
arc cutting equipment. Also taught are
the related mathematics, print reading, layout, and metal identification
skills. Concurrently, students learn the
use and care of hand tools, power
tools, specialized jigs, fixtures, and
equipment. A priority is the instruction on safe and effective work practices and use of current industry standards, practices, and techniques.
The school also offers refresher and
supplemental training for persons previously or currently employed in these
occupations. The instruction is enhanced by the small class sizes that
offer a closer instructor-student
relationship.
years of age and not currently enrolled

in another Miami-Dade County Public
School. The entire welding training
program runs 1170 h, but students
can earn a certificate at the completion of the following programs:
OCP A, Welder Helper, shielded
metal arc welding (SMAW) basics
250 h.
OCP B, Welder, Shielded Metal Arc
250 h.
OCP C, Welder Gas Metal Arc
(GMAW) 125 h.
OCP D, Welder Flux Cored Arc
(FCAW) 100 h.
OCP E, Welder Gas-Tungsten Arc
(GTAW) 175 h.
OCP F, Welder, Pipe 270 h.
The Facilities
Delgado said his workshop covers
more than 2000 sq ft in addition to
classrooms for the lectures and written exams.
We have 15 SMAW stations available, he said, plus nine GTAW stations, three GMAW stations, and a
BY HOWARD M. WOODWARD
number of stations for oxyfuel arc

welding and cutting operations. We
also stress the correct and safe use of
the power tools and machinery
welders use on the job. The shop has
an 8-ft hydraulic shear, horizontal
band saw, drill presses, and a complete
set of the hand tools routinely used by
welders, including grinders and drills.
Employment Opportunities
Delgado said, The employment
outlook is great in the welding field. I
am constantly called for experienced
and apprentice welders. I sit down
with my students to go over the interview process with them and review
any welding tests they may require.
I have students working in FAA repair stations near Miami International
Airport, decorative fencing manufacturers, and construction companies
throughout the Miami and Ft. Lauderdale areas.
The employment opportunities for
program graduates have included positions as aerospace, construction, and
Program Details
Applicants must me at least 16
Welding Instructor Ricardo Delgado (far left) and students display a few of the smaller
artworks they designed and built as part of the training program.
THE AMERICAN WELDER

marine welders, tack welders, flame
cutters, and production line welders.
The hourly salary range graduates
earned in 2010 was $13.59 to $25.18.
About the Instructor

Ricardo Delgado said, I teach the
morning and evening classes, which
keeps me very busy with the students,
and I participate in career expos promoting the AWS welding course.
Karen Johnson with School Operations, Division of Adult and Workforce
Education, said, Ricardo Delgado inspires and motivates his welding students to find a purpose in life. He
came to MDCPS with impeccable credentials and life experience. His students benefit from his expertise and
encouragement that stretches them to
their limits. He is able to show them
how to creatively make practical use of
throwaway items, giving students an
environmentally healthy approach to
applying the skills they are learning
and encouraging artistic expression.
Delgado, she said, is on target in

meeting the demands of 21st century
skills that include collaboration, creativity, communication, and critical
thinking. His rsum and story are
impressive.
Delgado came to the United States
during the Freedom Flight from Cuba
in 1965. He worked in California for
35 years before moving to Miami
where he has resided for the past 14
years. Johnson noted that his work in
the aerospace industry provided him
experience as a government contractor
for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy,
working on fuel tanks, aerial refueling
systems, and rocket launchers for F16
and F18 fighter jets.
His knowledge in welding took him
to assignments in Kayseri, Turkey, and
Taipei, Taiwan. He has also worked in
robotic welding as a programmer,
technician, and instructor.
Delgado said his mission is to educate students to enter a field that has a
multitude of opportunities. His students exhibit their accomplishments
with pride, knowing that the accolades

come not only from their proud teacher
but from their community as well.
Visitors to the welding workshop
see sculptures worthy of display in an
art museum that were fabricated by
the students from scrap metal and
other odds and ends. Among the creations are custom-made bicycles, some
are six feet long and four feet tall with
flashing lights and airbrushed designs;
barbecues made from recycled water
heaters; a monolithic pirate ship sculpture; and currently theyre converting
an old car body into a functional barbecue pit and a cooler.
In the classroom, Delgado uses a robotic video/multimedia center he fashioned from a discarded patient-lift
cart. The display projects movie clips
of Jay Leno and his welding crew
working on customizing cars.
These art and audiovisual projects
are practical, inspirational for the students, and make good use of discarded
materials.
The students products are available
THE AMERICAN WELDER
WORK
W
ORK
SSMART
MART
RT
A recent Robert Morgan Education Center welding class proudly poses with a whimsical
pirate ship and numerous other artworks they created as part of their training. Instruc
tor Ricardo Delgado is shown next to Karen Johnson, School Operations, Division of
Adult and Workforce Education.
Model 200 Positioner
for sale, and customers who visit the

lab are able to request custom work.
One student said about Delgado, If
Id had this teacher and this class in
high school, I probably would not have
dropped out of school and I would be
working in my own welding shop by
now.
Additional Opportunities
Model 1200 Pipemate
Adult students are encouraged to

join and actively participate in school
activities such as SkillsUSA, Health
Occupations Students of America
(HOSA), Phi Beta Lamda, and Family
Career and Community Leaders of
America (FCCLA).
Counseling services are offered
Monday through Friday to assist students in solving problems and making
decisions concerning their course selections, educational and career goals,
and personal responsibilities. The
guidance department offers career, educational, and personal counseling
services to all current, prospective,
and former students. Counselors also
assist with program decisions, explain
test scores, and inform students of the
centers policies and regulations. WJ
HOWARD M. WOODWARD
(woodward@aws.org) is associate editor of
the Welding Journal.
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THE AMERICAN WELDER
FACT SHEET
Resistance Spot Weld Joint Design

A lap joint is the joint design for all applications of spot
welding. One or more of the welded members may be
flanges, or formed sections such as angles and channels. The
use of standard resistance welding machines, portable welding guns, and special-purpose machines must be considered
when designing the lap configuration. The joint design for
direct welding must allow access to both sides of the joint by
the electrodes.
Design Requirements
Factors that should be considered when designing for
spot welding include the following:
1) Edge distance
2) Joint overlap
3) Fitups
4) Weld spacing
5) Joint accessibility
6) Surface marking
7) Weld strength
Edge Distance
The edge distance is measured from the center of the
weld nugget to the edge of the sheet. The location of the
spot weld must ensure enough base metal is available to resist the expulsion of molten metal from the joint. If the spot
weld is made too close to the edge of one or both workpieces, the base metal at the edge of the workpiece will overheat and upset outward Fig. 1. The restraint by the base
metal at the edge of the molten nugget is reduced and expulsion of molten metal may occur due to the high internal
pressure of the nugget. The result can be an unsound weld

nugget, excessive electrode indentation, and low weld
strength. The required minimum edge distance is a function
of base metal composition and strength, section thicknesses, electrode face contour, and welding cycle.
Joint Overlap
The minimum permissible joint overlap in sheet metal is
calculated at two times the minimum edge distance. The
overlap must include the base metal requirement for avoiding edge overheating and expulsion for both sheet metal
workpieces. Factors such as electrode clearance and positioning tolerance of the weld tip and workpieces, may require a larger overlap to provide consistent weld quality. If
the overlap is too small, as shown in Fig. 1, the edge distance
will automatically be insufficient.
Fitup
The faying surfaces of the workpieces should fit together
along the joint with little or no space between them. Any
force required to overcome openings in the joint will reduce
the effective welding force.
Weld Spacing
When numerous spot welds are made successively along a
joint, a portion of the secondary current shunts through the
adjacent welds. This shunting of the current must be considered when establishing the distance between adjacent spot
welds and when establishing the welding machine settings.
Typical weld current and minimum spacing shown in general welding charts dont provide compensation for this shunt
effect.
The division of current depends primarily on the ratio of
the resistances of the two paths, one through the adjacent
welds and the other across the interface between the sheet
metal workpieces. If the path length through the adjacent
weld is longer than the joint thickness, resistance will be
high compared to the resistance of the joint and the shunting effect will be negligible.
Minimum spacing between spot welds is related to the
conductivity and thickness of the base metal, diameter of
the weld nugget, and cleanliness of the faying surfaces.
Joint Accessibility
The joint should be designed in consideration of the size
and shape of commercially available electrodes and electrode
holders, as well as the type of spot welding equipment to be
used. Each side of the joint should be accessible to the electrodes mounted on the welding machine or to backup electrodes in the case of indirect welding. WJ
Fig. 1 The effect of improper overlap and edge distance.

Excerpted from the Welding Handbook, 9th Edition, Volume 3,

Welding Processes, Part 2.
Friends and Colleagues:

The American Welding Society, in 1990, established the honor of Fellow of the Society to
recognize members for distinguished contributions to the field of welding science and
technology, and for promoting and sustaining the professional stature of the field. Election as a
Fellow of the Society is based on outstanding accomplishment and technical impact of the
individual. Such accomplishments will have advance the science, technology and application of
welding, as evidenced by:
Sustained service and performance in the advancement of welding science and
technology
Publication of papers, articles and books which enhance knowledge of welding
Innovative development of welding technology
Society and Section contributions
Professional recognitions
I want to encourage you to submit nomination packages for those individuals whom you feel
have a history of accomplishments and contributions to our profession consistent with the
standards set by the existing Fellows. In particular, I would make a special request that you
look to the most senior members of your Section or District in considering members for
nomination. In many cases, the colleagues and peers of these individuals who are the most
familiar with their contributions, and who would normally nominate the candidate, are no long
with us. I want to be sure that we take the extra effort required to make sure that those truly
worthy are not overlooked because no obvious individual was available to start the nomination
process.
For specifics on the nomination requirements, please contact Wendy Sue Reeve at
wreeve@aws.org at AWS headquarters in Miami, or simply follow the instructions on the
Fellow nomination form located at http://www.aws.org/awards/fellow_counselor.html. Please
remember, we all benefit in the honoring of those who have made major contributions to our
chosen profession and livelihood. The deadline for submission is August 1, 2015. The Fellows
Committee looks forward to receiving numerous Fellow nominations for 2016 consideration.
Sincerely,
Dr. John Elmer
Chair, AWS Fellows Committee
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WELDING RESEARCH
SUPPLEMENT TO THE WELDING JOURNAL, FEBRUARY 2015

Sponsored by the American Welding Society and the Welding Research Council
Interfacial Temperature Profiles in

Simulated Resistance Spot Welding of
Bare and ZincCoated Steel
Temperature profiles were measured using infrared emission monitoring
and analyzed for better understanding of basic phenomena in RSW
BY E. KIM AND T. W. EAGAR
ABSTRACT
For better understanding of basic phenomena of resistance spot welding, temperature profiles were measured by monitoring the infrared emissions at 5 kHz from
one dimensionally simulated welding of sheet metal disks between the electrodes of
a resistance spot welding machine. The weld variables included the zinc coating
thickness, coating morphology, workpiece thickness, and electrode force.
For a given tap and heat control setting in the welding machine, as the coating
thickness increased, the induced welding current increased due to a lower contact resistance created by the molten zinc layer. However, the temperatures experienced by
the workpiece and electrode decreased. This was due to a decreased power absorption of the materials with lower electrical resistance of thicker coatings and the electrical characteristics of the spot welding machine. The temperature differences in
welding of materials with different coating morphologies and specimen thicknesses
are most pronounced at the faying interface. As the electrode force increased, the
temperature differences between the materials decreased due to the decreased effect
of the contact characteristics. The thicker material of bare steel became less sensitive
to the contact characteristics as the electrode force increased. This was due to the decreased ratio of contact resistance to the total resistance. Thinner materials experience faster temperature rise and lose more heat to the electrodes.
KEYWORDS
Temperature Profiles Resistance Welding Zinc Coated Spot Weld
Introduction
To achieve a better understanding
of the basic phenomena of resistance
spot welding, it is very important to
understand the transient behavior of
temperature profiles. However, little
work has been done due to the difficulties caused by the nature of the
process. The time scale is a fraction of
a second and the current is high
enough to make the conventional elec-
trical method using thermocouples infeasible. The infrared emission monitoring method presented in a prior
paper by Kim and Eagar may be a good
alternative even though it measures
only the surface temperature (Ref. 1).
Even though various numerical analyses and experimental work were performed in resistance spot welding,
there are few studies to
quantify the temperature profiles experimentally (Refs. 214).
In this research, the temperature

profiles were measured using the infrared emission monitoring method
during simulated disk welding. To
eliminate the effects of the electrode
and workpiece geometry, the experiment was performed using the modified welding setup as depicted in Fig.
1. As was described in Ref. 1, the surface of the cylindrical section of the
electrodes and disk coupons were
painted with temperature-sensitive
lacquer, which remains solid to
1371C. The emissivity of this lacquer
was calibrated by comparing the infrared temperature measurement with
thermocouple readings on a statically
heated sheet held at various
temperatures.
Even though the measured temperature profiles do not represent a full
sheet weld, this method is believed to
be very informative to see the relative
effects of welding variables including
the zinc coating thickness, coating
morphology, electrode force, and the
workpiece thickness. These results will
help understand the basic phenomena
of resistance spot welding, particularly
the characteristics of the electrode/
workpiece interface and the faying interface, which are inaccessible by other
methods.
Experimental Procedures
Figure 1 shows the experimental
equipment setup and a typical temperature profile developed in the disk
E. KIM (keuiwhan@ajou.ac.kr) is professor, Department of Systems Engineering, Ajou University, Suwon, Republic of Korea. T. W. EAGAR (tweagar@mit.edu) is
professor of Materials Engineering and Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
FEBRUARY 2015 / WELDING JOURNAL 35-s
WELDING RESEARCH
Fig. 1 A Experimental equipment setup showing infrared temperaturemonitoring

system. B A typical temperature profile of a highspeed line scan along the axis of one
dimensionally simulated disk welding; C electrodesworkpiece setup (Ref. 1).
simulation experiment as has been reported previously (Ref. 1). In Fig. 1B,
the two vertical lines marked A near
the center show the location of the
electrode interfaces. Another set of
vertical lines marked B is 1.6 kN mm
from the interface where the electrode
temperature was measured. The temperature was also measured at the faying interface and the electrode
interface. The temperature profile at
the electrode interface was measured
both at the electrode side and workpiece side. The measurement was performed when the highest temperature
was reached at the faying interface. As
would be expected, the temperature always reached its maximum value at
the end of the weld cycle.
The variables studied in this experiment included changes in the electrode force as well as the zinc coating
of the steel and the workpiece thickness. To see the effect of coating morphology, 0.8-mm hot dip galvanized
steel (G60), galvannealed steel (A40),
and electrogalvanized steel (E70) were
used. Electrode forces of 1.6 kN (350
lb), 2.2 kN (500 lb), 2.9 kN (650 lb),
and 3.5 kN (800 lb) were employed for
this experiment. The effect of the
coating thickness was tested using 0.8mm electrogalvanized steels with four
different coating thicknesses, i.e, 100
g/m2 (AM100), 68 g/m2 (AM68), 35
g/m2 (AM35), and 0 g/m2 (AMBR) of
zinc on both sides. The bare steel was
produced by etching away the zinc

coating in a solution of HCl. The electrode force for this test was 2.2 kN.
For the evaluation of workpiece thickness, 1.6-mm steel sheet was machined to 1.4 mm (BR14), 1.16 mm
(BR12), 0.8 mm (BR08), 0.6 mm
(BR06), and 0.5 mm (BR05). Using
these specimens, welding was performed for each thickness. The electrode forces for these experiments
were 1.8 kN (400 lb), 2.9 kN (650 lb),
and 4.0 kN (900 lb). Welding of different thicknesses was also performed on
combinations of 1.16- and 0.5-mmthick materials using 2.9 kN as the
electrode force.
Since this experiment used simulated disk welding, the welding current
was reduced by inserting an electrically resistive material, such as Inconel or stainless foil, between the
electrode holder shank and the welding machine. By doing so, the temperature was kept low enough so that
melting and collapse of the disk
coupon would be avoided. During
these experiments, the tap setting and
the weld schedule were kept fixed to
see the differences in the induced current for different surface conditions,
workpiece thicknesses, and electrode
forces.
In most cases, the data presented in
this paper are the averages of the maximum temperatures observed for more
than three measurements except for
36-s WELDING JOURNAL / FEBRUARY 2015, VOL. 94
the experiments with varying material

thickness in which uncoated steel
sheets were used. For the material
thickness, experiments, one measurement was made due to difficulties in
preparing the weld specimens. The
thinner experimental sheets were
made by machining the thick material
to the desired dimension. This was acceptable because bare steel welding is
much more consistent than coated
steel welding. There were some difficulties in the experiment with coated
steel. The main difficulty was caused
by variations in the electrode/workpiece contact. The electrode surface
was pretreated by running 50 conditioning welds. After electrode conditioning, the electrode surface usually
showed an even deposit of zinc on the
face.
In real welding, even a very small
misalignment of the electrodes and
specimen is great enough to cause uneven heating of the disk coupons.
Thus, if the temperature profile did
not show acceptable symmetry in the
upper and lower electrodes, it was
judged that uneven heating had occurred and the data were discarded.
Another difficulty in this experiment
was the effect of the molten zinc. The
liquid zinc was squeezed out to the
edge of the interface and changed the
emissivity of the surface. This was easily observed in the recorded data. For
such cases, a large apparent temperature change could be seen near the interface. One other difficulty found
during this experiment was peeling of
the high-temperature paint, which was
applied on the side surfaces of electrodes and workpieces to keep the infrared emissivity constant (Ref. 1).
The peeling was usually accompanied
by a large vertical displacement of the
electrodes (or collapse of the disk
coupon). These data were also excluded.
Results and Discussion

Effect of Coating Thickness
Table 1 shows the temperature data
measured at the end of current flow.
The induced currents are also listed in
this table. The effect of coating thickness is clearly seen in this table. These
data are plotted in Fig. 2A and B for
comparison.
WELDING RESEARCH
Fig. 2 Effect of coating thickness on A the induced welding current; B temperature; in simulated disk welding.
As the coating thickness increases,

the induced current increases. For
bulk material, it is obvious that an increase in thickness should increase
electrical resistance and thus decrease
the induced current. However, in resistance spot welding, the total electrical resistance is comprised of bulk
resistance and contact resistance. The
electrical resistance of the zinc coating
behaves as a contact resistance rather
than a bulk resistance. In this experiment, the thickness of the coating
ranges from 0 to 14 m, which is negligible compared to the thickness of
the workpiece of 0.8 mm. As the coating thickness and temperature during
welding increase, the interface contacts more closely resulting in reduced
contact resistance. This leads to the
decrease in total resistance and thus
the increase in the induced current for
a given welding machine setting.
However, as the coating thickness
increases, the temperatures are lower
due to the decreased total power input
to the workpiece. This can be explained by considering the electrical
characteristics of the resistance spot
welding machine (Refs. 16, 17). That
is, the induced weld current decreases
as the resistance of the workpiece increases. Nonetheless, the induced voltage increases with increasing workpiece resistance. As the absorbed
power is a product of current and voltage, this absorbed power increases
with increasing resistance and then
decreases, showing a maximum value
at a certain resistance value. Spot
Table 1 Eect of Coating Thickness on Temperature

Material
Faying
Interface
Electrode
Interface
(workpiece side)
Electrode
Interface
(electrode side)
AM100
AM68
AM35
AMBR
467
589
722
766
313
415
460
491
233
298
347
419
Electrode
Induced
(1.6 mm from
Current
electrode interface) (kA)
165
229
260
297
5.01
4.83
4.72
4.37
Temperature in C, 2.2 kN (500 lb) electrode force.
welding is usually performed below

this resistance value. Thus, decreasing
the resistance of the workpiece will decrease the power delivered to the weld
even though the induced current increases.
This shows the importance of electrical contact resistance along with the
thermal contact conductance in the
nugget growth mechanism. It is easy
to conceive that materials with harder
contact surfaces have higher electrical
contact resistance and thus a lower interfacial heat transfer coefficient. This
is based on the explanation of Holm
and Kim that (electrical contact resistivity) (interfacial heat transfer coefficient) is a function of temperature
and has a reciprocal relationship (Refs.
18, 19). Thus, materials with thicker
coatings show lower electrical contact
resistance and higher interfacial heat
transfer coefficient. The electrode
temperature was observed to be higher
with decreasing coating thickness. In
Table 1, it is seen that the hardest contact surface material, in this case the
bare steel, showed the highest temper-
ature in the electrodes. If the electrical

contact resistance and the thermal
contact resistance are considered together, it is not clear which one contributes more to the electrode
temperature.
The temperature data discussed
thus far can be related to the welding
behavior of these materials. Figure 3
shows the welding current requirement vs. coating weight for the same
materials used in this experiment
(Ref. 15). Horita et al. also reported
that the increase in zinc coating thickness resulted in a higher current requirement for the same nugget size
(Ref. 2). Figure 3 can be explained
qualitatively using the current and
temperature data. As the coating
weight increases, the required current
increases due to the lower heat generation rate coupled with a higher heat
dissipation rate into the electrodes.
The demand of higher welding current
with thicker coating material is due to
the decreased electrical contact resistance and lower power absorption
along with the increased heat dissipaFEBRUARY 2015 / WELDING JOURNAL 37-s
WELDING RESEARCH
Fig. 4 Effect of zinccoating morphology and electrode force

on the induced welding current in simulated disk welding.
Fig. 3 Effect of coating weight on current requirement (Ref. 2).
tion at the electrode interface as discussed previously in this section. The

heat generation rate at the faying interface also decreases with the formation of a larger halo with thicker zinc
coatings. The larger halo increases the
current flow area and thus decreases
the current density at the faying interface. This illustrates the importance of
the thermal contact resistance at the
electrode interface in the nugget
growth mechanism. This observation
may explain the reason why spot weld-
ing of galvanized sheets requires a

higher current level compared to bare
materials. Previously, the formation of
a zinc halo surrounding the weld
nugget was the common explanation
for the effectively larger nugget size
and consequently the higher current
requirement when welding galvanized
materials (Refs. 24). In addition to
this halo effect, the enhanced heat
transfer characteristics at the electrode interface of the zinc-coated steel
is also seen to be important. As the
Table 2 Eect of Coating Morphology on Temperature

Material
Faying
Interface
Electrode
Interface
(workpiece side)
Electrode
Interface
(electrode side)
A40
G60
E70
673
604
581
498
479
481
380
367
357
Electrode
Induced
(1.6 mm
Current
from electrode interface) (kA)
252
242
231
4.83
5.3
5.19
Temperature in C, 2.9 kN (650 lb) electrode force.
nugget size increases, the heat loss to

the electrode becomes greater and will
demand higher heat input.
Effect of Coating Morphology

under Various Electrode Forces
The effect of coating morphology
and the sensitivity of the coated sheet
materials to the electrode force was
also investigated. Figure 4 shows the
induced welding current for three different coating morphologies, G60,
E70, and A40. Figure 5A, B, and C
shows the temperature changes at the
faying interface, at the electrode interface on the coupon side, on the electrode interface at the electrode side,
and in the electrodes 1.6 mm from the
electrode contact interface with varying electrode forces. The temperature
differences between materials are plotted again in Fig. 6AD. The missing
data points are due either to satura-
Table 3 Temperature Changes During Welding Dissimilar Thickness

Weld Cycle
Electrode
1.16 mm
from Interface
1.16 mm
Electrode
Interface
(electrode side)
Electrode
Interface
(workpiece side)
Maximum
Temperature
in the Specimen
1
2
3
4
5
6
7.5
9.5
11
12
202
237
244
241
233
248
252
323
337
337
318
290
304
200
222
362
396
503
503
490
469
400
381
271
300
462
476
619
627
627
537
458
440
Temperatures in C, 2.9 kN (650 lb) electrode force.
0.5 mm
Electrode
Electrode
Interface
Interface
(workpiece side) (electrode side)
222
234
366
381
481
467
477
420
381
362
175
237
260
327
330
342
332
318
311
Electrode
1.16 mm
from Interface
175
258
258
286
279
271
264
WELDING RESEARCH
Fig. 5 Temperature profiles in simulated disk welding for different coating morphologies. A E70; B G60; C A40.
tion of the detector or to measurement of too large a value to be plotted

on the same graph.
As could be expected from the
above section, the hard surface galvanealed material, A40, shows lower
induced current with relatively higher
temperatures. The most conspicuous
temperature difference can be found at
the faying interface. The temperatures
in the electrodes and at the electrode
interfaces do not show any significant
differences especially at high electrode
forces. It seems that the differences
are a little greater with the lowest electrode force. However, the temperature
difference at the faying interface is
much more pronounced during low
electrode force welding. This may
imply that the effect of coating morphology on weld temperature is more
likely to be significant at the faying interface than at the electrode interface.
The surface of A40 is composed of FeZn compounds. These compounds are
generally very hard and have a high
melting temperature. The contact between Fe-Zn compounds and electrodes can resist severe deformation
and can maintain higher electrical contact resistance even at elevated temperatures in comparison to the contact
between copper electrodes and free
zinc. For example, the dissociation
temperature of one of the Fe, Zn,
compounds is about 780C (Ref. 20).
A40 galvannealed steel generally
shows the thermal characteristics of a
bare steel. This material has a hard interface similar to bare steels. In contrast, the materials with free zinc
surfaces, E70 and G60 in this case,
have softer interfaces. However, if the
Fig. 6 Temperature changes with varying electrode forces and coating morphologies at
A faying interface. B Electrode interface at workpiece side; C electrode interface
at electrode side; D electrode temperature at 1.6 mm from the electrode interface; in
simulated disk welding.
electrode force is high enough, the effect of differences in surface morphology seems to become less, particularly
at the electrode interface. The pressure of the electrode contact is about
400 MPa, which is more than half of
the yield strength of the Cu-Cr electrode alloy. The high electrode force is
coupled with high temperatures during welding. As a consequence, the interface deforms very easily, making
differences in the heat transfer coefficient and the electrical resistivity very
small in the early stages of welding. It
seems that the faying interface temperature is less sensitive to the electrode force than is the temperature at
other locations. At the lowest electrode force employed in this experiment, i.e., 1.6 kN, the highest
interface temperatures and electrode
temperatures were observed. At more
WELDING RESEARCH
Fig. 7 Lobe curves of zinccoated materials (Ref. 1).
Fig. 8 Effects of specimen thickness and electrode force on

the induced current in simulated disk welding of bare steel.
Fig. 9 Temperature profiles in simulated disk welding of specimens of different thicknesses using A 4.0 kN; B 2.9 kN; C 1.8kN of
electrode force.
than 2.2 kN, the electrode force appeared to have an effect only at the
faying interface. This can be explained
by the same argument discussed in the
previous section, i.e., greater deformation of the electrode surface and the
coated workpiece surface occurs at elevated temperatures with high electrode forces. The temperature data for
2.9 kN electrode force are given in
Table 2. The temperature differences
at the electrode interface are much
smaller than those at the faying interface. This supports the conclusion that
the condition of the faying interface is
more important than the electrode interface in terms of the nugget temperature development when using high
electrode forces.
Generally speaking, the temperature decreases as the electrode force
increases. However, the induced welding current increases with electrode
forces, as shown in Fig. 5. This may be
explained by the decreasing electrical
and thermal contact resistances produced with the increasing electrode
force. This explanation matches with

the experimental measurement of contact resistance (Refs. 2123). The effect of coating morphology on
temperature development is also a
function of the electrode force Fig.
6. The effect is more pronounced at
the faying interface when using high
electrode forces. The final lobe shape
will depend on the combined effect of
these two contact resistances. Figure 7
shows the lobe curves for these coated
materials (Ref. 1). The relative positions of the lobe curve qualitatively
matches the thermal behavior observed in this experiment.
Effect of Welding Materials of

Varying Thickness
Figure 8 shows the induced current
for various electrode forces and specimen thicknesses. These were measured during the simulated welding of
uncoated steel disk coupons. As expected, the induced current decreased
as the specimen thickness increased. It
is obvious that the thicker specimen

has higher total electrical resistance.
The effects of electrode force on the
induced current for different specimen
thicknesses are also seen in Fig. 8. It is
clear that the effect of electrode force
decreases as the specimen thickness
increases. This can be explained by the
decreased portion of electrical contact
resistance in comparison with the
total resistance during welding of
thicker material. As the bulk resistance comprises a greater portion of
the total resistance, the relative contribution of the contact resistance to the
total resistance becomes less significant. As is shown in Fig. 8, the effect
of changes in electrode force on the induced current is much greater when
welding thinner material. This is believed to support the explanation
given above.
As was introduced in the previous
paragraph, the difference in current
decreases as the electrode force increases. This is particularly pronounced in thick materials as
WELDING RESEARCH
explained previously. In thinner materials where the contribution of contact
resistance to the total resistance is believed to be more significant, the difference in the induced current
between a 4.0 kN weld and a 2.9 kN
weld is much smaller than that between 2.9 and 1.8 kN. This is believed
to be related to the decreasing effect of
the electrode force on the electrical
contact resistance. As the electrode
force increases, the relative change in
the contact resistance will decrease.
Figure 9AC shows the temperature data measured during simulated
disk welding of bare steel with various
electrode forces and specimen thicknesses. These temperature data are
plotted again in Fig. 10AD at each
temperature measuring location. The
three lines in each graph correspond to
three different electrode forces.
In general, higher temperatures
were observed during welding with
lower electrode forces. The combined
effects of larger electrical contact resistance, low thermal contact coefficient, and increased power input can
explain these phenomena. However, as
the specimen thickness increases, the
effect of electrode force seems to decrease, as can be seen in Fig. 10. Again,
this is explained by the relatively reduced contribution of electrical contact resistance to the total resistance.
As the ratio of bulk resistance to the
total resistance increases in the
thicker materials, the sensitivity of the
temperature profile to the electrode
force decreases. This confirms that the
ratio of electrical contact resistance to
the bulk resistance can be a very important parameter in characterizing
the nugget development mechanism
as was discussed by Kim and Eagar
previously (Ref. 24).
Figure 9 shows that the temperature difference between the faying interface and the electrode interface
becomes larger as the specimen thickness increases. The temperature at the
electrode interface and in the electrodes does not change much with increasing thickness, as can be seen in
Fig. 10BD. Only a very small decrease
of the electrode interface temperature
is present. However, the temperature
increase at the faying interface is quite
noticeable as in Fig. 10A.
The reason is most likely due to the
shorter heat diffusion length within
the workpiece. If the material is thin,
Fig. 10 Temperature changes with varying electrode forces and specimen thickness at
A faying interface; B electrode interface at electrode side;
C electrode interface at workpiece side; D at 1.6 mm from the electrode
interface in simulated disk welding.
the distance from the faying interface

to the electrode interface is small.
Therefore, the temperature profile
across the specimen thickness shows a
small temperature gradient. Higher
temperatures at the electrode interface and in the electrodes for the thinner materials can be seen in Fig. 10B
and D. However, the overall temperature is lower when welding thinner
material. This seems to be related to
the lower power input to the weld due
to the smaller total resistance. When
welding thick materials, the heat loss
from the faying interface into the electrodes is less significant due to the
greater heat diffusion length. The
higher faying interface temperature is
also related to the increased power.
Thus, the higher faying interface temperatures with the thicker materials
are possible due to the increased
power absorption and the lower rate
of heat loss into the electrodes.
Effect of Welding Materials of

Different Thicknesses
To investigate the effect of specimen thickness, simulated disk welding
on a combination of two different
specimen thicknesses (1.16- and 0.5-
mm-thick bare steels) was performed.

A weld was made using 2.9 kN electrode force and exactly the same tap
setting and welding schedule as was
used during the other welding simulation. Thus, a comparison of the welding behavior of different thicknesses
with the same current is possible.
The temperature changes during
the course of welding are plotted in a
cascade pattern in Fig. 11. The evolution and decay of temperature in both
the thin and the thick materials clearly
shows varying behavior. The temperature data from this figure are listed in
Table 3. Figure 12 shows plots made
with the data in Table 3. In these
graphs, the temperature changes during welding are compared at various
locations.
The temperature profiles at (a) and
(b) in Fig. 11 show a faster temperature rise in the thin specimen. As the
distance from the faying interface to
the electrode interface is shorter on
the thin material side, it is apparent
that the thinner material is influenced
more by heat generation from the faying interface. Thus in the early stages
of welding, the workpiece temperature
at the electrode interface is higher as
compared with the thick side. In the
WELDING RESEARCH
later stages of welding as in (c) and (d)
in Fig. 11, the workpiece temperature
at the electrode interface on the thick
side increases more rapidly and surpasses the temperatures in the thin
specimen. This is shown in Fig. 12.
The thicker side also has a larger temperature discontinuity at the electrode
interface. The breakdown of the electrode interface seems to occur much
earlier on the thinner side due to the
early buildup of heat in this part of the
specimen. This means that more heat
is lost to the electrode from the thinner side workpiece resulting in higher
electrode temperature. A similar phenomenon was also observed in the
case of spot welding of aluminum alloys, which has a lower melting point
than steel (Ref. 25). As can be seen in

(e) of Fig. 11, and thereafter, the electrode temperature is much higher in
the thinner side electrode. This is
clearly seen in Fig. 12D. Figure 12C
also shows the slightly higher interface temperature of the electrode adjacent to the thin material.
The maximum temperature is
found at the faying interface as a
sharp peak. The peak at the faying interface is caused by heat generated due
to the contact resistance. The temperature profile at (f) of Fig. 11 shows
that the highest temperature in the
workpiece is observed at the original
faying interface location. However, as
time elapses, the location of the highest temperature moves to the thicker
specimen side. This is seen in (g) of

Fig. 11 to the end. In these latter
stages, the contact resistance of the
faying interface does not appear to
contribute to heat generation any
longer. The evolution of temperature
in the faying interface is plotted in Fig.
12D. The rapid rise of the temperature
in the early stages of welding is known
to be caused by the contact resistance.
In the following stages of welding, the
temperature rise is mostly due to heat
generated in the body of the workpiece. Then the maximum temperature stays constant as one approaches
the end of current flow. It seems that
a steady state heat flux balance is established in the axial direction at this
stage. The movement of the maximum
temperature location is also believed
to be related to a more symmetric heat
loss to the electrodes.
At the end of weld current flow, the
temperature profile in the workpiece
becomes more symmetric as can be
seen in (h) to (l) in Fig. 11. The temperature difference at the electrode interface also decreases as the
temperature in the workpiece decreases. The electrode temperature on
the thinner workpiece side experiences
faster temperature rise and thus
shows a higher electrode temperature
and also a greater distance of heat
propagation.
In this experiment, the major observation is that thin material experiences a faster temperature rise and
loses more heat to the electrode resulting in higher electrode temperatures.
The implication is that heat transferred across the electrode interface
during welding of thin materials can
be a much more important parameter
than in the welding of thick materials.
Conclusions
Fig. 11 Cascade plot of temperature changes during simulated disk welding of bare
steel of different thicknesses.
1) For a given tap and heat control

setting on the welding machine, as the
coating thickness increases, the induced welding current increases due to
a lower contact resistance caused by
the melted zinc and its halo. However,
the temperatures experienced by the
workpiece and the electrode decrease.
This is due to a decreased power absorption of the materials with lower
electrical resistance of thicker coatings
and the electrical characteristics of the
WELDING RESEARCH
spot welding machine.
2) The temperature differences in
welding of materials with different
coating morphology and specimen
thickness are most pronounced at the
faying interface.
3) As the electrode force increases,
the temperature differences between
materials decrease due to the decreased effect of the contact characteristics.
4) The thicker materials of bare
steel become less sensitive to the contact characteristics as the electrode
force increases. This is due to the decreased ratio of contact resistance to
the total resistance.
5) Thinner materials experience
faster temperature rise and lose more
heat to the electrodes.
References
1. Kim, E. W., and Eagar, T. W. 1989.

Measurement of transient temperature
during resistance spot welding. Welding
Journal 68(8): 303-s to 312-s.
2. Horita, T., Oka, M., Kanamaru, T.,
Yamazaki, K., and Fujiwara, T. 1996.
Study of nugget formation in spot welding
of galvanized steel sheet (selected from
Quarterly Journal of the Japan Welding Society 14(2): pp. 255259). Welding International: pp. 937942.
3. Natale, T. V. 1986. A comparison of
resistance spot weldability of hot dip and
electrogalvanized sheet steel. SAE Technical Paper 860435.
4. Howe, P., and Kelly, S. C. 1988. A
comparison of the resistance spot weldability of bare, hot-dipped, galvannealed,
and electrogalvanized DQSK sheet steels.
SAE paper 880280.
5. Aravinthan, A., and Nachimani, C.
2011. Analysis of spot weld growth on
mild steel and stainless steel. Welding Journal 90 (8): 143-s to 147-s.
6. Chuko, W. L., and Gould, J. E. 2002.
Development of appropriate resistance
spot welding practice for transformationhardened steels. Welding Journal 81(1): 1-s
to 7-s.
7. Sun, X., Stephens, E. V., Khaleel, M.
A., Shao, H., and Kimchi, M. 2004. Resistance spot welding of aluminum alloy to
steel with transition materials From
process to performance Part I: Experimental study. Welding Journal 83 (6): 188-s
to 194-s.
8. Boron, S. 1998. An investigation into
spot welding of zinc sheet. Welding International 12(12): 932936.
9. Na, S. J., and Park, S. W. 1996. A the-
Fig. 12 Temporal temperature changes at the electrode interface. A At workpiece side;

B at 1.6 mm from the electrode interface; C electrode interface at electrode side; D
at faying interface during simulated disk welding of bare steel of different thicknesses.
oretical study on electrical and thermal response in resistance spot welding. Welding
Journal 75(8): 233-s to 241-s.
10. Sun, X. 2000. Modeling of projection welding process using coupled finite
element analysis. Welding Journal 79(9):
244-s to 250-s.
11. Sun, X., and Khaleel, M. A. 2004.
Resistance spot welding of aluminum alloy
to steel with transition materials Part
II: Finite element analyses of nugget
growth. Welding Journal 83(7): 197-s to
201-s.
12. Browne, D. J., Chandler, H. W.,
Evans, J. T., James, P. S., Wen, J., and Newton, J. 1995. Computer simulation of resistance spot welding in aluminum: Part II.
Welding Journal 74(12): 417-s to 421-s.
13. Zhang, W. 2006. Recent advances
and improvements in the simulation of resistance welding processes. Welding in the
World 50(3/4): 2937.
14. Zhang, Y. S., Xu, J., Lai, M., and
Chen, G. L. 2008. Numerical simulation of
spot welding for galvanized sheet steels.
Science and Technology of Welding and Joining 13(2): 192198.
15. Gedeon, S. A. 1984. Resistance spot
welding of galvanized steel sheet. M.S. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
16. McPherson, G. 1981. An Introduction to Electrical Machines and Transformers.
John-Wiley & Sons.
17. Kim, E. 1989. Analyses of resistance
spot welding lobe curve, ScD thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

18. Holm, R. 1967. Electrical Contacts,
4th ed., Springer-Verlag, New York.
19. Kim, E. 2002. Temperature dependent behavior of thermal and electrical contacts during resistance spot welding.
International Journal of Korean Welding Society 2(1): 110.
20. Smithells. 1978. Metal Reference
Book, 5th ed., Butterworths.
21. Song, Q., Zhang, W., and Bay, N.
2005. An experimental study determines
the electrical contact resistance in resistance spot welding. Welding Journal 84(5):
73-s to 76-s.
22. Thornton, P. H., Krause, A.R., and
Davies, R. G. 1996. Contact resistances in
spot welding. Welding Journal 75(12):
402-s to 412-s.
23. Vogler, M., and Sheppard, S. 1993.
Electrical contact resistance under high
loads and elevated temperatures. Welding
Journal 72(6): 231-s to 238-s.
24. Kim, E. W., and Eagar, T. W. 1988.
Parametric analysis of resistance spot
welding lobe curve. SAE Technical Papers
880278.
25. Yeung, K. S., and Thornton, P. H.
1999. Transient thermal analysis of spot
welding electrodes. Welding Journal 78(1):
1-s to 6-s.
WELDING RESEARCH
A New Method for Corrosion Fatigue Testing of

Weld Cladding Waterwall Coatings
An experimental method was developed to accurately simulate the corrosion
fatigue mechanism of weld claddings that has been observed in service
BY A. W. STOCKDALE, J. N. D U PONT, AND D. G. HARLOW
ABSTRACT
The use of lownitrogen oxide (NOx) boilers in coalfired power plants has resulted
in corrosive combustion conditions that have led to a reduction in the service lifetime
of waterwall tubes. As a solution, Nibased weld claddings are being used to provide
the necessary corrosion resistance. However, they are often susceptible to premature
failure due to corrosion fatigue cracking. In order to mitigate the cracking problem,
significant research efforts are needed to develop a fundamental understanding of
the corrosion fatigue behavior of Nibased claddings. In this work, an experimental
method was developed to characterize the corrosion fatigue behavior of weld
claddings. A Gleeble thermomechanical simulator was adapted to permit the
exposure of samples to a simulated corrosive combustion gas at a constant elevated
temperature while applying a controlled cyclic stress. The results demonstrate that
this experimental method can be used to accurately simulate the corrosion fatigue
mechanism of weld claddings that has been observed in service. The implementation
of this experimental method will allow for a better understanding of the corrosion fa
tigue behavior of waterwall claddings in combustion environments and provide a tool
for optimizing the corrosion fatigue resistance.
KEYWORDS
Weld Cladding Corrosion Fatigue NickelBased Alloys
New Experimental Method
Introduction
Environmental regulations have required coal-fired power plants to reduce the amount of NOx emissions
produced by the coal combustion
process. This has prompted the use of
low NOx boilers that utilize a stage
combustion process to create reducing
conditions within the boiler (Refs. 1,
2). The previously oxidizing atmosphere allowed for the formation of
protective metal oxides on the surface
of the low-alloy steel waterwall tubes
(Refs. 2, 3). The switch to low NOx

conditions has resulted in severe
wastage due to the highly corrosive
sulfidizing gases in the boiler environment. This has significantly shortened
the lifetimes of the waterwall tubes
(Refs. 1, 2). Ni-based weld claddings
are used to alleviate this issue. However, they are often susceptible to premature failure due to corrosion fatigue
cracking (Refs. 46). The cracking
eventually leads to the failure of the
waterwall tubes and requires forced
outages to make the necessary repairs.
Significant research efforts are needed

to understand the root causes of corrosion fatigue cracking and to develop
a comprehensive solution.
New materials also need to be developed to meet the design criteria for
the next generation of coal-fired power plants. Given the need for coal-fired
power plants to help meet the ever increasing need for energy (Ref. 7), the
U.S. Department of Energy is seeking
to develop advanced combustion techniques that are more efficient. This requires ultrasuper-critical power plants
with higher temperature and pressure
steam conditions (~760C and 35
MPa) than the current technology employed by subcritical (below 535C and
21 MPa) or supercritical (535565C
and greater than 21 MPa) power
plants (Ref. 7). An important step in
the development of these new materials is establishing a fundamental understanding of the corrosion fatigue
behavior of the Ni-based alloys currently in use.
Current Ni-based weld claddings
are susceptible to corrosion fatigue
cracking because of the corrosive environment and the thermal stresses that
develop during service. The thermal
stresses arise from operational variables such as startup, shutdown, and
load changes within the boiler. Additionally, corrosive deposits build up on
the waterwall tubes that insulate the
tubes from the radiant heat generated
by the coal combustion. This lowers
the outer surface temperature. Over
time, these deposits either undergo
natural spallation or are removed by
A. W. STOCKDALE (aws3@alum.lehigh.edu) and J. N. DUPONT are with Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and D. G. HARLOW is with Depart
ment of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa.
WELDING RESEARCH
soot-blowing operations. When the
deposits are removed, the boiler tubes
experience a rapid increase in temperature until the corrosive deposits build
up again and the cycle repeats itself
(Refs. 5, 6). Smith et al. (Ref. 8)
demonstrated that sharp increases in
the outer surface temperature produce
severe thermal gradients through the
thickness of the tubes. The constraint
from the cooler inner tube material results in compressive yielding at the
surface. Differences in coefficient of
thermal expansion between the weld
cladding and the steel substrate can
exacerbate this issue. As the waterwall
tubes cool, residual tensile stresses develop in the outer portions of the
tubes, causing significant yielding.
This leads to corrosion fatigue crack
initiation and propagation.
Research by Luer et al. (Ref. 5) qualitatively identified the corrosion fatigue
mechanism of Ni-based weld claddings
in low NOx combustion conditions. The
authors analyzed Alloy 625 weld
claddings that were in service for less
than two years. Figure 1 shows a
schematic diagram of the corrosion fatigue mechanism. The weld cladding exhibits a dendritic substructure with microsegregation across the dendrites.
Key alloying elements, such as Mo and
Nb, have been shown to be depleted at
the dendrite cores (Refs. 5, 9, 10). First,
a layered multiphase corrosion scale develops on the surface of the weld
cladding (t1 t4). The mechanism of the
corrosion scale development is not well
understood. However, scale evolution
and growth are controlled by the transport of metal cations and sulfur/oxygen
anions through the scale. Various factors such as the depletion of alloying elements at the metal/scale interface and
the inability of the corrodent species to
diffuse rapidly through the scale influence scale evolution. If any of these factors significantly change the activity of
the corrodent species or the metal
cations within the scale, new
sulfide/oxide layers can form. In addition, the dendrite cores also preferentially corrode (t1 t4) as a result of microsegregation. The preferentially corroded dendrite cores then act as microscopic stress concentrators. The valley
of the weld ripples act as additional
macroscopic stress concentrators.
Eventually, the corrosion scale cracks
(t5) under the influence of cyclic ther-
Fig. 1 A schematic representation of the corrosion fatigue mechanism for Nibased weld
claddings. A multiphase corrosion scale forms on the surface of the weld cladding and the
dendrite cores preferentially corrode. After some amount of time, t5 , the corrosion scale
cracks under the cyclic tensile loads. A secondary phase similar to the outer layer of the cor
rosion scale forms along the length of the crack. (Republished with permission of Maney
Publishing, from Corrosion fatigue of Alloy 625 weld claddings in combustion environments,
Luer et al., 18, 1, 2001; permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.)
mal stress, which leads to further localized corrosion and crack propagation
along the dendrite cores. The continual
opening of the corrosion fatigue crack
exposes the crack surface and crack tip
to the corrosive environment and a
scale similar to the outer corrosion
scale forms along the length of the
crack (t6).
While this mechanism qualitatively
describes the corrosion fatigue cracking behavior in Ni-based weld
claddings, there is a need to understand the corrosion fatigue behavior
on a more fundamental basis. In order
to accomplish this, an experimental
technique needs to be developed that
accurately simulates the corrosion fatigue mechanism of weld claddings in
service. Typically, fatigue tests involve
the use of standard specimens such as
compact tension (C(T)) or single edgenotched (SEN) configurations. These
types of tests involve fatigue crack
propagation using a single crack design. While this type of approach offers the ability to measure propagation
rates of isolated cracks, it is not entirely adequate for studying the corrosion
fatigue behavior of weld claddings in
combustion conditions for several reasons. First, these approaches do not
provide information on the corrosion
fatigue crack initiation behavior of
multiple cracks. Since crack initiation
can comprise a large portion of the fatigue life, it is imperative that the
crack initiation behavior be character-
ized. Additionally, single crack experiments do not take into account the effect of crack interactions on the crack
propagation behavior. Numerous circumferential cracks form on the surface of Ni-based weld claddings during
service (Refs. 5, 6). A series of cracks
on the surface can alter the crack propagation behavior by reducing the
stress intensity factors to a level well
below that of a single isolated crack
(Refs. 11, 12). Therefore, in order to
understand the corrosion fatigue resistance, the effects of crack interactions need to be considered. This includes understanding the crack initiation behavior, which affects the crack
depths and distribution. The multicrack testing approach described in
this work also allows the influence of
microstructure on the crack initiation
and propagation to be carefully studied. In this case, the corrosion fatigue
cracks are allowed to propagate
through the microstructure under the
combined conditions of environment,
temperature, and cyclic stress. Finally,
standard specimen configurations do
not provide insight into the effects of
surface finish. For example, the contribution of the macroscopic stress concentrations from the valley of the weld
ripples is not well understood. A testing technique that considers both the
effects of preferential corrosive attack
and surface finish is needed. The experimentation in this work examined
the inherent corrosion fatigue resistFEBRUARY 2015 / WELDING JOURNAL 45-s
WELDING RESEARCH
B
Fig. 2 A A corrosion fatigue sample that has been clamped into the grips of the Gleeble; B the retort that has been designed to
seal around a corrosion fatigue sample and allow for the application of corrosive gas.
Table 1 Chemical Composition of the

Deposited Alloy 622 GMAW Cladding and the
ASTM A 213 Grade T11 Steel Substrate (All
values are given in wt%.)
Fig. 3 The sample holder that was

used to clamp a corrosion fatigue sam
ple into the grips of the Gleeble. The
sample holder must provide good elec
trical contact for resistive heating and
allow a tensile force to be applied by the
hydraulic ram.
ance of gas metal arc weld (GMAW)

and laser weld claddings by removing
the surface finish. Consequently, only
the effects of preferential corrosive attack were studied. Future experiments
using this technique will be conducted
to establish the effects of surface finish. If various new alloys and claddings
are to be evaluated for use on waterwall tubes, then a new experimental
approach is needed that incorporates
the effects of crack interactions, microstructure, preferential corrosion,
and surface finish into the understanding of crack initiation and propagation behavior. Thus, the objective of
this work is to develop a laboratorybased corrosion fatigue testing technique that simulates the corrosion fatigue cracking mechanism observed in
the field.
Experimental Procedure
The simulated combustion conditions require simultaneous application
C
Co
Cr
Fe
Mn
Mo
Ni
P
S
Si
W
Nb
Ti
Al
Cu
622
T11
0.010
0.06
21.86
4.95
0.25
13.85
Bal
0.001
0.05
3.16
0.01
0.02
0.52
0.03
0.090
0.01
1.11
Bal
0.46
0.50
0.03
0.015
<0.001
0.57
0.03
0.02
of a controlled temperature profile, a

controlled stress profile, and a corrosive gaseous environment. Figure 2
shows the experimental setup involving a Gleeble thermomechanical simulator retrofitted with a retort. A sample holder was designed and fabricated
to clamp the samples into the Gleeble
using a set of stainless steel grips. Figure 3 shows the sample holder, which
is comprised of two 6.35-mm- (0.25in.-) diameter rods that are slotted at
one end to allow the sample to be
clamped and pinned into place. This
serves to prevent the sample from
slipping out of the sample holder during testing. It also provides good electrical contact between the sample
holder and the sample, allowing the
sample to be resistively heated. Back-
Table 2 Chemical Composition of the

Deposited Alloy 622 Laser Weld Cladding and
the ASTM A213 Grade T11 Steel Substrate (All
values are given in wt%.)
C
Co
Cr
Fe
Mn
Mo
Ni
P
S
Si
W
Nb
Ti
Al
Cu
622
T11
0.010
0.03
24.48
3.41
0.21
13.43
Bal
0.001
0.10
3.00
0.01
<0.01
0.31
0.01
0.080
0.01
1.19
Bal
0.50
0.48
0.10
0.007
0.002
0.31
0.02
0.18
ing nuts are threaded onto the ends of

the sample holder to keep the sample
holder from slipping out of the grips.
A hydraulic ram and a load cell are
used to apply and measure cyclic tensile forces via the sample holder.
A retort was designed and fabricated
to allow the application of simulated
combustion gases. Figure 2B shows the
retort that seals to the sample holder
and isolates the gas from the rest of the
experimental equipment. The gas circulates by two gas lines in the front of the
retort. A fitting in the back allows a
thermocouple to pass through the retort and attach to the sample for temperature control by the Gleeble. Cement
is applied to the bottom of the sample
to protect the thermocouple from the
corrosive environment and to ensure
WELDING RESEARCH
A
Fig. 4 Controlled temperature and stress profiles were ap

plied to each of the corrosion fatigue samples.
that only the top surface of the sample

is exposed. A load cell and V-block remove the weight of the retort from the
sample to ensure that only tensile
stresses are applied.
The corrosion fatigue tests were
performed on Alloy 622 GMAW and
laser weld claddings that were fabricated on ASTM A 213 Grade T11 steel
tubes. The compositions of Alloy 622
and ASTM A 213 Grade T11 for both
the GMAW and laser weld claddings
were determined using chemical analysis (inductively coupled plasma
atomic emission spectroscopy, combustion, and inert gas fusion techniques). The compositions are shown
in Tables 1 and 2. The compositions
shown for the weld claddings are for
the as-deposited weld metal. The steel
substrate was removed from each sample. The original weld cladding surface
was also removed by grinding to a
240-grit surface finish in order to
study the inherent cladding corrosion
fatigue resistance. The final sample dimensions were 7.62 cm (3 in.) long by
0.64 cm (0.25 in.) wide and approximately 0.13 cm (0.05 in.) thick. A sample thickness of 0.13 cm was selected
because it is representative of weld
claddings in service. The samples were
resistively heated to a constant temperature of 600C, which is a typical
(Ref. 13) surface temperature of Nibased claddings in service. A representative (Refs. 1316) sulfidizing gas of
N2-10%CO-5%CO2-0.12%H2S was supplied at a rate of 125 mL/min. Corrosion fatigue tests were conducted for
25, 50, 100, and 440 cycles. An alternating stress profile involving a mini-
mum tensile stress

of 0 MPa and a maximum tensile stress
of 300 MPa was
used. The minimum
and maximum
stresses were alternated every five min
(10 min fatigue cycles). Figure 4 shows
an example of the
temperature and
stress profiles that
were applied. A maximum stress of 300
MPa was chosen beFig. 5 A Multilayer corrosion scale that develops under the
simulated combustion conditions for a GMAW sample; B cor
cause it is above the
rosion fatigue cracks initiating at the alloy depleted dendrite
200-MPa yield
cores of a GMAW sample. (The etching process removed the
strength of Alloy
corrosion scale on the surface of the sample.)
622 at 600C. This
was done to simulate
the residual tensile
thermal stresses. However, these tests
stresses that develop in the waterwall
produced uncontrollable and inconsistubes that cause significant yielding
tent stress profiles that appeared to be
(Refs. 8, 17). Figure 4 also demonrelated to stress relaxation effects.
strates the precise control that the
After testing, the samples were
Gleeble offers over the temperature
mounted in cold-setting epoxy and
and stress profiles. While it is recogground and polished to examine three
nized that the cyclic thermal stresses
different longitudinal cross sections of
in the field are generated by changes
each sample. The grinding and polishin the surface temperature of the
ing steps were carefully controlled so
claddings (Refs. 5-6), the corrosion fathat sections that were 1.91 mm
tigue tests were designed to apply a
(0.075 in.), 2.54 mm (0.1 in.), and
specific stress profile at a constant
3.18 mm (0.125 in.) from the edge of
temperature. Precise control of the
the sample could be examined. This
cyclic stresses is critical in order to acwas done to ensure that the same recurately study the corrosion fatigue
gions were examined in each sample. A
mechanisms of various candidate alconsecutive series of light optical imloys and claddings. Tests were initially
ages were acquired and quantitative
conducted with controlled thermal cyimage analysis techniques were used
cles with the Gleeble jaws locked in
to measure the depth of each crack.
place as a means of inducing cyclic
Some of the samples were electrolytiFEBRUARY 2015 / WELDING JOURNAL 47-s
WELDING RESEARCH
A
Fig. 6 A mature corrosion fatigue crack that propagated

down a dendrite core for a GMAW sample. A secondary
phase was observed along the length of crack.
cally etched (10% oxalic acid and 90%

water) for post-test evaluation by light
optical microscopy.

The validity of the experimental approach was first examined by comparing the laboratory-induced cracking
mechanism to the established mechanism from field samples (Ref. 5). Figure 5A demonstrates the layered multiphasic scales that developed on the
surface of a GMAW sample. An embryonic corrosion fatigue crack is shown,
which formed within the multilayered
corrosion scale. Figure 5B demonstrates the initiation of a corrosion fatigue crack at a preferentially corroded
dendrite core for a GMAW sample (the
corrosion scale was removed by the
etching process). These results are
consistent with the corrosion fatigue
mechanism (t1 t5 in Fig. 1). Figure 6
illustrates that the

mature corrosion
fatigue cracks propagated down the
main axis of the
dendrite cores and
exhibited a secondary or spinal
phase along the
Fig. 7 Corrosion fatigue cracks observed in an Alloy 625 weld
length of the crack
cladding that was in service for less than two years. A
for a GMAW samBackscattered electron image (aspolished); B light optical
ple. This is also
micrograph (etched). (Republished with permission of Maney
Publishing, from Corrosion fatigue of Alloy 625 weld claddings in
consistent with the
combustion environments, Luer et al., 18, 1, 2001; permission con
corrosion fatigue
veyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.)
mechanism observed from examination of samples
evident in Fig. 7B, where the corrosion
removed from the field (t6). Figure 7
fatigue crack can be clearly identified
shows the results produced by this
by the secondary corrosion scale that
technique match the results obtained
formed along the length of the crack.
from weld claddings in service. It
The width of the corrosion scale surshould be noted that more corrosion is
rounding the corrosion fatigue crack is
observed around the in-service corroconsiderably wider than in the laborasion fatigue cracks. This is particularly
tory corrosion fatigue cracks shown in
WELDING RESEARCH
A
Fig. 8 Corrosion fatigue cracks observed in the aspolished GMAW cladding after the following number of cycles: A 25; B 50; C
100; D 440.
Fig. 6. This difference is attributed to

variations in the time scales between
cracks induced in the laboratory test
conditions and field conditions. The
cracks undoubtedly grew more slowly
in service due to the reduced stress
frequency. As a result, there was more
time for corrosion to occur around the
crack during crack growth.
Once the validity of the corrosion
fatigue testing procedure was established, tests were conducted on Alloy
622 GMAW and laser weld claddings.
Results are shown here to illustrate
how this approach can be used to
study and compare the corrosion resistance of various alloys and
claddings (a comprehensive understanding of the corrosion fatigue behavior will be discussed in detail in a
future paper). Figure 8 shows representative images of corrosion fatigue
cracks in the GMAW cladding samples.
Figure 8A shows the presence of a
small corrosion fatigue crack after 25
cycles. This indicates corrosion fatigue

cracks initiated relatively quickly as a
result of the accelerated test conditions. Thus, the experimental approach was able to accurately reproduce the corrosion fatigue mechanism
in a relatively short amount of time.
Additionally, multiple corrosion fatigue cracks were apparent within each
of the samples after 25 cycles, indicating that cracks continuously formed
throughout the test. The variation in
the corrosion fatigue crack depths
with increasing number of corrosion
fatigue cycles further supports this
conclusion. Figure 9 shows representative images of the laser weld cladding
samples. Corrosion fatigue cracks were
not observed after 25 and 50 cycles,
indicating an improved corrosion fatigue resistance. Similar trends to
the GMAW cladding were observed
between the 100- and 440-cycle
samples.
Figure 10 demonstrates how quan-
titative image analysis software was

used to analyze the corrosion fatigue
cracking behavior. The software uses
the differences in grayscale between
the corrosion scale and the weld metal
to determine the corrosion scale/weld
metal interface. The software then
uses the differences in grayscale to
identify the cracks and measures the
depth of each crack. Figure 11 shows
an example of a histogram of the crack
depth data for the GMAW 100-cycle
sample. The results quantitatively
demonstrate the broad range of crack
depths that were observed in each of
the samples. However, further analysis
of the histogram reveals no additional
information, which underscores the
difficulty in using histograms to evaluate the corrosion fatigue cracking behavior and the need for a more rigorous statistical approach. Figure 12A
compares the average crack depth for
the GMAW and laser weld cladding
samples. The average crack depth for
WELDING RESEARCH
A
Fig. 9 Representative aspolished crosssectional images of the laser weld cladding after the following number of cycles: A 50; B
100; C 440. Cracks were not observed in the 50cycle laser weld cladding sample.
both claddings increased with increasing number of fatigue cycles. Cracks

were not observed in the laser weld
cladding samples at 25 and 50 cycles,
indicating a slower crack initiation
process and therefore an improvement
in the corrosion fatigue resistance. A
large variance was observed within the
crack depth data, which are consistent
with continuous nucleation and
growth of corrosion fatigue cracks.
However, it provides a challenge in
making detailed comparisons between
the claddings, since the large variation
in crack depths cause the data for each
cladding to overlap. A comparison of
the average crack depths shown in Fig.
12A to the maximum crack depths
shown in Fig. 12B, illustrates the difference between the maximum crack
depth and the average crack depth increased significantly with increasing
number of fatigue cycles. This further
illustrates that the average crack depth
values are not adequate for characterizing the corrosion fatigue behavior.
Thus, a more rigorous statistical approach is needed to quantitatively understand the differences in crack initiation and propagation behavior between these claddings.
A two-parameter Weibull analysis
was used to analyze the cumulative
distribution function (cdf) of the weld
cladding crack depth data. This statistical approach provides a graphical estimation of the cumulative distribution function, which describes the
probability that a crack is less than or
equal to a given crack depth. The
analysis determines if the cdf for a given data set can be described by the
equation (Ref. 18)
t
F ( t ) = 1 exp

(1)
where F(t) is the probability, t is the
variable of interest (i.e., crack depth),

is the scale factor, and is the shape
parameter. The first step in performing the analysis was to order the crack
depths in ascending order. An index
number was then assigned to each
crack depth. The probability plotting
points were determined using the
smallest mean square error. The probability plotting points, pi, are given by
the equation (Ref. 18)
pi = (i 0.5)/n
i = 1,n.
where n is the sample size and i is the

index number. Equation 1 can be
rewritten as ln[ln(1pi)] = ln(t)
ln() and the cumulative distribution function can be plotted as
ln[ln(1pi)] vs. ln(t). If the probability plotting points are linear, the cumulative distribution function is adequately expressed by Equation 1 (Ref.
18).
Fig. 10 A Corrosion fatigue cracks in the aspolished, 50cycle GMAW cladding sample. B Image analysis software was used to
identify each of the cracks and to measure the maximum depth of each crack.
(2)
WELDING RESEARCH
creasing number of
fatigue cycles for
both weld claddings.
Additionally, the
maximum crack
depths were smaller
for the laser weld
cladding samples.
These trends were
also observed in the
two-parameter
Fig. 11 A histogram showing the crack depths measured for
Weibull analysis rethe GMAW 100cycle sample.
sults. Since a deeper
crack has a larger
As an example, Figs. 13 and 14
stress intensity factor (Ref. 19), these
compare the results of the two-pararesults suggest that the laser weld
meter Weibull analysis for the GMAW
cladding exhibits superior corrosion faand laser weld cladding samples at 100
tigue resistance. Additional work is in
and 440 cycles. The data was not linprogress to understand the crack interear, indicating that Equation 1 did not
actions since they can significantly alter
correctly describe the cdf. However,
the crack growth behavior. The deepest
this technique still allowed for the cucrack may not necessarily be the critical
mulative distribution function to be
crack that ultimately leads to failure. It
analyzed and the results provided sigis well known that in a periodic array of
nificant insight into the corrosion faedge cracks, the crack interactions
tigue cracking behavior. The crack
serve to reduce the stress intensity facdepth curves for both claddings were
tors at the crack tips to a level well befairly continuous and the slopes of the
low that of a single crack (Ref. 11). This
curves decreased from 100 to 440 cyoccurs because a series of edge cracks
cles. This indicated a broad range of
cause the material surrounding the
crack depths that arise from continucracks to become more compliant than
ous crack initiation and propagation.
in the bulk material. The extent of the
The probability that a crack is less
reduction of the stress intensity factors
than or equal to a given crack depth
is dependent upon the crack depth and
was higher in the laser weld cladding
crack spacing (Refs. 11, 12). As a result,
samples and therefore the cracks in
additional work is needed to identify
the laser weld cladding tended to be
the critical cracks that will lead to failsmaller. This is due in part to the slowure in these weld claddings. An iner crack initiation in the laser weld
depth analysis of the crack interactions
cladding and suggests an improved
and their effect on the corrosion facorrosion fatigue resistance.
tigue behavior will be addressed in a fuFigure 12B reveals that the maxiture paper. Additionally, weld ripples
mum crack depth increased with inmay significantly alter the corrosion fa-
tigue cracking behavior. The inherent

corrosion fatigue resistance of the
claddings was analyzed in this work by
preparation of machined surfaces, thus
removing the surface weld ripples.
However, the weld ripples act as additional macroscopic stress concentrators
that promote corrosion fatigue crack
initiation. Future experiments will evaluate the influence of surface finish on
the corrosion fatigue resistance. Nevertheless, the results demonstrate how
the inherent corrosion fatigue behavior
of Ni-based weld claddings can be quantitatively characterized using light optical microscopy, image analysis, and statistical analysis techniques.
Conclusions
A new technique was developed for
corrosion fatigue testing of claddings
used on waterwall tubes in coal-fired
boilers. The results were evaluated to
establish the validity of the experimental method. The experimental
procedure was successfully used to accurately reproduce the corrosion fatigue mechanism. The laboratoryinduced corrosion fatigue cracks propagated along the dendrite cores and
exhibited a spinal phase similar to
cracks observed in the field. A few corrosion fatigue cracks were observed in
the GMAW cladding as early as 25 cycles, indicating the accelerated testing
technique produced cracks in a short
amount of time. The corrosion fatigue
cracking behavior of the weld
claddings was complex and needed to
be analyzed using a two-parameter
Weibull analysis. Both types of
claddings exhibited numerous cracks
Fig. 12 A Average crack depths; B maximum crack depths for the GMAW and laser weld cladding samples. The error bars indicate
a single standard deviation.
WELDING RESEARCH
Fig. 13 Twoparameter Weibull analysis of the 100cycle

weld cladding samples.
of various depths, indicating that corrosion fatigue crack initiation and

propagation were continuous. Cracks
were not observed in the laser weld
cladding after 25 and 50 cycles, indicating a slower crack initiation
process. The corrosion fatigue cracks
also tended to be smaller in the laser
weld cladding. These preliminary results suggest laser weld cladding exhibits superior corrosion fatigue resistance. Research is in progress to fully characterize the corrosion fatigue
behavior of GMAW and laser weld
claddings to fundamentally understand the differences in corrosion fatigue behavior. Work is in progress to
characterize the influence of crack interactions and surface finish on the
corrosion fatigue crack initiation and
propagation behavior.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge
financial support through the National Science Foundation Center for Integrated Materials Joining Science for
Energy Applications, Grant IIP1034703, and PPL Generation, LLC,
Contract 00474836. Useful technical
discussions with Ruben Choug and
Robert Schneider of PPL Generation,
LLC, are also gratefully appreciated.
References
1. Whitaker, R. 1982. A new path from
Fig. 14 Twoparameter Weibull analysis of the 440cycle

weld cladding samples.
coal to Electricity. EPRI Journal: 1825.

2. Jones, C. 1997. Maladies of low NOx
firing come home to roost. Power: 5460.
3. Urich, J. A., and Kramer, E. 1996. Designing solutions for low NOx related waterwall corrosion. FACT (Am. Soc. Mech.
Eng.) 21 (Proceedings of the International
Joint Power Generation Conference, Volume
1: Environmental Control/Fuels and Combustion Technologies, 1996): 2529.
4. Kung, S., and Bakker, W. 2000. Waterwall Corrosion in Coal-Fired Boilers A New
Culprit: FeS.
5. Luer, K., DuPont, J., Marder, A., and
Skelonis, C. 2001. Corrosion fatigue of Alloy 625 weld claddings in combustion environments. Mater. High Temp. 18(1): 1119.
6. Lai, G. Y. 2007. High Temperature Corrosion and Materials Applications. Materials
Park, Ohio: ASM International.
7. Sridhar, S., Rozzelle, P., Morreale, B.,
and Alman, D. 2011. Materials challenges
for advanced combustion and gasification
fossil energy systems. Metall. Mater. Trans.
A 42(4): 871877.
8. Smith, B. J., Erskine, C. P., Hartranft,
R. J., and Marder, A. R. 1992. Corrosionfatigue (circumferential) cracking in
chromium-molybdenum low alloy boiler
tube steels: Part 2 laboratory simulation. J. Eng. Mater. Technol. 114(3):
270277.
9.DuPont, J. N., Stockdale, A. W., Caizza, A., and Esposito, A. 2013. High-temperature corrosion behavior of Alloy 600
and 622 weld cladding and coextruded
coatings. Welding Journal 92(8): 218-s to
224-s.
10. DuPont, J. N. 1996. Solidification of
an Alloy 625 weld overlay. Metall. Mater.
Trans. A 27A(11): 36123620.
11. Nied, H. F. 1987. Periodic array of
cracks in a half-plane subjected to arbitrary
loading. Journal of Applied Mechanics 109:
642648.
12. Benthem, J. P., and Koiter, W. T.

1973. Asymptotic approximations to crack
problems. Methods of Analysis and Solutions
of Crack Problems, ed. G. C. Sih, pp.
131178. Noordhoff, Netherlands.
13. Deacon, R. M., Dupont, J. N., and
Marder, A. R. 2007. High temperature corrosion resistance of candidate nickel-based
weld overlay alloys in a low NOx environment. Mater. Sci. Eng., A A460-A461:
392402.
14. Regina J. R., DuPont, J. N., and
Marder, A. R. 2004. Corrosion behavior of
Fe-Al-Cr alloys in sulfur- and oxygen-rich
environments in the presence of pyrite.
Corrosion (Houston, Tex.) 60(5): 501509.
15. Regina, J. R., DuPont J. N., and
Marder, A. R. 2005. Gaseous corrosion resistance of Fe-Al-based alloys containing
Cr additions Part I: Kinetic results. Mater.
Sci. Eng., A A404(1-2): 7178.
16. Regina, J. R., Dupont, J. N., and
Marder, A. R. 2005. Gaseous corrosion resistance of Fe-Al based alloys containing Cr
additions Part II: Scale morphology. Mater.
Sci. Eng., A A405(1-2): 102110.
17. Para, S. 2004. Corrosion-fatigue
cracking behavior of weld clad tubes. Masters thesis Corrosion-fatigue cracking behavior of weld clad tubes, Lehigh University.
18. Nelson, W. 1982. Applied Life Data
Analysis. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
19. Hertzberg, R. W. 1976. Deformation
and Fracture Mechanics of Engineering
Materials.
WELDING RESEARCH
Nitrogen Effect on the Microstructure and

Mechanical Properties of Nickel Alloys
In Alloy 263 and Alloy X, the weld metal microstructures and mechanical properties
due to welding by different ArN2 shielding gases were observed
BY B. NABAVI, M. GOODARZI, AND V. AMANI
ABSTRACT
In this research, the effects of nitrogen addition in Ar gas on weld metal microstruc
ture and mechanical properties of Alloy 263 (UNS N07263) and Alloy X (UNS N06002)
were studied. Autogenous gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) was employed by adding
04 vol% N2 in Ar. Welding speed and heat input rate were measured as functions of gas
composition. The weld metal microstructure was studied by optical and scanning elec
tron microscopy. Experimental results demonstrated that the dendritic structure of the
weld was refined by increasing N2 in Ar for both alloys. An addition of 4 vol% N2 to Ar
decreased significantly the columnar region in Alloy 263 fusion zone (FZ), while no simi
lar change was observed in Alloy X. This difference is discussed based on microstructural
characterization. Finally, it was found that the tensile strength and hardness have been
augmented with increased nitrogen in the shielding gas.
KEYWORDS
Nitrogen Alloy 263 Alloy X Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW)
Equiaxed Dendrites Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS)
Introduction
Nickel-based alloys are extensively
used in stationary components of gas
turbines such as combustion chamber,
casing, liner, exhaust ducting, and
bearing housing (Refs. 1, 2). In this regard, Alloy 263 (UNS N07263), a
precipitation-hardened alloy, and Alloy
X (UNS N06002), a solid solution
strengthened alloy, are highly on demand for good creep strength and outstanding oxidation resistance.
The most important joining technique in manufacturing of the components mentioned above is gas tungsten
arc welding (GTAW). Welding opera-
tions should be carried out with materials in solution-treated condition. In the

solution treatment condition (1150C/2
h/air cooling), Alloy 263 and Alloy X microstructures consist of Ti-enriched MC
carbide and Mo-enriched M6C carbide
distributed in the matrix, respectively.
It should be mentioned that Alloy X suffers from the heat-affected zone (HAZ)
liquation phenomenon due to a reaction
between M6C carbides and the matrix to
form an interfacial liquid film that is at
eutectic composition. This process happens as a result of heating above the eutectic temperature, called constitutional
liquation (Refs. 35).
In general, enhancement of mechanical properties with Ni-based al-
loys is of great importance in weldments. A fundamental way to increase

the yield strength and toughness is to
refine the structure of the fusion zone
(FZ). In addition, formation of fine dendritic structure in the FZ can cause a decrease in the susceptibility of solidification cracking during welding (Refs. 5,
6). It has been reported that the addition of nitrogen in argon gas changes
the microstructure of the weld metal in
austenitic steels (Refs. 7, 8).
Nitrogen is a strong solid solution
strengthening element in austenitic
stainless steels (Ref. 9). According to the
previous works, solubility of nitrogen in
nickel-based melts is less than that in
iron-based alloys and depends strongly
on alloy composition (Refs. 1012). It
was known that Cr plays a more important role in increasing the nitrogen solubility than other elements in a nickelbased melt (Ref. 13). The existence of a
high nitrogen amount in the melt can
cause precipitation of nitride compounds (Refs. 14, 15). Moreover, the nitrides may either be transferred directly
from the filler metal during the welding
process to the FZ or be formed by a heat
treatment of alloys containing a sufficient amount of the nitrogen present in
solid solution. Heat treatment has no
influence on the nitrides (Refs. 11, 15).
Ramirez et al. (Refs. 15, 16) showed
that the titanium nitride transferred
from the filler metal to the molten weld
pool of Ni-based Alloys 600/625, and
690 dissolves significant amounts of C
and Cr whose reason is the equilibrium
B. NABAVI (behrooz.nabavi@gmail.com) and M. GOODARZI are with the School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Iran University
of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran. V. AMANI is with the School of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering,
University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
WELDING RESEARCH
A
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram showing the dimensions of the welded

specimens used in the tension tests.
phase composition change through solidification temperature range from TiN

to (MTi)(CN), where M stands for other
metallic elements.
The beneficial impact of nitrogen on
the carbide morphology in unidirectional and single crystal Ni-based alloys was
reported by several investigators (Refs.
14, 17). It has been also revealed that
the addition of nitrogen to CMSX-4, a
single crystal Ni-based superalloy, increases the number of solidification defects, especially high-angle boundaries
(Ref. 18). According to Nage et al. (Ref.
8), nitrogen has a positive effect on decreasing the compositional difference
between the dendrites and interdendrites regions in 904L stainless steels. It
has been recognized that nitrogen improves the depth of welding penetration, corrosion resistance, and mechanical properties in stainless steels (Refs. 7,
8, 1922).
Unlike iron-based alloys, there is a
dearth of information on the microstructural and mechanical behavior
of Ni-based weld metals obtained by
Ar-N2 shielding gases. Therefore, in
the current work, the effect of N2 addition in Ar gas on the FZ microstructure plus mechanical properties of Alloy 263 and Alloy X were investigated.
Experimental Method
Materials and Sample
Preparation
In the present study, solution annealed Alloy 263 and Alloy X sheets of
100 x 70 x 1 mm size were prepared. To
ensure about heat

treatment condition,
specimens were solutionized at 1150C
for 2 h followed by
water quenching.
B
The chemical compositions and mechanical properties of the
test materials are
given in Tables 1A
and 1B, respectively.
Gas tungsten arc
welding was carried
out by an experienced specialist
welder without filler
metal. The shielding
gas was argon with a
maximum 4 vol-%
nitrogen fraction,
prepared in a special
mixer. To protect the
Fig. 2 Optical images of solution heat treated (1150C/2
weld root against oxidah) base metal. A Alloy 263; B Alloy X showing inter
granular and intragranular particles within the matrix.
tion, to avoid the influence of oxygen on the
nitrogen dissolution in
shielding gas composition are listed in
the welds and promote structure uniforTable 2. The nitrogen content in the
mity during solidification, specimens
welds was measured by inert gas fuwere welded on a water-cooled copper
sion using a LECO analyzer on the
backup bar with dimensions of 25 X 15 X
weld metal extracted by drilling.
5 cm. Argon was purged continuously
The welding speed was measured by
from the bottom as the backing gas.
the following:
Constant welding parameters include the following: current 20 A; diS = x/t
(1)
ameter of the 2% thoriated tungsten
electrode 1 mm; electrode tip angle 60
deg; arc length 3 mm; and the shieldwhere S is the welding speed (mm/s), x
ing gas and backing gas flow rate 8
is the length of weld (x = 100 mm),
1/min and 6 1/min, respectively. The
and t denotes welding time (s).
heat input rate, welding voltage, and
The heat input rate was estimated
welding speed as the functions of
by the following:
Table 1A Chemical Compositions (wt%) of Test Materials

Alloy
Si
Mn
Cr
Co
Mo
Fe
Al
Ti
Cu
Ni
Alloy 263
Alloy X
0.05
0.1
0.25
0.15
0.3
0.75
19.58
22.17
19.1
1.3
5.9
9.02
0.48
18.5
0.2
0.15
2.38
0.1
0.3
0.6
0.0017
0.0053
0.0062
0.0137
bal
bal
WELDING RESEARCH
H = VI/S
(2)
where H, , I, and V stand for the

heat input rate (J/mm), arc efficiency
coefficient ( = 0.65), current (I = 20
A), and the arc voltage (V), respectively.
Microstructural
Characterization
To examine microstructural features of the weld metal, optical and
scanning electron microscope (SEM)
were used. Elemental distribution of
the precipitations in welds was determined by energy dispersive X-ray analyzer (EDX) coupled with SEM. For
samples preparation, specimens were
first machined in needed dimensions.
Thereafter, they were mounted and
ground with SiC abrasive paper down
to 1500 mesh grit. The polishing operation was conducted with 3 and 1 m
diamond paste. Alloy 263 samples
were etched in a solution with 2 part
hydrochloric acid, 2 part nitric acid, 3
parts acetic acid, and four drops of
glycerin for 4 to 8 s. A solution with 3
parts HCl, 1 part HNO3, and 2 parts
glycerin was used to etch Alloy X sections for 25 to 30 s. The size of the
equiaxed dendrites and secondary
dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) were determined in the etched FZ sections using Clemex image analysis software.
Mechanical Tests
Vickers microhardness was measured using a load of 0.49 N. The tensile behavior of the welds was evaluated for all samples welded with various
shielding atmosphere.
Figure 1 illustrates the configuration of the tensile specimens made in
accordance with the specifications of
ASTM E8, Standard Test Methods for
Tension Testing of Metallic Materials.
Each specimen was inspected by X-ray
method prior to mechanical tests.

Base Metals
Figure 2A and B show the typical
optical microstructure of preweld solution heat treated base Alloy 263 and
Alloy X, respectively. As seen from Fig.
Fig. 3 SEM microstructure. A Alloy 263; B Alloy X weldments; C and D EDS spec
tra from MC and M6C carbides distributed in Alloy 263 and Alloy X matrices, respectively.
Table 1B Mechanical Properties of Test Materials in the SolutionTreated Condition

Material
Yield Strength (MPa)
Alloy 263
Alloy X
424
330
Ultimate Tensile Strength (MPa) Elongation % Hardness (Hv)
2A and B, both alloys contained dispersed particles in intergranular and

intragranular regions of the matrix.
Backscattered SEM micrographs of
the alloys are shown in Fig. 3A and B.
The particles distributed in the matrix
of Alloy 263 appear in dark contrast
(Fig. 3A) whereas the particles in the
grains of Alloy X appear in bright contrast Fig. 3B. The EDS spectra from
the particles, shown in Fig. 3C and D,
revealed that they are of the MC-type
carbide and M6C-type carbide in Alloy
263 and Alloy X, respectively.
Metallographic evidence also elucidated that liquation phenomenon occurred in the HAZ of Alloy X. One of
these liquated M6C carbides was shown
in bottom left inset of Fig. 3B at higher
magnification. This liquated carbide can
be compared to a pristine carbide
shown in the top right inset of Fig. 3B.
Whats more, Fig. 4A shows an optical image of the HAZ in Alloy X.
Two liquated M6C can be seen in Fig.
4A. The liquation can be identified by
860
721
56
47
245
240
partial dissolution near the edges of

the large carbides. Under the heating
conditions experienced in the HAZ,
small carbides can totally dissolve in
the matrix. In the case of MC carbides, they have been found with two
blocky and cylindrical morphologies
in the base Alloy 263. For example,
one blocky shaped carbide approximately 7 m in size and one cylindrical carbide, 10 m long and about 2
m wide, were shown in Fig. 4B and
C, respectively.
Several investigators have reported
that MC carbide forms generally with
cylindrical and blocky morphologies
during solidification, hot working
process, and aging treatment (Refs. 1,
3). Owing to the large (> 5 m) and
medium (12 m) average size of the
carbides, it is reasonable to assume
that the carbides observed in the matrix of Alloy 263 are either primary solidification constituents or secondary
phases precipitated during the hot
working process.
WELDING RESEARCH
A
Fig. 5 Nitrogen content in the weld metal as a function of

the shielding gas composition.
Fig. 4 Optical images. A M6C carbides in the HAZ of Al

loy X; B and C MC carbides in base Alloy 263.
Nitrogen Content in the Welds

The nitrogen content in the welds
as a function of the shielding gas composition was illustrated in Fig. 5. The
experimental results demonstrate that
the N content of the weld increases
with the increasing N2 level in the
shielding gas mixture for both alloys.
Similar results were found in the previous works on austenitic steels (Refs.
7, 8, 1922). From Fig. 5, it can be
seen that the nitrogen solubility of Alloy X welds is higher than that of Alloy
263 welds.
It was found that effective factors on
nitrogen solubility in the weld include
the alloying element content of the FZ,
primary nitrogen level, the surface active element concentration in the weld,
and the welding parameters (Ref. 20).
Regarding higher primary nitrogen level
in Alloy X, low sulfur

concentration for
both materials (Table
1A) and higher welding speed for Alloy X
Fig. 6 Influence of shielding gas composition on the size of
(Table 2), it is sugequiaxed dendrites d and SDAS in welds.
gested that the difference in nitrogen solualso shown in Table 2.
bility in Alloy 263 and Alloy X may reBased on the experimental results,
sult from the presence of various alloywelding speed increases with a nitroing elements.
gen rise in the shielding gas. Doping of
4% N2 to Ar leads to increased welding
Welding Speed
speed by about 20% compared with
the pure argon shielded process for
Table 2 shows the effect of shieldboth Alloy 263 and Alloy X. The key
ing gas composition on welding voltreason is associated with increasing in
age. As seen from Table 2, the welding
the density of heat flux to anode (samvoltage increases by an N2 rise in Ar. It
ple) due to adding N2 to Ar. The heat
is consistent with findings by several
intensity or heat flux at the anode surresearchers (Refs. 7, 19, 21, 22). The
face is given by the following:
influence of different shielding gas atmospheres on the welding speed is
T
Sa = je wa k
a T 4
(3)
z
Table 2 Inuence of Shielding Gas Composition on the Voltage and Heat Input Rate
Shielding Gas
Composition
Voltage (V)
Ar
Ar1% N2
Ar2% N2
Ar3% N2
Ar4% N2
10.3
10.5
11
11.3
11.4
Welding Speed (mm/s)

Alloy 263
Alloy X
1.25
1.3
1.35
1.4
1.5
2
2.05
2.15
2.3
2.4
Heat Input Rate (J/mm)

Alloy 263
Alloy X
107 1
105 1
105 1
105 1
99 1
67 1
67 1
67 1
63 1
62 1
Equation 3 includes three terms:

heating by electron capture, thermal
conduction, and blackbody radiative
cooling. Here je is current density, wa
is work function, k is thermal conductivity, T is the temperature, z is displacement in the direction perpendicular to the anode surface, a is emis-
WELDING RESEARCH
Table 3 EDS Results of MC Precipitates
Observed in Alloy 263 Welds Shielded by Ar
and Ar + 4% N2 Gases
Elements
C
Ti
Co
Cr
Mo
Ni
Shielding Gas (wt%)

Pure Ar
Ar + 4% N2
10.2
56.4
5.2
8.1
3.2
16.9
13.5
43.7
7.1
9.7
5.1
20.9
sivity of the anode, and finally denotes the Stefan-Boltzmann constant.

Some authors take into account an additional term, 5kB/2ejeTp, where kB is
the Boltzmann constant, and Tp is the
plasma temperature at the edge of the
sheath. If this term were included, the
term proportional to je would increase
by about 20%. This would not alter the
conclusion of the total heat flux.
Another term that has been neglected is the anode fall voltage as well, because the fall can be negative due to
strong electron diffusion to the anode,
and its impact is in any case small compared with the electron capture term.
According to Murphy et al. (Refs. 23,
24), nitrogen addition to argon causes a
higher increase in current density and
less increase in thermal conductivity of
arc, so the total heat flux increases, indicating arc constricts.
Fig. 7 Influence of nitrogen addition to argon gas on weld metal structure. A Pure
Ar and B Ar4% N2 for Alloy 263; C pure Ar and D Ar4% N2 for Alloy X.
Microstructural Investigation
Based on the microstructural examination, the FZ of Alloy 263 and Alloy X
superalloys consisted of equiaxed dendrites at the center and columnar dendrites around them. The effect of
shielding gas composition on the size of
the equiaxed dendrites and the SDAS is
shown in Fig. 6. Experimental results
show that increasing the N content in
the weld metal leads to reduction of the
equiaxed grains size and the SDAS in
both alloys.
According to Fig. 6, the size of the
equiaxed dendrites decreases over 11%
in Alloy 263 welds and 27% in Alloy X
welds by addition of 4 vol-% nitrogen in
the shielding gas in comparison with
the pure argon shielded method. In addition, the SDAS in Alloy 263 welds reduced from 16 1 m for pure argon to
11 1 m for Ar-4% N2 shielding gas. A
similar decline in the SDAS occurred in
Alloy X weld metals (Fig. 6).
Fig. 8 Influence of shielding gas composition on the microstructure of Alloy 263

welds. A Pure Ar; B Ar2% N2 ; C Ar3% N2; D Ar4% N2 .
Figure 7AD displays the columnar

zone of the weld metal of Alloy 263 and
Alloy X specimens obtained by pure Ar
and Ar-4% N2 shielding gases. Comparing Fig. 7AD indicates that the weld
structure has been altered due to the
welding by N2-containing shielding gas.
It is known that the SDAS depends on
the cooling rate and mobility factor. In
Ni-base alloys, the SDAS correlates

with the cooling rate by the following:
~ (tf)1/3 ~ ()1/3 ~ (G)1/3
(4)
where tf is the solidification time, is

the cooling rate, G is the temperature
gradient, and is the solidification
rate (Refs. 6, 25). According to EquaFEBRUARY 2015 / WELDING JOURNAL 57-s
WELDING RESEARCH
A
Fig. 10 SEM image of Alloy 263 weld met

al prepared with Ar4% N2 shielding gas.
Fig. 9 Optical images of Alloy 263 specimens welded by different shielding gas composi
tions. A and B Pure Ar; C Ar3% N2; D Ar4% N2. (Arrows show MCtype carbides.)
tion 4, the cooling rate is the product

of the temperature gradient and solidification rate. Since the sample geometrical shape and environmental condition are the same for all tests, the temperature gradient and subsequently
the cooling rate are constant. It was
found that the mobility factor is a
function of surface tension and partition coefficient (Ref. 8). Therefore, the
reduction in the SDAS is attributed to
the change in surface tension and
chemical composition due to the nitrogen rise in the weld metal. It is necessary to mention that the decrease in
the SDAS corresponds with a more homogeneous distribution of alloying elements (Ref. 25).
Figure 8AD illustrates typical optical micrographs associated with the effect of the nitrogen amount in the
shielding gas on the weld metal microstructure adjacent to the HAZ in
Alloy 263. As seen from Fig. 8AD,
dendritic structure of the welds is significantly changed by increasing in the
nitrogen content. As a case in point, it
is clear that the area of columnar zone
is considerably decreased by a nitrogen
rise in the shielding gas. That is, the
ratio of the columnar area to the FZ
area decreased from 0.55 for specimens welded with Ar to less than 0.2
for weldments prepared with Ar-4% N2

shielding gas; nitrogen addition leads
to a noticeable extending in the
equiaxed zone in the weld metal.
Optical micrographs of the Alloy 263
weld metals obtained by different
shielding gas compositions are depicted
in Fig. 9AD. Two precipitates with
blocky and cylindrical morphologies are
evident in Fig. 9A and B, respectively.
Table 3 represents the EDS results of
the precipitates in Alloy 263 FZ welded
with N2 free and 4% N2 containing
shielding gases. According to Table 3,
the observed precipitates in the Arshielded weld are MC-type carbide due
to the presence of C and Ti, which contain other elements. High amounts of
nickel, chromium, and cobalt detected
definitely indicates high interference
with the matrix surrounding the precipitate. Similarity of blocky and cylindrical
phases in Fig. 4B and C, and Fig. 9A and
B also supports the existence of MCtype carbides in the weld metal.
Based on the metallographic investigation, it was found that with increasing the nitrogen content in the weld
metal, the number of medium size precipitates (12 m) increases in the Alloy
263 FZ. The quantity of these precipitates in the weld made by Ar-4% N2
shielding gas exceeded four times as
much as the number of them in the

weld made by pure Ar. The orange-like
color of these secondary phases suggests that they are either nitride compositions or carbides similar to Fig. 9A and
B detected in the specimens welded
with pure argon. In order to identify
these precipitates, SEM images of the
different N-bearing welds were studied.
Figure 10 illustrates an SEM image
of the weld metal prepared with Ar-4%
N2 shielding gas. EDS analysis related to
one of these precipitates was listed in
Table 3. The analysis result reveals high
C concentration. However, nitrogen was
not detected in any of the analyzed precipitations; it doesnt suggest the absence of nitrogen because the precision
limit of this analysis was 0.1 wt-%. Low
atomic weight of C and N elements
makes it difficult to identify them in the
EDS analysis, though the high wt-% of
C supports the presence of carbide or
carbo-nitride enriched in Ti and Cr. It
should be noted that beside large and
medium size precipitates, some very
small phases were also observed.
It is likely that they are of either
M23C6-type carbides precipitated along
the welds grain boundary or MN-type
nitrides like TiN particles formed in
the weld pool. Ramirez et al. (Ref. 16)
identified both nanoscale M23C6 carbides precipitated along grain boundary and very small nitrides (< 50 nm)
in strain-to-fracture Ni-based sample
strained 1.6% at 956C for 10 s. Of
course, it is necessary to consider that
we did not apply any heat treatment
on the weldments.
WELDING RESEARCH
A
Fig. 11 Influence of shielding gas composition on the microstructure of Alloy X welds.

A Pure Ar; B Ar2% N2 ; C Ar3% N2 ; D Ar4% N2.
Nonetheless, regarding the presence

of Ti, a strong nitride former, and high
amounts of nitrogen in the melt, it is
possible to precipitate nanoscale TiN
particles throughout the liquid metal
during solidification. Therefore, it is
suggested that the heterogeneous nucleation of carbides on extremely fine
TiN precipitates is the reason for the increasing in number of MC precipitates
resulted from the nitrogen rise in Alloy
263 welds. The impact of TiN precipitates on motivating heterogeneous nucleation of carbides at a higher temperature reported before (Ref. 14).
It has been previously ascertained in
GTA welds of Alloy 690 using thermodynamic calculations that TiN is formed
in higher temperatures in the melt and
is changed to the TiC phase (TiN isomorph phase) during solidification in
the weld metal (Refs. 16, 17). Hence,
this phase transformation is likely to be
the cause for nonidentification of TiN
particles in none of the specimens welded with N2 containing shielding gas.
On the other hand, investigation of
optical micrographs of Alloy X welds obtained by different shielding gases
showed that the area of the equiaxed
grains has not been changed with increasing N2 content in Ar. Figure 11AD
shows the weld metal microstructure of

Alloy X adjacent to the HAZ resulted
from different shielding gas composition. As seen from Fig. 11AD, no
change was observed in the area of the
columnar region of the welds with an
addition of nitrogen to argon.
Based on the above discussions, this
difference between Alloy 263 and Alloy
X welds can be described by the role of
TiN or carbonitrides formed in Alloy
263 welds. Reasons confirming the
aforementioned notion include an absence of Ti in Alloy X (Table 1A); the
presence of N in Alloy X welds about
twice as much as Alloy 263 weld metals
made by similar shielding gases (Fig. 5);
and a high affinity between Ti and N,
plus no alteration in the area of
equiaxed grains in the Alloy X welds.
Moreover, it should be stated that
no precipitation was observed in Alloy
X welds prepared with all of the shielding gases. As a result, the main reason
for significant grain refinement of Alloy 263 weld metal resulted from 4%
N2 added to Ar gas is based on the idea
that the dendrite nucleation was intensified heterogeneously on MC,
(MTi)(CN), or TiN precipitates. Black
arrows in Fig. 9C and D show three
MC carbides nuclei at the center of
Fig. 12 Effect of nitrogen content in ar

gon gas on the ultimate tensile strength of
weldments.
Fig. 13 Vickers hardness of the weld

metal as a function of the shielding gas
composition.
three equiaxed grains.

The investigation of the optical images shows that the number of cylindrical carbides decreases as the nitrogen
content in the weld increases. That is,
increasing the nitrogen content of the
weld leads the cylindrical carbides to become blocky. This finding is in good
agreement with all investigators (Refs.
14, 17). A clear mechanism for this
change in morphology has not yet been
found. In addition, with increasing nitrogen content in the weld pool, the
quantity of large size carbides significantly decreased.
Mechanical Tests Results

The effect of nitrogen content on
the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) is
shown in Fig. 12. Based on the experimental results, UTS increases with
augmenting the amount of nitrogen in
argon gas. The main reason is related
to the microstructure refinement discussed in the previous section. The
second reason is precipitation
strengthening caused by raising the
number of MC carbides in the Alloy
263 weld zone. Indeed, glide of dislo-
WELDING RESEARCH
cations could be hindered by MC precipitates, so the dislocations pile-up at
these obstacles. Hence, more stress is
needed to move the dislocations.
Figure 13 displays the microhardness of the weld as a function of the
shielding gas composition. Microhardness measurements on the as-welded
specimens indicate that the hardness
of the weld is less than that of the base
metal for both alloys (Table 1B and
Fig. 13). It is interesting to note that
Vickers hardness reached HV 238 and
HV 227, respectively, for Alloy 263
and Alloy X welds resulting from 4%
N2 addition to Ar. This finding was
consistent with microstructural observations; in other words, the refinement of the dendritic structure (Figs.
7, 8) and interstitial solid solution
strengthening and precipitation hardening (Fig. 9) have been obviously
identified as hardening mechanisms in
the weld zone.
Conclusions
The weld metal microstructures
and mechanical properties due to
welding by different Ar-N2 shielding
gases were examined in Alloy 263 and
Alloy X. The results are summarized as
follows:
1) In both alloys, with increasing
the amount of N2 in Ar gas, the N level
in the welds increased and dendritic
structures were refined.
2) A considerable decrease in the
columnar region in Alloy 263 was observed due to an addition of 4% N2 in
Ar, while such a similar event did not
occur in Alloy X.
3) As the N content of the Alloy 263
weld metal increases, the number of
MC precipitates increases, and they
tend to precipitate in blocky form.
4) It is suggested that heterogeneously promoted nucleation of the
dendrites and MC carbides during solidification are the main reasons for
the microstructural modification in Alloy 263 weld.
5) The UTS increased from 773
MPa and 665 MPa for Ar gas to 815
MPa and 715 MPa for Ar-4% N2 shielding gas in Alloy 263 and Alloy X weldments, respectively.
6) The hardness of the weld augmented with increasing the N content
of the weld zone in both superalloys.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the MAPNA Group for financial
support of this research and employees of MavadKaran Co., especially Mohammad Cheraghzadeh and Amin Amjadi, for supplying materials and kind
assistance.
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