Nickel and its Alloys are Used in a Very Wide Range of Applications

From high temperature oxidation and creep resistance service to aggressive corrosive environments and very low temperature cryogenic applications.

The Nimonic and Monel alloys are the most common proprietary metals, but the total range is extensive, covering nickel contents from 30% to 99%.

All the conventional welding processes can be used to weld nickel and its alloys and matching welding consumables are available. Care must be taken however throughout the welding process to ensure that contamination does not occur—the nickel alloys are particularly susceptible to cracking and porosity if the welding environment is not properly controlled.

The most serious cracking problem with nickel alloys is hot cracking in either the weld metal or close to the fusion line in the HAZ with the latter being the more frequent. The main source of this problem is sulphur. Both weld metal and HAZ cracking are generally the result of contamination by grease.

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In Tubes, Pipes and Vessels

The oil, gas, water, food and drinks, aerospace, power generation, construction and pharmaceutical industries fabricate many thousands of metres of pipes every year and all joints need to be tested for leak tightness before release for use.

The oil, gas, water, food and drinks, aerospace, power generation, construction and pharmaceutical industries fabricate many thousands of metres of pipes every year and all joints need to be tested for leak tightness before release for use.

Hydrostatic testing is the safest and most common method employed for testing pipes and pressure vessels and this is normally undertaken using water.

Pneumatic testing using compressed inert gas or air may be used, but only under carefully controlled conditions.Failure during testing with water releases only nominal energy because water is almost incompressible. Escape of gas during pneumatic procedures can be dangerous because it can result in the sudden release of very large amounts of energy.

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Titanium and Its Alloys are Highly Reactive Metals 

Welding requires the use of special techniques to avoid embrittlement by contamination with oxygen and, to a lesser extent, nitrogen from the atmosphere.

Both gases are absorbed rapidly at temperatures prevailing in fusion welding.

Gas shielding requirements are thus much more stringent than for most other materials.

Complete protection for the weld pool, the underside of the joint and the region behind the weld metal as it cools is essential if successful welds are to be made.

The World leaders in welding research, TWI in the UK and AWS in the USA, are in total accord with the requirements for preparation and weld procedures.

Pre-weld cleaning is crucial and inert gas quality around the weld zone has to be such that the oxygen content is below 10 ppm (0.001%). 

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Flexible Discs versus Inflatable Seals

Despite the fact that professionally designed weld purging systems have been available for some time it's surprising that fabricators of stainless steel tube and pipe work still employ unreliable home-made devices or unsuitable products, to prevent oxidation of the weld root.

Even on prestigious and demanding work such as LNG storage and distribution the use of plastic, paper foam, cardboard and even screwed up newsprint proliferates.

It's a fallacy that such relatively archaic practices are more cost-effective than the use of widely available, proven, properly engineered systems.

Defining the problem

Joints of high quality between stainless steel cylindrical sections such as tubes, pipes and vessels can only be made by ensuring that atmospheric gases, and in particular oxygen, are eliminated. 

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Advanced Training Courses - Safety Critical Welding

Welding skills and the introduction of new technologies are focus areas behind a series of recommendations set out in the "2012 Nuclear Construction Lessons Learned" study report.

The report, published by the Royal Academy of Engineering, notes the need for advanced training in some welding practices*.

'Welding is recognised as an area at high risk of skills shortage, with an ageing and retiring demographic'

A guidance document includes a recommended approach to Quality Assurance, referencing ASME and RCC/ETC codes/standards with detailed discussion of the relevance of the ISO 3834 framework welding-specific Quality Assurance. 

Whilst this significant study is nuclear-specific it highlights the urgent need for specialist training in all sectors where safety critical welds are produced.  Such industries include the petrochemical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage sectors and indeed the power generation industry generally.

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Demand for Help with Inert Gas

Manufacturers involved in the biofuel, semiconductor, aerospace, food production and pharmaceutical industries are all concerned with handling under aseptic conditions. The presence of any debris and contamination in finished assemblies is unacceptable and quality control procedures must be rigidly adhered to.

Nowhere is this more significant than in fabrication of tubular sections of processing plant. Attention to detail here is crucial since even small installations may involve kilometers of pipework. Mistakes during fabrication can therefore be costly.

Demand for help with inert gas purging to meet the stringent quality control requirements set by fabricators has led to the development of a wide range of ancillary products. Global leader in design and manufacture of weld purging equipment is Huntingdon Fusion Techniques Ltd, a company that has specialised in meeting the requirements of end users for 35 years.

The HFT product range includes inert gas pipe weld purging equipment covering diameters from 12 to 1800 mm. It also manufactures advanced monitors designed specifically to measure and control oxygen content of purge gases used in welding applications. 

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