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CAN ONE COMPANY USE WELDING

PROCEDURES QUALIFIED BY
ANOTHER COMPANY?

  

Frequently asked questions

This will depend on contractual arrangements between client and fabricator and/or the

application and welding codes that are speci ed.

ASME IX

Quali cation Standard for Welding & Brazing Procedures, Welders, Brazers,
and Welding and Brazing Operators

Para. QW-100.1 states:

'Any WPSs used by a manufacturer or contractor that will have responsible

operational control of production welding shall be a WPS that has been quali ed
by that manufacturer or contractor in accordance with Article II, or it shall be an
AWS Standard Welding Procedure Speci cation (SWPS) listed in Appendix E and
adopted by that manufacturer or contractor in accordance with Article V.'

BS EN ISO 15607

Speci cation and quali cation of welding procedures for metallic materials
- General rules

Para. 6.1 states:

'The manufacturer shall prepare a pWPS and shall ensure that it is applicable for
the actual production, using experience from previous productions and the
general fund of knowledge of welding technology. Each pWPS shall be used as a
basis for establishment of WPQR quali ed according to one of the test methods
listed in Table 2.'

There are two methods given in Table 2 that allow welding procedure quali cation to

e ectively be carried out by an organisation other than the manufacturer/fabricator.

One of the listed methods is based on tested welding consumables (tests carried out by a

consumable manufacturer) and BS EN ISO 15610 gives details of how a consumable

manufacturer's test data can be used to generate a quali ed WPS.

The other listed method is by use of a standard welding procedure (a procedure based on

welding procedure quali cation tests performed by another organisation) and BS EN ISO
15612 gives details of how the parameters from a standard welding procedure can be used

to generate a quali ed WPS.

AWS D1.1

Structural Welding Code - Steel

Section 4.2.1 states:

'Except for prequali ed WPSs in conformance with Section 3, a WPS for use in
production welding shall be quali ed in conformance with Clause 4, Part B.
Properly documented evidence of previous WPS quali cation may be used.

Section 4.2.1.1 states:

'Each manufacturer or Contractor shall conduct tests required by this code to

qualify the WPS'.

Section 3.1 states:

'Prequali cation of WPSs shall be de ned as exempt from WPS quali cation
testing required in Clause 4'.

In order for a WPS to be prequali ed, conformance is necessary with all the applicable

requirements of Section 3 of the code.

Annex Q lists all the provisions that need to be included in a prequali ed WPS and which

should be addressed in the fabricator's or Contractor's welding program.

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