Hi all, I'm a wet behind the ears CWI in need of some assistance from some of y'all more experienced. :-)
The company I work for just qualified a FCAW procedure on 1" A-36 carbon steel plate using .045 wire in the 3G position with back gouging for ASME Section IX. The Amps recorded on the PQR ranged from 170 to 212, the Volts ranged from 21.5 to 26, and the Wire Feed Speed ranged from 235 to 315 IPM. The welder performing the PQR test completed it in 10 passes (9 front side passes, and 1 back weld after gouging). The Amps and Volts are recorded on the WPS per weld layer, e.g. 1st layer 170-185 Amps, 21.5 Volts, 2nd layer 185-190 Amps, 22.8 Volts, etc. There seems to be some confusion with the welders as to what is actually qualified; i.e. can the welder (after successful qualification) weld his first (or any) pass with 26 Volts, or is he limited to 21.5 Volts for the first layer, 22.8 for the second, etc. as that is what is recorded on the WPS? I guess to put it a little simpler, seeing as 170 to 212 Amps and 21.5 to 26 Volts were recorded on the PQR and WPS, is that the qualified range for any weld pass?
I hope this makes sense, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!