I was on a structural welding job the other day and had a CWI bust my chops for running Lincoln NR 211 wire. First time I have had anyone have a problem with 211, so we discussed it, and at the end of the day he said no, I was wrong. I thought I would ask here to see if I was the minority or the majority in my thinking. Here were the technical details for the job;
Base Metal: A36, 1/4 in. thick, all 1/4 fillet welds
Welding with my Prequalified FCAW-S WPS, any E71-T11 permitted
I know D1.1 limits T-11 to 1/2" base metal or less (Table 3.1 or 3.2 I can't remember), which is what my WPS states.
The CWI stated that 211 wasn't a "structural wire". I asked what he meant by that, and maybe that he meant "seismic qualified". He said "no, it's not structural, read the MFG literature". So I read the Lincoln NR 211 two page publication, sure it didn't say structural, it said general fabrication, but it sure didn't say not-structural, and the fact it is T-11, which is approved in D1.1 Structural Welding Code should be enough. I looked at ESAB Fabshield 21B, another T-11, and it states it's a light structural wire, anything 3/4 in and less.
We are welding 1/4 in. structural members, exactly what I would consider light structural, and T11 is approved for use in AWS D1.1. I really don't want to run 232 for a multitude of reasons, but will if I am in the wrong.
Opinions?