Hello everyone!
This is my first post on the forum.
I am a 7th year CWI and have been working for a company that fabricates rigid steel frame buildings with tension fabric coverings. I have set up a quality control and training program for our steel fabrication shop. Management must have liked what I have done because I am now the quality supervisor for the entire plant. My new role will include writing welding procedures for PVC and PE coated architectural fabrics in our fabric plant. This type of fabric welding is not well regulated by any code, except for EU codes, as it is a rather new process. I am thinking I would like to use AWS B2.4 and AWS G1.10M as a basis for my written procedures and welder qualifications, but am not sure if they can be applied to these types of poly coated fabrics. We are using Hot Gas/Air Welding (HGW) as our process, and PVC and PE as the coating material. Both process and material are covered by the B2.4 specification and the G1.10 thermoplastic evaluation guide. Destructive testing is covered by ASTM D751.
This is a long shot but, Does anyone have experience using these publications and do you know if they can be applied to this type of material, or were they developed for typical hard plastics? I would like to know before I purchase them, and end up with two books that will only collect dust on my bookshelf.
I am pretty much pioneering our own standard for this process, but am enjoying the challenge of learning a new type of welding.
Thanks to all of you who have shared their knowledge on this forum. My appreciation is beyond words.
Kabur