AWS D1.2 ...Am I the only one?

By Duckwilly Date 10-22-2009 23:44 Edited 10-23-2009 01:30

I work for a lighting company. We work exclusively with extruded and cast aluminum. D1.2 makes no allowance for pre-qualified weld joints. Effectively you are left on your own to establish your own WPQR's ,WPS, and qualify your welders accordingly. I have been welding for 20 years and recently made C.W.I.(D1.2 94% on code portion.) Having tip toed around this forum for a few weeks I have found few posts from members with respect to D1.2. Is there anyone out there who works exclusively with cast/extruded aluminum?I would love to pick your brain on occasion here on this forum.We plan to establish all of the relevant records and qualify our welders accordingly in the first quarter of 2010.Any do's,don'ts or absolutely @$##%$^ not's would be greatly appreciated.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Duckwilly

By eekpod

Date 10-23-2009 10:29 Edited 10-23-2009 10:33

Welcome to the forum,
You might get better results posting your questions in the D1 section, since that applies to all the D1 codes, not just the steel code. I do have the aluminum code, but I'm never in it, our aluminum work is generally ornamental and is not usually code required and I have my hands full with all my other steel parts to stay up top of.
Also yes you are right in that you have to qualify all your PQR's for aluminum, that's a pain in itself.
Good luck and hang in there.
Chris

By Ke1thk

Date 10-26-2009 16:03

Welcome,

I have qualified several PQR's, WPS's and Qualifications per AWS D1.2. It's basically the same as D1.1 but has different rules. I've noticed that most welding Codes and Specifications are similar, but not the same.

Try posting what material you are welding (size and spec) and what process you plan on using. Include as much information as possible.

In general, qualify your PQR. Write your WPS based on that. Qualify your welders against the WPS.

Good Luck,

Keith

By bozaktwo1 (***)

Date 10-26-2009 17:00

It's a bit of a mystery to me why there are no pre-qualified WPS' for D1.2. I have qualified several procedures to this spec. and have it down to almost a science. I think there could be several reasons for no Pre-quals, especially the stringent cleaning requirements, effects of dilution of elements between different grades of aluminum, time-at-temperature considerations and the narrow window for voltage/amperage and resulting heat input.

As for advice; if you search this forum for "aluminum" I am sure you'll have enough to keep reading for several years! :) If you have specific questions, please don't hesitate to ask.