The company I work for qualifies the welder with FCAW using 5/64" diameter wire. We use prequalified joints from D1.1 .The WPS's have 5/64" and 3/32" listed. Some of the welders are using the 3/32" wire. I thought that it is not allowable to use a larger wire than qualified. The WQTR's do not list ANY wire diameter. Something is not correct here. Where in section 4 is this addressed , anyone ?
Requirements for weld procedure qualification and performance qualifications should be kept separate (AWS D1.1 Table 4.5 (WPS qualiications) and Table 4.12 (performance qualification).
For welder qualifications, there isn't any restriction on the electrode dia. they qualify with and weld with in production -except of course during performance qualification and production welding, they need to follow the requirements of the WPS. So if your WPS is qualified (or written as prequalified) for both electrode sizes, the welder would be allowed to test on either electrode dia. and weld in production using either dia.
Not sure with the way your question is worded but it appears you have three different things going: Welder qualifications and what they are able to do based upon the weld qualification test they took, Pre-Qualified Written Welding Procedure Specifications, and Qualified by Testing Written Welding Procedure Specifications. And as previously mentioned you need to keep these separated and don't confuse the Essential and Non-Essential Variables on the applicable Tables for each one.
But overall I beleive the already provided information is correct, the welder is able to use the larger wire without re-testing. If written to the manufacturer specs the Pre-Qualified WPS can be written with the different wire sizes and the welder can weld with either one if they were approved by the engineer for the job. And if the approved by testing pqr/wps has been properly documented and tested and the wps written from it you should not have a problem because it approves the process with the correct wire/electrode diameter and the welder is qualified to run it even if he did not test with that particular diameter.
Have a Great Day, Brent
Thanks for the answers gentleman. The last company I work for mis interperated this so I wasn't sure.
I have a few more thoughts on the subject. According to the comments presented, I could list .045, 5/64 & 3/32 on my WPS's using prequalified joints without doing any additional testing (PQR's). Then I could test my welders using .045 and they would be qualified to use 5/64 & 3/32 also.
The welders initial weld test for thier probationary period is a 1 inch flat plate with 5/64 wire. They are then required to pass a 1 inch horizontal plate with 5/64 to stay employed.
If the previous comments are correct, couldn't they take the horzontal test with .045 and still be qualified to use the larger wires ? Actually they could take the flat test with .045 also.
The reason this all seems odd to me is because the larger diameter wires are more difficult to run than the smaller wire that you would qualify on. ????
Topic American Welding Society Services / Technical Standards & Publications / Using larger filler than qualified for
