Hi guys/gals,

Sorry if this has already been covered, but I can’t find this info searching the forum.  I am relatively new to building WPS’s.  My new shop wants D1.1 WPS’s for our work.  Our shop uses GMAW-P for most of its work and the supervisors strongly prefer it.  We weld mild steel in the 1/8” to 1” range typically, and we weld stainless in a similar range.  Most of our work is fillets up to 1/4" and PJP square and flare bevel grooves.  When building a pre-qualified WPS, we look to the filler metal manufacturer for their recommended parameters.  However, none of the filler manufacturers list recommended parameters for GMAW-P.  I am tempted to go by amperage, but I believe that GMAW-P will use a lower amperage than traditional spray.  Do I need to stay within the amperage range for spray?  Do I go simply by WFS?  How do you go about selecting a baseline setting for pulse?

The AWS gave an interpretation in 2015, D1.1-15-I01, that says that GMAW-P is allowed to be pre-qualified.  But with no information from the filler manufacturer, how can we pre-qualify it?

I intend to evaluate the chosen parameters before going live with the WPS.  I will likely perform some macro-etching on some fillet welds and probably a bend test on a 1G plate to ensure that our settings are performing as desired.  Do you have any advice for evaluating pre-qualified WPS’s?

Thank you for your expertise,
Dave