Technical articles: High-performance welding

How to melt a welder's heart when the mercury plummets way below zero

CAPS – "Cranfield Automated Pipewelding System", is a special GMA welding process based on tandem technology and developed specifically for pipeline construction by Cranfield University.

High-performance welding: One catchphrase, four alternatives

Joining-technologies in general are reckoned to be a growth sector. Industry insiders expect the highest growth rates of all to come from laser welding. However, there is also still growth potential for the GMA (gas metal arc) welding processes among manufacturers and research institutes.

The synergetic effects achieved by the absolutely new LaserHybrid technology open up a wide field of application in the jointing technology, especially where the tolerances of the jointing parts required for laser beam welding cannot be met or can only be met incurring high costs:

There is an increasing demand in welding processes, which guarantee an excellent welding quality, an increase in productivity and a reduction of costs at the same time. This demand leads to the development of high-performance welding processes with increased deposition rate.

Metal active-gas welding using two wire electrodes has opened up new scope for boosting the efficiency of this version of the process. Following initial successes with simultaneous melt-off from two wire electrodes on unalloyed steel, efforts are now being focused on transferring these results to MIG welding of aluminium materials.

In terms of the possible welding speeds, comparisons between strip-wire welding on the one hand, and single-wire welding and tandem welding on the other, indicate that strip-wire welding occupies a position somewhere between single-wire welding (with round wire) and tandem welding.

The TimeTwin process is characterised by a high welding speed, a high deposition rate, reduced thermal input and less splashing. Apart from that, welding in both directions and also single-wire welding are possible.