Standard Welding Procedures, No Qualification Testing Required

The American Welding Society (AWS) has a selection of standard welding procedure specifications (SWPSs) that can be used without qualification testing. But only one is for aluminum.

The AWS B2 Committee on Procedure and Performance Qualification was formed in 1979. The first edition of B2.1, Standard for Welding Procedure and Performance Qualification, was published in 1984. This standard introduced the concept of the SWPSs in addition to a set of rules for qualifying welding procedures, welders, and welding operators.

In many respects, the AWS B2.1 specification is like the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC), Section IX, as it’s intended for the qualification of welding procedures and welder performance. The B2.1 specification is referenced by many AWS construction codes and standards as being suitable for the qualification of welding procedures and welder performance along with its standard welding procedure specifications.An SWPS is defined in AWS B2.1:2014, Clause 3, “Terms and Definitions,” as “a welding procedure specification qualified according to the requirements of AWS B2.1/B2.1M, approved by AWS, and made available for production welding by companies or individuals other than those performing the qualification test.”

Standard welding procedure specifications are developed by the AWS B2D Subcommittee on Standard Welding Procedure Specifications based on procedure qualification records (PQRs) donated to the AWS B2G Subcommittee on Procedure Qualification Records from many areas of industry. The relevant information is extracted from the PQRs, verified, incorporated into a data bank, and used to create an SWPS. Many originally qualified PQRs are typically used to create a single SWPS. The concept is to use copious amounts of established data, taken from the donated PQRs that are supported by acceptable test results, to create an SWPS. The objective is to provide industry with standard welding procedures that are suitable for specific welding operations without the requirement of welding test coupons and testing the completed welds. These SWPSs can often be acquired from AWS at a fraction of the cost that would be incurred for qualification of a PQR through welding and testing.

The source of all donated PQRs is confidential, and upon incorporation into the data bank, the contributed PQR is destroyed to maintain confidentiality.

A Limited SWPS for GTAW of Aluminum

Of the 82 SWPSs available from AWS, only one is available for welding aluminum, and it is very limited in its application. SWPS B2.1-22-015 is the Standard Welding Procedure Specification (SWPS) for Gas Tungsten Arc Welding of Aluminum (M/P-22 to M/P-22), 18 through 10 Gauge, ER4043 or R4043, in the As-Welded Condition, with or without Backing. This procedure isn’t suited for structural applications because it is designed for thin sheet metal, approximately 1 to 2 mm thickness, in lower strength alloys such as 3004 and 5052.

The AWS B2 Committee has recognized a need for more SWPSs for the welding of aluminum alloys and is collecting PQRs from industry to create SWPSs that will be more useful to industry. Its goal is to create procedures to support the more-common base metals in the 5xxx and 6xxx series alloy groups, welded primarily with the gas metal arc welding process, using both 4xxx and 5xxx series filler metals, and within a range of base metal thicknesses conducive to the most-common structural applications. To complete this task, the B2 Committee needs as many aluminum PQRs as it can acquire from industry and is asking those who have any that they can donate to contact Jim Sekely, chair of AWS B2D, at jsekely@comcast.net.

This article was written by Tony Anderson, chair of the AWS B2 Committee on Procedure & Performance Qualification and of the Aluminum Association Technical Advisory Committee for Welding, for the American Welding Society.