Welding Engineers

For welding engineers involved with CWB Certification, you will find here useful information to help you in your day to day activities related to welding procedures, including supplementary information related to CSA welding standards such as CSA W47.1, W59, W47.2, W186, W48 and other, details on how CWB administer welding procedure-specific clauses in those standards.

PAST EVENTS

Welding Engineer Forum- Summer 2021

Q & A's- All of the questions from the forum will be posted once they are available- stay tuned.

Click HERE for the presentation recording. This video was recorded from the Welding Engineer Forum held on July 13th, 2021. Click HERE for the PDF of the slide show.

Welding Engineer Forum- Fall 2020

Q & A's- All of the questions from the forum have been answered and can be found HERE.

Click HERE for the presentation recording. This video was recorded from the Welding Engineer Forum held on November 26th, 2020.

CWB Welding Procedures Review Process

  1. Submission of welding procedures to CWB
    1. All welding procedures shall be sent at procedures@cwbgroup.org
    2. You will get a reply confirming the reception of your email by CWB
    3. All welding procedures should be submitted in PDF and not secured
  2. Response from CWB
    1. A review letter will be sent when the review will be completed
    2. There are three possible outcomes:
      1. Welding procedures have been accepted
      2. Welding procedures requires qualification
      3. Welding procedures requires revision
    3. Turnaround time ….. is three working days
  3. PQR reviews
    1. When PQR results are completed, a review letter confirming the test results will be sent
    2. Corresponding welding procedures will then have to be revised as per the PQR and returned to the procedure department for final review/acceptance

Commentary on CSA W47.1-19

Annex E – Impact tests

The following are CWB commentaries on impact testing to annex E

The new annex E of CSA W47.1-19 limits only the minimum thickness qualified when CVN are required, it is clearly specified not to refer to clause 11.4.2, 11.4.3 and 11.4.4  when only CVN are to be tested. This is an important change from annex E in the previous version of CSA W47.1 where table 13 was limiting the maximum thickness qualified for CVN.  You will find below some clarifications.

Qualification thickness range (E.2.3)

Until further notice, we will not consider clause 11.4.2, 11.4.3 and 11.4.4 when reviewing WPDS with CVN.  We will review CVN WPDS using exclusively annex E, thus not considering table 13, 14 or 15 of W47.1 to limit the maximum thickness qualified. 

The following requirements shall be considered:

  1. When only a single pass PQT* is used to qualify CVN, the maximum interpass temperature shall be govern by the preheating used during testing (both max qualified preheat and interpass temperatures shall be actual preheat temp + 56oC)
  2. When PQT is done in 3G, then the maximum heat input qualified is the heat input of the PQT
  3. When PQT is done in 1G, 2G or 4G, then the maximum heat input qualified is 10% over that of the PQT
  4. When establishing the qualified heat input, it shall be calculated as per note 1 of table E.2

*: PQT = Procedure Qualification Test

Qualified base metal (E.2.5 b))

Base metal to be used for procedure testing shall be one of the grades listed in clause E.2.5 b).  The impact test properties (energy level and test temperature) or the category of the base metal used for the test will qualify base metal with better impact properties, as we have being doing before, it will also qualified base metal with milder conditions, but only when the weld metal and the HAZ are matching those of the milder base metal conditions.

Annex J – Sheet Steel Applications

The following are CWB commentaries on welding procedure acceptance to annex J

The new annex J of CSA W47.1-19 has some gray areas which need to be clarified to be able to review welding procedures to annex J.

Requirements for prequalified joints (J.8.3)

Prequalification applies only for thickness of 3mm or less, except for the thickness of the structural supporting steel part of fillet welds and flare-bevel groove welds where the maximum thickness should be consider prequalified up to 4.6mm (7Ga).  For sheet steel of thickness greater than 3mm, the prequalification provisions of W59 shall be followed.

SAW shall be considered as a prequalified process.

GMAW is considered prequalified for all modes of transfer.

Vertical down will be considered prequalified, until further notice we will not consider clause J.8.3.3.

Procedure qualification requirements (J.8.5/J.8.6/J.8.7)

When tested under annex J, the maximum qualified thickness is 3mm.

The supporting member thickness for arc plug weld (fig. J.7) and arc spot weld (fig. J.8 shall be as specified in clause J.6.8.2.

Essential variables (Table J.5)

Until further notice, we will consider only the essential variables found in table J.5.

Partial joint penetration WPDS

As there is no partial joint penetration for square-groove weld in table J.9 and no procedure qualification tests detailed in clause J.8.  If a company want to have a WPDS accepted for PJP square-groove weld, the WPDS will have to refer to AWS D9.1 and tested to D9.1. They will have both W47.1 and D9.1 referred on the WPDS.

Annex K – Stainless Steel Materials

The following are CWB commentaries on welding procedure acceptance to annex K

The new annex K of CSA W47.1-19 is unclear on the requirements for the prequalification and qualification of welding procedure data sheets.  The following clarifications are required to be able to review welding procedures to annex K.

Requirements for prequalified joints (K.8.3.1)

For thickness equal or greater than 3mm:

In addition to the joint configurations of fig. 10.1 and 10.2 of CSA W59, the requirements of table 5.4 of AWS D1.6-2017 shall be met to consider a welding procedure as prequalified, including the notes below the table, except for the vertical position, only the upward progression shall be considered prequalified.  For MCAW process, the column for the GMAW of table 5.4 shall be considered.

In addition to the above, fillet welds shall meet the requirements of clause 5.8 of AWS D1.6-2017 and plug and slot weld shall meet the requirements of the second paragraph of clause 10.1.3.3 of CSA W59 to be considered prequalified.

For thickness less than 3mm:

The prequalified joint configuration of fig. J.9 are to be used for thickness up to 3mm.  The requirements of table 5.4 of AWS D1.6-2017 shall be met to consider a welding procedure as prequalified, including the notes below the table, except for the vertical position, only the upward progression shall be considered prequalified.  For MCAW process, the column for the GMAW of table 5.4 shall be considered.

Prequalified base metal and matching welding consumables (K.8.3.2)

Table K.1 of CSA W47.1-19 shall not be used.  To be considered prequalified, the base metal and matching welding consumables shall be in accordance with the requirements of tables 5.2 and 5.3 of AWS D1.6-2017.

Maximum interpass temperature

The maximum interpass temperature shall not exceed 175oC, as per clause 5.5.2 of AWS D1.6-2017.

Review of incoming WPDS referring to CSA W47.1, Annex K

When a WPDS refer to CSA W47.1-19, it shall:

  • Only have CSA W47.1 as the reference standard, if the client/retained engineer insist to also include D1.6 as the reference standard, then all requirements of W47.1 and D1.6 shall be met (prequalification or qualification requirements)
  • Have no reference to table K.1, base metal and welding consumable shall be as per table 5.2 and 5.3 of AWS D1.6 by:
    • Referring to specific specifications/alloys (i.e.: ASTM A240 type 304L) and corresponding filler metal (i.e.: ER308L)
    • Referring to a base metal group of table 5.2 (group B of table 5.2 of D1.6) and corresponding filler metal of table 5.3 (E308LT1-1)
    • For base metal, both specification and alloy type shall be specified, not just the alloy type as the same alloy type can fall in different group of table 5.2 (i.e.: ASTM A240 type 304L is in group A while ASTM A511 type 304L is in group B)
  • If the thickness range shown on the WPDS includes both sheet metals and thickness greater than 3mm, then both requirement of annex K and annex J shall be met,, if this is not possible with one WPDS, then the WPDS shall be split into two distinct WPDS

Review of incoming WPS referring to CSA W47.1, Annex K

Stainless steel WPS referring to CSA W47.1-19 can include references to AWS D1.6 for everything except the qualification and prequalification of welding procedures other than table 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4.

Commentary on CSA W186-1990

The following are CWB commentaries on welding procedure acceptance to CSA W186

Qualification of welding procedures to CSA W186 for reinforcing bars

The qualification of WPDS under CSA W186 is drastically different from the other CSA welding standards.  CSA W186 deals with welding of reinforcing bars using three types of welded connections, direct butt joints, indirect butt-splices (flare bevel or flare-V) and T-Joints (fillet weld). below you will find the type of procedure qualification tests for each type of connections:

  • Direct butt joints: As per clause 8.3.4 and shown in figure 2 of CSA W186-90, the largest and smallest bar diameter shall be tested (2 tests).  Each specimen shall be subject to tensile test and shall demonstrate at least 1.25 times the specified yield strength based on the nominal bar area.  For direct butt joints the tests are straight forward without ambiguity.
  • Indirect butt-splices: As per clause 8.3.5 of CSA W186-90, two specimens are required as shown in figure 14 of CSA W186-90, one for the largest and one for the smallest bar diameter. Each specimen shall be subject to tensile test and shall demonstrate at least 1.25 times the specified yield strength based on the nominal bar area.  For indirect butt-splices, the tests are not obvious and can lead to misunderstanding of figure 14.  There are two important things to understand in figure 14, first, the middle bar is not a continuous bar, but rather two bars spaced by a gap of 2mm, and secondly the weld length is critical and must be established using the formulas in the note of figure 14 on the second page of the figure.  If the weld length is longer than required, the test will not be valid and if the weld length is not long enough, then the weld could break prematurely, and the test will fail.  The weld length is always specified in our testing letter.
  • T-joints (fillet weld): As per clause 8.3.6 and shown in figure 6 of CSA W186-90, the largest and smallest bar diameter shall be tested (2 tests).  Each specimen shall be subject to four macro-etch, in order to be considered acceptable the weld shall meet the requirements of clause 7.5 of CSA W186-90.

Additionally, the essential variables described in clause 8.3.3 of CSA W186-90 requires that each position shall be qualified independently.  This is different from other CSA welding standards where most of the time the flat position is qualified by any other position.

Commentary on CSA W59-18

The following are CWB commentaries on CSA W59 prequalification requirements

Prequalification requirements of CSA W59-18 for pulsed GMAW

CSA W59-18 considers the GMAW pulsed mode of transfer as prequalified in all positions under certain restrictions. 

  • The joint configuration shall meet those specific to GMAW-P in table 10.1 and 10.2 of CSA W59-18
  • The maximum single pass fillets shall not exceed the limitations specified in clause 10.5.3.1 for the flat and horizontal positions, clause 10.5.3.2 for the vertical position and 10.5.3.3 for the overhead position
  • The minimum diameter of electrode wire shall meet clause 10.5.3.5 of CSA W59-18
  • The maximum cross-sectional area of any single shall pass meet clause 10.5.3.6
  • The minimum wire feed speed, as required by clause 10.5.3.8 of CSA W59 for flat, horizontal, and overhead, shall be as followed (for all shielding gases):

For 0.9mm: 400ipm (10m/min)
For 1.0mm: 350ipm (8.9m/min)
For 1.2mm: 250ipm (6.3m/min)
For 1.4mm: 225ipm (5.7m/min)
For 1.6mm: 190ipm (4.8m/min)

If the above requirements are met, the WPDS will be stamped accepted base on CSA W59 prequalification.

Certification of Welding Consumables

Description and commentaries on CWB welding consumables certification

List of certified welding consumables on CWB website

Use of certified welding consumables by CSA W47.1, CSA W47.2 and CSA W186 certified companies constitutes a mandatory requirement which is observed and monitored by CWB - CWB certified welding consumables. There are over 2,750 CWB certified welding consumables, to narrow search results, any of the following fields can be used:

  • Manufacture, Distributor or Supplier Name: The name of the company producing or reselling the certified welding consumable
  • Type: Type of the welding consumable (i.e.: SMAW Carbon Steel)
  • Class: The classification of the welding consumable (i.e.: E4918-1-H8)
  • Standard: The standard to which the welding consumable is certified to (i.e.: W48-18 (SMAW Carbon Steel)
  • Point of Manufacture: The country where the welding consumable is manufactured
  • Electrode designation: The trade name of the welding consumable
  • Flux Gas: If applicable the name of the flux (SAW) or shielding gas for which the welding consumable is certified to be used with

For the user convenience the list is downloadable, however it could change the content by being updated at any time. Classifications for FCAW and MCAW processes are listed to include the new open classifications in metric, in accordance with AWS A5.36M followed by the equivalent classifications as per CSA W48-06, in brackets. The reason that the old classifications are still shown in brackets on the CWB site is to facilitate for users the transition towards the new open classifications as described in AWS A5.36M and adopted by CSA W48-18. As of June 1st, 2020 all new WPS’s and WPDS’s submitted must include the new classifications. Welding consumables are currently required to use the new classifications. With some exemptions where manufacturers use retained classifications, most manufacturers opted to use the new open classifications where multiple designators give a better clarity of weld deposit properties.

Changes to CSA Standard W48 - 2018