Welding Pipes – A Well-Rounded Affair?

We frequently see heroic welders in Hollywood movies. Almost always one of the good guys – ex-marines or even cons who now want to lead a hard but honest life. Hardly anyone considers how much training and skill are required for this.

For example, a weld seam. It should be as inconspicuous as possible, without a thick “scar” or the typical tempering colors. Many things must be right, depending on which process is used. With inert gas welding, for example, the right temperature or, with electric arc welding the right voltage or amperage depending on the material to be joined and its thickness. During the welding process you need a steady hand so that the weld seam is even and the connection is stable and tight.

That is all still comparatively simple when it comes to smooth, flat, joints. But pipes for example, should be welded with a seam all around. Done by hand, this is a job that involves some adventurous or even tedious contortions. It’s a good thing that orbital welding or “circular welding” was invented more than 30 years ago. One more technique with which pipes can be joined cleanly and smoothly.

In orbital welding, the welding head, i.e., the tip, fixed in a type of clamp or tongs, is guided once around the pipes to be joined and the weld seam is set. The clamping mechanism ensures a straight placement of the pipes, the correct spacing as well as a clean guidance. The decisive factor here is that, depending on the pipe material this needs to be cleanly predefined once and then you are almost able to go into a kind of serial production, which saves a lot of time and therefore money. Up to 50%-time-savings per weld seam compared to welding by hand and that is with constant quality and healthier working conditions.

In Germany and Europe, however, almost nothing works without standards and approvals. That is why there are precisely described and documented processes for each type of orbital welding for different materials and applications. These are tested or rather certified by accreditation authorities. The specialists at IMO in Merseburg have around 90 welding procedure qualifications (WPQR – Welding Procedure Qualification Record), five of which are alone for orbital welding. IMO masters all welding procedures for a wide range of materials and their combinations (titanium, copper, aluminum, steel, CrNi).

These certifications are quite elaborate. The cost, including testing, can amount to several thousand euros – one of the reasons why not many companies have that many procedure qualifications/approvals. The systems themselves cost around € 25,000, five times as much as a manual welding system, but the time saved is correspondingly high.

This procedure offers another advantage. Once certified, the execution no longer necessarily has to be carried out by a fully trained welder. Instead of a comprehensive welder certification after three years of training, a much simpler operator examination with basic welding knowledge, which only takes 2-3 days, is sufficient.

The bottom line is: When it comes to welding, IMO is a well-rounded company and an excellent partner for all challenges in the field of welding technology.

Automotive

Building Materials

Chemicals

Data Center

Food & Beverage

Gas & Fuel

Glass

Healthcare & Cosmetics

Hydrogen

Infrastructure

LNG

Mechanical

Nuclear

Paper

Pharmaceuticals

Power & Storage

Logistics, Transportation & Public Transport

Water

Wind & Solar

Goal Achievement

Use of Resources

Social Responsibility

Corporate Governance

Targets

Welding Pipes – A Well-Rounded Affair?

Who would you like to contact?

Gabriele Hetzner

Olaf Becker

Cristobal Lopez

Mark Oliver Passauer

Maik Voss

Manfred Hirt

Thorsten Kulik

Thomas Neudorfer

René Auringer

Kevin Crowley

Norbert Pfitzner

Fabian Strahl

Thorsten Nilles

Thomas Gröne

Justin Jones

Martin Skladal

Uwe Harlacher

Robert Klöpper

Tommy Füllner

Silvia Kraus-Besendorf

Stefan Besendorf

Roland Schuldt

Manuel Kunert

Thomas Mannecke

Jan-Jörg Müller-Seiler

Tobias Gärtner

Roland Schuldt

Sebastian Albrecht

Amar Reddy

Javier Amelivia

Tim Petersen

Stefanie Weber

Jean-Philippe Enzer

Ernesto Mora

Marc Bogenstahl

Stefan Stemmle

Sascha Dilger

Maren Bögel

Mark Jansen

Rowan Doorduin

Thomas Gröne

Karsten Ott

Marina Günther

May we help you?

Our Newsletter