Foreword

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This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 44, Welding and allied processes, Subcommittee SC 15, Underwater welding, in collaboration with the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) Technical Committee CEN/TC 121, Welding and allied processes, in accordance with the Agreement on technical cooperation between ISO and CEN (Vienna Agreement).

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Introduction

The primary purpose of welding procedure qualification is to demonstrate that the joining process proposed for construction, including preliminary and subsequent treatment, is capable of producing joints having the necessary mechanical properties and conforming to the non-destructive testing (NDT) requirements for the intended application.

Before a particular welding procedure is used in production, the manufacturer should determine and document the suitability of the welding procedure specification (WPS) to produce a weld of the required quality.

In this document, the term "welding procedure specification" comprises all the activities which influence the welding result, such as preparation, welding parameters, and post treatment.

1 Scope

This document specifies how a preliminary welding procedure specification (pWPS) is qualified by welding procedure tests.

This document is applicable to production welding and repair welding.

This document is applicable to fusion welding of steels covered by groups 1, 2, 3 and 8 in accordance with ISO 15608 in a hyperbaric wet environment.

This document is applicable to the following welding processes, in accordance with ISO 4063:2023 , applicable in hyperbaric wet environments:

111 manual metal arc welding (metal arc welding with covered electrode);
114 self-shielded tubular-cored arc welding.

The principles of this document can be applied to other steel groups and fusion welding processes not listed.

This document specifies three weld quality levels, A, B, and Z in order to permit application to a wide range of weldments. Each weld quality level defines a set of criteria for weldment properties that are established during qualification.

This document does not address the selection of the weld quality level to meet the requirements of a particular application.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Qualification of welding procedure specifications

4.1 General

4.2 Related to the parent material

4.3 Welding procedure qualification record (WPQR)

4.4 Welding procedure specification (WPS)

5 Classification of Welds

5.1 Definitions of weld quality levels

5.2 Selection of the weld quality level

6 Welding variables and range of qualification

7 Depth limitations

8 Welding procedure test

9 Test piece

9.1 General

9.2 Shape and dimensions of test pieces

9.3 Welding of test pieces

10 Testing and examination

10.1 General

10.2 Tensile shear tests for fillet welds

10.3 Type and extent of testing

10.4 Weld quality Levels A, B and Z

10.5 Location of test specimens

10.6 Non-destructive testing

10.7 Destructive testing

10.8 Type and extent of testing for project specific test pieces

11 Acceptance requirements for test pieces

12 Re-testing

12.1 General

12.2 Hardness testing

12.3 Impact testing

13 Range of qualification

13.1 General

13.2 Range of qualification for welding positions

Bibliography