An Explanation of Certified Welding National Certified Pipe Welding Bureau Core Purposes of the NCPWB To engage in research and educational work that will assist the contractor in furnishing the public with safe and dependable installations through the use of certified welding To keep members of the Bureau informed of the latest scientifi- cally proven methods and supply information and data in connec- tion with certified welding To establish uniform procedures that conform with ANSI/ASME Codes for various methods of welding and to promote and develop certified welding To assist the NCPWB member contractor in providing the owner with quality welding at reduced costs through the use of certified welding We Believe in Codes The National Certified Pipe Welding Bureau has a deep and abiding belief in codes and has always promoted compliance with them. Such compliance produces sound welds and is economical for both contractor and owner. It saves resources that would otherwise be wasted in going back to correct errors. Certified Welding Through the years, standards have been established for pipe dimensions, flange and fitting dimensions or various Qualified Procedures/Qualified Welders pressures, pipe thread dimensions, and pitch. The tool The term certified welding is often used in the trade industry has provided cutting and threading tools for these without knowledge of its meaning. standards, and everyone in the industry accepts them, giv- ing little thought as to how they were established. The contractor is required to certify that the welding procedure and the welder are qualified in accordance With the application of welding to pipe fabrication and with the requirements of Section IX of the American installation, a standard was required. The standard qual- Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and ifications for welding procedures, made in accordance Pressure Vessel Code. with the ANSI/ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code and the ANSI/ASME B31 Codes for Pressure Piping This is where the term “certified welder” came into to ensure competent workmanship, are the generally use. It is the contractor, certifying that the work will accepted standards. The requirements are not compli- be done according to qualified welding procedures cated, but are frequently misunderstood. by welders who have been tested, and whose quali- fication test sheets are available, attesting to their The ASME Code simply states that those contractors ability to weld in accordance with the contractor’s responsible for providing welding shall establish a Welding Procedure Specifications. Responsible con- method (Welding Procedure Specification) and prove tractors will provide their certified Welding Procedure that sound welds can be made through the use of Specifications and qualification test records attesting these procedures. to the welder’s ability to perform in accordance with code requirements. What is a Welding Procedure? Your Contractor Certifies that A procedure is the description of the technique adopted to perform quality welding as required by the His Welders are Qualified applicable code. Contractor/Membership B31.5—Refrigeration Piping Code; and para. 927.5 for Contractors who are members of the National Certified B31.9—Building Services Piping Code. Welding Bureau can guarantee that the welding is per- formed in accordance with established national standards. Welding Procedure Qualification of Procedures Qualification Responsibility Section IX of the American Society of Mechanical Each employer shall be responsible for qualifying Engineers Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code sets forth any welding procedure that he intends to have used in complete detail the step-by-step process necessary by personnel of his organization. However, to avoid to qualify a procedure, including the necessary tests to duplication of effort, and subject to approval of the establish the results. owner, welding procedures qualified by a techni- cally competent group or agency may be used. (Para. It is not easy to comply with these provisions. 127.5.3 ANSI/ASME B31.1—Power Piping) Qualifying a procedure can be a very expensive endeavor, particularly in the hands of the inexperienced. It is a matter of trial and error. The cost of materi- Documentation of als, especially in alloys, can be very high, and many Procedure Qualification man-hours of technical supervision and labor can be expended before satisfactory results are obtained. The Welding Procedure Specification describes all The code bodies recognized that requiring each welding the essential, non-essential, fabricator or erector to qualify every welding procedure and supplementary essential they were using would represent an extremely wasteful (when required) variables for practice, and would cost American industry a great many each weld ing process used unnecessary dollars without improving welding technol- in the Welding Procedure ogy or fabricated product quality. Specification. Welding Procedure Specifications jointly The Mechanical Contractors Association of America, developed for use by Bureau Inc. recognized this fact and in 1944 organized the members are documented on National Certified Pipe Welding Bureau for the purpose NCPWB Form QW-482. of jointly developing and qualifying procedures with its members. These Welding Procedure Specifications Each Welding Procedure are written based on thoroughly tested and qualified Specification shall ref erence Procedure Qualification Records (PQRs) donated by the supporting Procedure members of the NCPWB Technical Committee and Qualification Record(s), reviewed by the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and which is a record of variables Insurance Company before publication. recorded during the welding of the test coupon and the Under the B31 Codes for Pressure Piping, Welding results of the tested specimens. Procedure Specifications that have been qualified by The Procedure Qualification a technically competent group or agency, such as the Record(s) that support the NCPWB, may be used by other member companies of Bureau Welding Procedure that group or agency, providing that each user of the Specifications are detailed on procedure quali fies at least one welder using the Welding NCPWB Form QW-483. Procedure Specification and accepts responsibility for same. The provisions for use of procedures developed by The Bureau now has more the NCPWB for piping work cov ered by the rules of the than 100 Welding Procedure ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code are set forth in Specifications qualified in accor- paragraph PW-28 of Section I of that code, and respec- dance with code requirements. tive paragraphs of the ASME Codes for Pressure Piping; The policy of the Bureau states para. 127.5.3 for B31.1—Power Piping Code; para. 328.2 for B31.3—Process Piping Code; para. 527.5 for Sample welding procedure supporting documentation. that before any pipe welding is performed, the contrac- To reduce the amount of research and preparation time tor member shall submit to the owner, or his autho- required to complete the NCPWB Form QW-484, the rized representative, a copy of his Welding Procedure NCPWB has prepared for its membership pre-com- Specifications with proof of its qualification. pleted Welder Performance Qualification Test forms which have actual values and the ranges qualified for All NCPWB Welding Procedure Specifications (WPSs) each essential variable completed. These forms have have been reviewed by the Hartford Steam Boiler been prepared to meet the requirements of Section IX, Inspection and Insurance Company, which has stated in ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code for processes writing that the NCPWB WPSs meet the qualification that are most commonly encountered in production requirements of Section IX, ASME Boiler and Pressure welding or “code” work. Vessel Code. Welder Qualification and Renewal Requirements Welding Procedure Specifications that Meet the Requirement Performance Qualification and Testing The purpose of the Welding Procedure Specifications The ASME Code specifies that welders shall be required (WPS) and Procedure Qualification Record (PQR) is to to demonstrate their skill, under supervised tests, to determine that the weldment proposed for the con- make sound welds using the contractor’s Welding struction is capable of providing the required proper- Procedure Specifications. ties for its intended application. The ability of thousands of welders to make quality welds using National Certified Pipe Welding Bureau Documentation of Welding Procedure Specifications has been proven for Welder Qualification all types of piping materials in general use throughout the mechanical construction industry. The employer shall maintain certified welder records and make them available to the purchaser or his agent and The National Certified Pipe Welding Bureau and the the inspector. These records show the procedures used by United Association of Journeymen & Apprentices of the employer, the date and results of the procedure and the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry (UA) have performance qualification, and the identification symbol consolidated their efforts to make the welder qualifica- assigned to each performance qualification (para. 127.6 tion process more cost effective for the construction ASME B31.1, Power Piping). user. Under the joint effort, union welders are tested at the UA Authorized Test Facilities under the super- Record of Test vision and control of a contractor representative and The record of welder/welding operator performance an Authorized Test