Skip to main content

HFT introduces new welding technology

Published by , Assistant Editor
World Pipelines,


Welders, supervisors, welding engineers and quality control personnel are often kept waiting for stainless steel or titanium pipe joints to be purged of oxygen – sometimes for many hours.

Weld purging is essential as oxygen content must be reduced to below 50 parts per million (ppm). This ensures that the weld surfaces and the adjacent hot metal does not oxidise and thereby cause loss of corrosion resistance and metallurgical imperfections.

Such time loss and excessive waste of argon gas can be avoided with the Huntingdon Fusion Techniques (HFT®) QuickPurge® tube, pipe and pipeline weld purging systems.

Regardless of the size of the pipe, QuickPurge systems have such a dramatic wait time reduction that they pay for themselves in less than one weld. For example, a 36 in. dia. stainless steel pipe can be purged down to 100 ppm of oxygen in under 32 mins.

QuickPurge systems include:

  • An additional gas input line to allow for additional purge gas to be introduced for extra high speed purging down to the lowest oxygen levels. The extra cold argon gas input is ideal for mitigating the extra heat produced by the Plasma/TIG process.
  • An advanced design, which means that oxygen levels as low as 10 ppm can be reached every time. This allows zero colour welds to be achieved with no loss of corrosion resistance caused by oxidation.
  • All systems are manufactured as standard with a hose for connecting a Weld Purge Monitor®, which can read oxygen levels down to as low as 1 ppm (accurate to 10 ppm).
  • Materials that are resistant to higher weld temperatures and do not outgas, thus preventing weld contamination.
  • IntaCal® makes it possible to inflate the systems with argon gas for sealing. Then, purging can be conducted in the space between the dams where the weld joint is located.

Ron Sewell, Chairman of (HFT) said: “Recently, the welding manager at a leading pipework fabricator was tasked with reducing costs and waiting time in the department. HFT was contacted to discuss the possibility of helping with this requirement as well as to meet the technical demands of the welding process.”

“Several welds were made with different sizes of pipe and all were successful, creating confidence that the QuickPurge system would indeed be a valuable choice for performance enhancement.”

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/product-news/26122016/hft-introduces-new-welding-technology/

You might also like

 
 

Embed article link: (copy the HTML code below):