TPT January 2013

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Inspection, measuring and testing
80 January 2013
Service ensures welds
are fit for purpose
USUALLY regarded as the most
economical way of joining two or
more metal components, in terms
of fabrication costs and materials
usage, welding technology is central to
many engineering and manufacturing
processes, from producing wings and
fuselages in the aerospace industry
and platforms and pipelines in the
energy and petrochemicals sector, to
automotive and rail components, white
goods and metal furniture. Since these
welded joints are subject to various
loads and fatigue during their service
life, possibly giving rise to safety and
quality issues, it is vital that rigorous
testing and inspection procedures are
applied, to examine the structure of
completed welds and their conformation
to specification, as well as determining
the skill levels of the welding operators.
UK-based Keighley Laboratories
offers a comprehensive weld testing and
inspection service, including welding
procedure consultancy and approval,
welder qualification tests, on-site weld
investigation and, through its newly-
upgraded Test House, a complete range
of destructive, non-destructive and
metallography testing facilities.
Under the direction of divisional
technical services director Matthew
Mellor, the weld test and inspection
team’s resources are broadly divided
between the specialist aerospace field,
led by Peter Hanson, and general
commercial welding, headed by Jeremy
Duignan, both of whom are fully qualified
metallurgists.
Mr Mellor, Mr Hanson, and technical
director Keith Blower are also approved
by the Civil Aviation Authority as weld
specimen supervisors, able to witness
and verify critical aircraft-related welding
on the authority’s behalf and invigilate
at customer sites. Keighley Labs is
UKAS-accredited for weldment testing
and certification across a growing list
of professional specifications, including
relevant commercial BS EN ISO and
ASTM standards and aerospace
primes like BAE, Rolls Royce, Westland
Helicopters, Airbus, Bombardier and the
CAA, with the final assessment process
now underway for NADCAP approval.
The team is familiar with testing
weld coupons only millimetres thick in
titanium, aluminium, nickel and cobalt
alloys and other exotic metals for
aerospace fabricators, as well as carbon
steel and stainless steel test plates
several inches thick for commercial
welders and manufacturers. It covers all
forms of welded joint, including butt or
groove welds, fillets, lap, edge and tee
joints, corners and cruciform, both plate-
to-plate and tube-to-tube in similar or
dissimilar materials, which are produced
using all manual and automated welding
methods, from stick and oxy-acetylene
techniques, to TIG, MIG, MAG and
plasma arc, even brazing and soldering.
Keighley Laboratories Ltd – UK
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