African Fusion June 2015

AFRICAN FUSION

June 2015

Böhler: pipe welding

öhler has been pres-

ent in South Africa

for over 35 years, its

global welding creden-

tials go back 90 years

and, prior todevelop-

ing a welding offer-

ing, the company had

already accumulated

many years of history in

steelmaking.

According to Höfer, the company

was originally founded by Albert Böhler

in 1870 andbegan tomanufactureweld-

ing consumables in 1926. “Through

a series of mergers and acquisitions,

Böhler accumulated some of theworld’s

best-in-class welding brands, including

Thyssen, Böhler, UTP, Avesta Welding,

Soudokay, Fontargen and Fileur. Today

we have 41 branch offices in 28 coun-

tries worldwide and a global network

of 12 production plants. In addition, we

support over 1 000 selected distribu-

tion partners in 65 countries and have

customers in 120 countries,” he says,

adding that the company has been a

Voestalpine Group company since 2007.

On the pipeline side, its first bare

welding rods were produced in 1926.

“These were used in a very primitive

joining process associated with large

amounts of spatter and porosity,” he

relates. “In order to improve the pro-

cess at that time, however, a prototype

flux-cored wire was produced, called

Seelendraht. This development was not

taken to market for a further 30 years,

however,” he says.

Böhler produced its first cellulosic

electrode in the 1950s; its first solid

gas metal arc welding (GMAW) wire in

the 1960s; and began to manufacture

flux-cored wire and its BVD range of

low hydrogen vertical down pipeline

electrodes in the 1970s. “Low hydrogen

technology is now over 40 years old and

it remains a sensitive topic for pipeline

welding,” Höfer relates.

Global pipeline welding trends

Key to the ongoing improvements in

pipeline construction is the introduction

of new welding equipment and pipe

Trends, processes and consumables

for pipeline construction

Dominick Doyle of Gridweld in the UK demonstrates

the use of Böhler cellulosic electrodes using a battery

operated Fronius AccuPocket welding machine.

Doyle, a founder and partner of Gridweld, a welding

buggy supplier, has over 40 years of experience in the

pipeline welding industry and has worked on a vast

range of projects for major contractors.

“If preheating and interpass temperatures are correctly controlled, hydrogen cracking need

never be a problem,” Höfer asserts.

On May 19, 2015 at the SAIW’s City West premises in Johannesburg, Böhler

UddeholmAfrica, in partnershipwith Fronius andGridweld, hosted a seminar and

practical workshop on pipeline welding.

African Fusion

attends and summarises

the keynote presentation by Voestalpine Böhler Welding’s Manfred Höfer (left),

the company’s global pipeline segment manager.

materials, which offer better productiv-

ity, quality and reduced construction

costs. Summarising the key trends,

Höfer says that mechanised welding,

and in particular, narrow gap welding

with solid GMAW wire, offers signifi-

cantly better productivity. “The use of

solid, gas-shielded and self-shielded

flux-cored wires and metal-cored wires

continue to grow, while the use of cel-

lulosic electrodes is expected to reduce

in developed markets in favour of pro-

cesses that offer higher productivity,”

he predicts.

The higher yield and tensile

strengths associated with new pipe

materials such X70 and X80 enable re-

duced wall thickness and/or increased

pipeline pressures, compared to the X60

and X65 grades. “Also, in the offshore

industry, we are seeing increased de-

mand for corrosion resistant alloy (CRA)

pipe materials of types 625 and 825, for

example, to combat the aggressive cor-

rosive environment offshore.

Displaying a bar chart showing the

deposition rate comparisons for differ-

ent pipeweldingoptions, Höfer says that

if a productivity index of one is allocated

to downhand pipe welding using cellu-

lose (6010) electrodes, then low hydro-

gen vertical down electrodes offer 30%