IIW History 1990-2015

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No good thing ever dies

The Shawshank Redemption

LINKING PEOPLE, JOINING NATIONS

he International Institute of Welding (IIW) has a proud and

distinguished history that goes back to the early years of the 1900s when the modern

concept of welding and its processes became a decisive part of a new century, which in its

earliest beginnings, promised considerable change in the joining of metals and materials.

The origins of IIW, therefore, can be traced back to the period that followed the first

international congress on the use of acetylene which was held in Berlin in 1898 and resulted

in the subsequent formation of several institutes to represent both acetylene, and to a lesser

extent, welding interests.

Much discussion was to take place, as a result, on the establishment

of a permanent commission to represent ‘Acétylènists’, as they were known.

This eventually resulted in an international organisation called the Permanent

International Commission on Acetylene and Autogenous Welding,

abbreviated to CPI, which was formed as an outcome of an international

congress held in Paris in 1923. This Commission concentrated solely on

acetylene and its use in gas welding. It became increasingly clear, over time,

that CPI could not fulfil the purpose of an international welding organisation

because of increasing competition from metal-arc welding, which had found

new prominence with a multitude of innovative techniques and processes

that also included the utilisation of inert gases other than acetylene.

Following the Second Word War many of the members of the welding community,

including those in CPI, actively sought to establish an institute with the expectancy that a

truly international welding organisation could be formed. This was undertaken with a spirit

of enthusiasm and mutual understanding to such a degree that the stage was set for the

official launch of the International Institute of Welding, which took place at a conference

organised by the Belgian Institute of Welding, on the 11 June 1948.

preface

David Barnett