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LINKING PEOPLE, JOINING NATIONS
of their technical structure with work carried out in a collective and
voluntary capacity.
6
The growing importance of new processes,
termed special, such as welding by electron beam, then plasma and
later laser, provoked the creation of Commission IV
Special Welding
Processes
(C-IV) in Warsaw in 1968, which was to change its
name again in 1985 to become
High Energy Density Welding
(currently
Power Beam Processes)
thus placing itself at the
leading edge with regard to research activities in the latest
sciences involved in the welding of materials.
Coming under the auspices of C-IV, by now, were a small number of highly specialised
volunteerswhopursued a continuous taskof adapting themost advancedmethods of gathering
and disseminating information to the needs of the welding community. These volunteers then
formed the basis for a Study Group entitled
Scientific and Technical Information
. Mr Henry
Granjon (France)was to commend this StudyGroupon the 40thAnniversaryof IIWin1988by
saying that, ‘from a scientific point of view the collective work within the IIWwas considered
to have promoted extremely valuable encounters between specialists from all over the world,
who now had the opportunity to get to know one another and form mutual relationships,
which may lead to collaborative exchange of information on their respective work’.
7
Commission XII (C-XII) was set up in 1955 under the name of
Special Arc Welding Processes
to encompass gas-shielded and submerged
arc welding processes. It had a name change in 1968 to
Flux and Gas-
Shielded Electrical Welding Processes
in order to avoid any confusion with
the activities of C-IV, which had become responsible for special welding
processes. Semi-automatic gas-shielded arc welding processes were rapidly
brought into use in many countries during the initial period of C-XII’s life.
It is now known as
Arc Welding Processes and Production Systems
chaired by Prof.
Dr-Eng.Yoshinori Hirata of Japan.
8
C-XII became one of IIW’s largest and
most active Commissions, particularly under the chairmanship of Prof.
Bill Lucas (UK), ably supported by Prof. John Norrish (Australia)
and Mr Bertil Pekkari (Sweden). Its sphere of influence extended
to the development of more sophisticated arc welding processes,
such as controlled power sources, sensor and electronic technology,
automation and robotisation, together with computer technology
employed in CAD/CAM and expert systems.
9
By 1990 IIW and
its Commissions had assembled more of the greatest minds and
experts in these fields than possible anywhere else in the world.
The Annual Assemblies were always the focal point of
the Commissions and other Working Units, where decisions
were made and discussions held on collaboration and the latest
Wayne Thomas
Bill Lucas