IIW White Paper

3 Significance of welding and joining

Other sectors which use welding are the white goods appliances industry and metal furniture as well as the electrical and electronics industries. Furthermore, allied joining processes are frequently applied in these sectors. Soldering is very widespread in the electrical and electronics industries. Another important sector in which welding technology is applied is the packaging industry. The welding process is used for producing cans made of metal (aluminium and coated steel - tinplate) and plastic packaging made of thermoplastic films. Fully automatic welding installations working according to the principle of resistance roller seam welding, laser welding or heated tool welding are utilised as a rule. In addition to welding, soldering, brazing, high-temperature brazing, adhesive bonding and thermal coating and mechanical joining processes with riveting and clinching systems, bolting and flanging are used as further joining processes. 3.2 Social aspects and improvement of quality of life Welding was developed for industrial and handicraft utilisation at the end of the 19 th century, initially as oxyacetylene fusion welding and then as arc welding at the beginning of the 20 th century. At first, the work was carried out exclusively as a manual process. In order to produce defect-free, high-quality welded joints however, the welder must receive practical and theoretical training related to the process and must be familiarised with regard to the product. Specially set up training facilities in companies and at training providers with workshops and qualified trainers are available for this purpose. Building upon experience from member organisations, IIW has developed an internationally harmonised education, training, qualification and certification programme for welding technology personnel, which is implemented by its member organisations in compliance with uniform standards. Not only welders but also operators of welding installations, welding instructors/trainers, welding coordinators/supervisors/foremen, welding inspectors, technicians, technologists and engineers are qualified according to this programme. Manual welding was, and even today, is still seen to be connected with adverse effects on the welders due to heat, fumes and dust as well as radiation. This has led to the opinion that welding is dirty, dusty and dangerous . Today, welders are protected from these issues with special protective clothing and equipment. For example, safety goggles and/or safety helmets with corresponding protective glasses and screens protect welders and co-workers from arc radiation and breathing protection and extraction installations protect from fume and dust. Regulations for health protection and safety at work of welders are issued in the respective countries and must be complied with by employers. Increasing mechanisation of welding work reduces the deployment of welders and permits improvement in protection from radiation as well as the extraction of fumes and dust in the area close to the welding in order to minimise adverse effects on all workers in the surroundings. Today, personal protection is mainly utilised for welders working in the fabrication of extra small-scale series or single parts as much large scale production is mechanised. In the last one hundred years, welding technology has not only become cleaner, due to the refinement of the materials and improvement in process technologies and facilities for welding, it has also resulted in better joining quality and reliability. Refinements of non-destructive test procedures and improvement in the monitoring of welded products have supported this development.

Therefore, it can be said today that welding is characterised by the three Cs: Cool, Clean and Clever - as it is being called increasingly in the American linguistic usage.

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Through Optimum Use and Innovation of Welding and Joining Technologies

Improving Global Quality of Life