IIW White Paper

9 Needs and challenges of major industry sectors for future applications

9.1.9 Hot topics Research and development of solar panel materials and associated joining technologies.

Research and development of corrosion and fatigue properties of welds associated with increasing height of wind towers, and development of new design, fabrication and welding technologies. Development of new welding technologies and procedures to support innovation in battery and fuel cell design and fabrication.

9.2 Manufacturing sector Theuseof advanced technology is aprecondition toguaranteeeconomic, safeandhighqualitymanufacturing. Lately, manufacturing has decreased in Europe, America and Japan with the focus moving to Asia. PR China in particular is becoming an increasingly potent force in the global market place particularly in heavy machinery and manufacturing other industrial parts. China’s manufacturing production value is growing in line with the world’s number one manufacturer, the USA. In recent years, China’s wage rates are rising, and with rising transportation costs due to high oil prices this will further affect the situation. Resource-intensive manufacturing industries will not return to Europe but will move to lower-paying countries. Traditionally, these countries have sought to optimise the use of cheap available labour with minimal capital expenditure. It is now being seen that utilising a higher capital expenditure to labour ratio will not automatically lead to higher unemployment rates, as predicted by the traditional view. Instead, greater employment opportunities can be generated as a result of higher output growth brought about by technological progress embodied in new capital investments. For example, the production of construction machinery is almost evenly shared by Europe, America and Asia. In the near future, the manufacturers of construction machinery will be forced to reduce environmental impact with energy-saving measures and improved safety measures. The adoption of new technologies for more efficient products will be required. 9.2.1 Joining technology in the production process - Actual status and trends In the past, processes using joining technology, particularly using welding technology, were carried out separately from the other manufacturing processes for a product because of their special attendant circumstances in fabrication, particularly because of dust, heat and noise emissions as well as often complicated tests. This is connectedwithanextra scopeofwork andextra costs for transport and intermediate storage. Moreover, the results of the welding and joining processes frequently cannot be proven on the finished product at justifiable expense. Apart from the product testing, other quality-assuring measures must be applied for this reason. Another factor relates to the wide diversity of the available welding and joining processes fromwhich the optimum process for product manufacture must be selected depending on the material, the stresses, the accessibility, the experience, the availability and the costs. To an increasing extent, the ever greater diversity of materials and their combined utilisation depending on the specific weight in question and on the respective stresses in a product are leading to a material mix in technical products. Therefore, these materials must not only be joined with each other ever more often but also in ever more complex joining processes. Conventional welding and joining processes with further development are available for this purpose.

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Through Optimum Use and Innovation of Welding and Joining Technologies

Improving Global Quality of Life