IIW White Paper

3.

Significance of welding and joining

W elding is one of the most commonly used technologies for the assembly of metallic materials, where it ensures a metallurgical bond between two elements/parts of a given component. Numerous welding technologies are utilised in fabrication, repair and maintenance in a wide range of industrial applications, from steam generator to aircraft to high precision equipment, in almost every industrial sector. 3.1 Major industrial sectors utilising welding and joining Today, welding is used by preference in the industrial sectors which manufacture products made of weldable materials. These are metallic materials, above all steels, aluminium, magnesium, titanium and nickel as well as their alloys and thermoplastics. Composite materials and material compounds are increasingly playing a major role. In this respect, welding frequently plays an essential role in product design and constitutes an essential step in the value added at the manufacturing companies. In the particularly welding-intensive sectors, the following average value added by welding may be assumed as the proportion of the total value added:

Mechanical and apparatus engineering, including

Construction of metal and plastic pipelines:

approx. 3 %

Metal construction:

approx. 5 %

Vehicle construction (motor and rail vehicles):

approx. 7 %

Shipbuilding: approx. 8 % Aerospace construction: (incl. allied joining technologies): approx. 8 %

Although the main coverage is metals and their alloys, industry specific coverage does include challenges in non-metallic materials joining and future directions e.g. electronics, medical devices, aerospace, polymers, plastics and nano-joining of dissimilar materials. The welding processes being applied and the respective degrees of mechanisation are very variable. They are extremely dependent on the material to be processed and on the wage level in the region concerned. For example, manual electrode welding and partially mechanised gas shielded arc welding are very widespread in regions with low wage costs, while fully mechanised gas-shielded arc welding with robots or welding gantries, submerged-arc welding and beamwelding with a laser or electron beam tend to be the exception in these regions. This is due to high equipment investment costs for mass production and the lower availability of suitable specialist personnel. It must also be borne in mind, however, that even in regions with low wage costs, the degree of automation of the joining processes being utilised increases when more stringent requirements are placed on reproducibility and precision, e.g. with regard to the positioning of attached parts.

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Through Optimum Use and Innovation of Welding and Joining Technologies

Improving Global Quality of Life