TPT January 2011

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January 2011 55 ›
Technology Update
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April 2011
• Stainless steel tubes
• Civil engineering products
• Show feature:
Tube Russia 2011
July 2011
• Valves
• Corrosion resistant
tube & pipe
• Show feature: Tube Southeast Asia 2011
TheWorld of Tube& Pipe Products,Materials&Ancillaries
January 2011
Forthcoming features
EWM Hightec Welding’s versatile alpha Q
MIG/MAG welding and brazing machine
features a highly dynamic, fully digital inverter
power source designed to offer exceptional
quality, whether working on thin or thick metal
sheets, seam roots or final passes.
alpha Q features the award-winning
forceArc® andcoldArc® processtechnologies,
and with its inverter power unit with
sophisticated microprocessor technology
also boasts additional processing options
such as pulse welding and pipeSolution®,
the latest development from the EWM
research department.
Advantages of this technology when
working on metal sheets and pipes in all
positions include quick, dependable and
high-quality MAG root welding, whether
for manual or mechanised work (eg orbital
technology), with or without an air gap, on
unalloyed or low-alloy steels or with solid
wires. The arc is especially powerful and
therefore very directionally stable, no matter
what the thickness of the material or the
position of the metal sheet or pipe. These
strengths are particularly beneficial when
constructing pipelines, pipe systems and
pressure vessels.
Once the root has been welded, the
alpha Q changes process on demand and
welds the filling passes and the final pass
with a pulsed MAG process.
coldArc is a suitable process for work
requiring the lowest possible heat feeding
and weld spatter. The process offers
excellent gap bridging when welding root
passes on unalloyed, low- and high-alloy
steels, regardless of the panel thickness
or the position (including out-of-position
welding). Other advantages of welding and
brazing processes where heat transfer to
the parent metal is kept to a minimum
include increased safety with irregular air
gaps, minimum distortion, less post-weld
work thanks to excellent seam geometry –
particularly good for visible seams – narrow
discolouration zone, reliable edge formation
even with edge misalignments, no wire
piercing and no pool support required.
One of the system’s users reports that in
their day-to-day production processes they
now use controlled drop transfer to insert
consumables into joints measuring up to
1cm in width, as this enables them to create
the perfect seam root without any need for
a pool support.
coldArc also offers advantages when
performing MIG welding on thin metal sheets,
including gap bridging, no sagging of the
molten metal and good wetting of the surface.
The forceArc MIG/MAG process, with a
very short but powerful spray arc, ensures
deep fusion penetration and virtually spatter-
free seams on unalloyed, low- and high-
alloy steels, without undercuts. The arc is
directionally stable and achieves root and
edge formation even with a 40mm free wire
end (stickout).
forceArc is able to make full-depth welds
with a single layer. This means that the
conventional backing pass is no longer
necessary and the effective throat thickness
required by the standard is realised on the
reverse of the workpiece in a single operation.
In many cases this kind of weld does not
even require special seam preparation.
EWM Hightec Welding GmbH – Germany
Fax: +49 2680 181 244
Website:
MIG/MAG welding performance