TPT November 2015

Technology News

UAE-based ASIC acquires 30 per cent stake in Australian welding disrupter K-TIG UNITED Arab Emirates-based

research and four years of product trials in six countries. K-TIG serves a wide range of industry sectors involved in precision fabrication including oil and gas, defence, aerospace, pressure and suction vessels, cryogenics, heat exchange, desalination, pipe making and minerals processing. The K-TIG welding process produces results across a wide range of exotic and conventional materials, and excels in medium to heavy gauge metals. It is a low distortion process that is tolerant to imperfections and creates a highly stable, self-correcting full-penetration weld across a wide spectrum of specialist metals. K-TIG CEO Neil Le Quesne claims Keyhole TIG welding offers the most substantial change in welding technology in the past 50 years. “In just two years, K-TIG has managed to turn the way we think about welding on its head,” he said. “This technology places a tool in the hands of fabricators which routinely reduces the time, gas and power required to weld steels and exotic

Advanced Science & Innovation Company (ASIC) has consolidated its strong position in early-stage advanced manufacturing technology investment by acquiring a 30 per cent stake in Australian welding innovator Keyhole TIG Limited (K-TIG), Winner of the 2014 Australian Industrial Product of the Year and the 2015 Defence Industry Innovator Award, K-TIG has developed an ultra- high-speed, full penetration welding technology that welds up to 100 times faster than conventional welding in materials up to 16mm in thickness – in one pass. K-TIG’s Keyhole TIG welding technology eliminates the need for wire, edge preparation and skilled operators while requiring just a fraction of the gas andpower neededbymanyotherwelding processes. In recent years, K-TIG has developed an international distribution network, which spans Europe, Asia and the Middle East, with the US market next in its sights. K-TIG’s disruptive technology is the result of ten years of

ASIC has acquired a share in K-TIG

by simply replacing their conventional welding system with K-TIG,” he said. “The productivity gains and cost reductions being experienced by these companies is extraordinary, with payback on the technology achieved in months rather than years. We expect this to be a highly disruptive technology, and we are delighted to be a part of the company’s development.” Since K-TIG began from a foundation of pure R&D, it has developed into a commercialisation-centric company that has transformed the complex physics, which underpins the process, into a push-button operation. At the same time, K-TIG is again investing heavily in R&D and it anticipates bringing to market successive generations of its technology, together with specialist product offerings for specific target markets. The United Arab Emirates-basedAdvanced Science & Innovation Company invests globally in transformative new technologies in advanced manufacturing, renewable energy and bio sciences. ASIC acts as a commercialisation vehicle for a number of innovative science and technology projects and products, and also as Project Manager and Consultant throughout the GCC, Africa, China and beyond.

materials by more than 90 per cent. We expect that the adoption of the K-TIG process will expand exponentially over the coming years as industry begins to leverage its full potential.” The Advanced Science & Innovation Company (ASIC) expects the global oil and gas industry, plus a wide range of other f ab r i ca t i on - dependen t industries, to embrace K-TIG’s technology. ASIC general manager Filip Matwin said K-TIG’s proprietary process was already delivering order- of-magnitude productivity gains to the global fabrication sector. “Global 500 companies are achieving order-of- magnitude cost savings

K-TIG – Australia Website: www.k-tig.com

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N ovember 2015