Proposal for a new welding process
Direct Cast Full Penetration Single-Pass Welding
by Elia E. Levi and Yoni Adonyi
The new welding process introduced hereafter is designed to compete with Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) and other processes currently used for thick steel pipes and plates such as Laser Beam Welding (LBW), Electron Beam Welding (EBW) and hot- and cold-wire GTAW welding.
CONCEPT: Molten metal is intended to be directly poured between preheated abutting edges of a joint placed in the flat position. Shielding gas and water-cooled dams are going to control the superheated molten metal, while ultrasonic or electromagnetic stirring will allow for a fine-grained crack-free solidification of the entire thickness.
The process should be applicable for single-pass welding of plates 0.5 to 15 inches thick, competing with Electroslag Welding, Electrogas Welding, Thermit Welding or multipass SAW welding.
This new process is expected to present some of the following advantages:
1 - The process is suitable to plate thicknesses beyond most arc and power beam welding processes.
2 - Joint preparation is simple and economic, as square-butt flame-cut edges will be sufficient before welding.
3 - The striking gain, in comparison with SAW and other high heat input processes, is the much reduced time of welding, assumed be at least 50%-70% less than SAW for any thickness of base metal and for any length of joint.
4 - The process will use much less energy than SAW, for comparable welds.
5 - In the absence of an electric or thermal plasma, there will be no vaporization of alloying elements, such as C and Mn.
6 - The new process can easily be adapted to perform weld cladding of special alloys with minimum dilution, especially mixtures of tungsten carbide and other difficult alloys.
Possible disadvantages of our invention could be:
1 - Still unproven concept - we cannot as yet show any results of real tests demonstrating the reality of the claimed advantages, because we had no opportunity to set up a prototype testing and developing installation.
2 - Lack of portability - the system would not be suitable for other positions except flat. Therefore it is not intended for welding pipes end to end or for continuous spiral welding of pipes.
3 - Limited ability to control heat input - that means that all processing parameters (molten metal temperature, pour rate, carriage speed, preheat temperature) must be calculated beforehand and tested for compatibility. Gaining experience and reaching confidence with the process is likely to take time and ingenuity.
Let us briefly introduce ourselves:
1. Elia Levi, retired Metallurgist and Welding Engineer with four + decades of industrial practice in Israel and elsewhere.
2. Yoni Adonyi, Professor Emeritus Yoni, four decades of manufacturing, R&D and teaching experience in Romania, Israel and the USA.
The above gives us the needed base to apply for a Patent to protect our Intellectual Property.
We still don't know if there is in the market a real interest to explore new and more economic ways to adopt our new process to make thick steel pipes and other products.
Therefore we publish this brief description to invite those who may be interested to explore the details, to contact either of us in view of signing a Non Disclosure Agreement that would open up all that should be known on the new process.
Interested readers may contact Professor Adonyi at yoniadonyi@letu.edu or Elia Levi at welding.advisers@gmail.com
September 2018
Interested Readers might wish to read more on welding at, www.welding-advisers.com
