IIW IWP case studies
IIW IWP · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The International Welding Practitioner (IWP) is an IIW personnel qualification aimed at people who supervise welding work rather than only perform it: welding supervisors, workshop team leaders, and technicians who coordinate welders, procedures and documentation on the shop floor. It sits between the practical welder qualifications and the engineering-level qualifications, and it is delivered through IIW Authorised Nominated Bodies (ANBs) in each country, so the route, language and scheduling depend on your national body. The IIW IWP case studies are 5 cases and about 3,267 words.
170 mm cruciform joints: FCAW or SAW under a tight delivery
A bridge fabricator must produce 24 cruciform joints from 70 mm thick S355J2N plate (CEV 0.43), each with 1.2 m of full-penetration weld on both sides. The shop has one column-and-boom SAW station and three FCAW sets running 1.2 mm rutile-cored wire.
754 words, about 4 min2Duplex spool corrosion test failure after a purge change
A chemical plant fabricates eight 8-inch Sch 40 spools in UNS S32205 duplex stainless steel. The qualified procedure is GTAW for the root (ER2594, 2.4 mm) and GMAW for fill and cap, with a pure argon backing purge.
533 words, about 3 min3Fatigue cracking at a stiffener-to-flange weld on an ageing gantry
A 12-year-old conveyor gantry in S275 steel carries a reversing load of about 2×10^6 cycles per year. Cracks 40–80 mm long have been found at the toe of a 6 mm continuous fillet weld that attaches a transverse stiffener to the tension flange, at three separate locations along the span.
728 words, about 4 min4Planar indications found by PAUT after radiography has passed
A 38 mm thick SAW girth weld in an SA-516 Gr 70 pressure vessel has been 100% radiographed and accepted to ISO 17636 class B, quality level 2. The client now requires phased array UT before hydrotest.
561 words, about 3 min5Recovery plan when the qualified welders, not the welders, are the bottleneck
A shop must complete 250 spools in ten weeks, each with two girth welds in 6-inch Sch 80 pipe (P1 material). Twelve welders are employed, but only three hold a valid ISO 9606-1 certificate for GTAW root plus SMAW fill.
691 words, about 3 min