Help with Welding Standards

[qualitytoad]

Hello,

I apologize if this is the wrong section. I'm looking for some guidance on welding specs/standards.
The company I work for is transferring a project from a US site to our UK site, based in the North East.
The US site worked to AWS D17.1.
I worry that the requirements may be too stringent and I'm struggling to find AWS weld inspection training opportunities in the UK.

Is there an applicable UK or European standard which is equivalent to AWS but will be easier to qualify/train to in the UK?
For aerospace welding in the UK, which standard do most companies work to?

Any support you can offer is really appreciated.

 

[tom2207]

Welcome to the forum ,,,
As far as I know there isnt a BS direct equivalent

 

[Munkul]

In UK, our welding standards are pretty straightforward. Weld procedures (WPQR) approved to iso 15614 and welders tested to iso 9606.
This is universal, from making vehicles, doing structural steel, through to pressure vessels, nuclear reactors, etc etc. The only thing that changes, is the material, joint type, procedure etc. Pressure vessel WPQRs require a 3rd party approval from lloyds or other competent body. Otherwise they just need testing and approval by a UKAS registered company.

NDT is specific to whatever you're making, ie you'll get some pretty decent NDT on a pressure vessel, but only an in-house visual inspection on a basic structural job.

Now I know nothing at all about AWS D17.1, but I've worked in pressure vessel and nuclear industry for a while now and have successfully crosswalked AWS standards across to ISO, generally ISO is more stringent than any AWS spec I've seen so far. You just add in appropriate NDT that meets the AWS standard.

It's not hard to get your WPQRs and welders qualified, the hard bit comes when you need a load of NDT, passing MPI and Xray consistently needs good welders, not just monkeys. Once your welders are up to scratch, it's not too bad unless it's Xray work.