Welding Technology Laboratory

Tasks

The Welding Technology Laboratory is currently used primarily for teaching, i.e. for the welding technology training of students in the field of civil engineering in connection with the subject of steel construction. It is used for practical exercises and also serves as an experimental laboratory for final theses.

The welding training consists of a lecture part and a practical part in the welding laboratory and includes the following contents:

Lectures:

• welding processes and welding equipment in steel construction
• Material selection and material behaviour during welding
• Quality assurance and non-destructive testing

Practical exercises and demonstrations:

• Thermal cutting: flame and plasma cutting
• Manual electric welding
• Gas-shielded welding: MIG/MAG/WIG
• Stud Welding
• Introduction to the non-destructive testing of welded joints

In addition to its main task of "teaching within steel construction", the laboratory is also to be involved in future in investigations for concrete construction measures.

Equipment and test methods

The laboratory has a total of 8 welding booths. All welding cabins are equipped with new state-of-the-art digital metal shielding gas and manual arc welding machines. In total, the laboratory has the following welding equipment and flame cutting systems

• 9 x Lorch MAG welding machines
• 9 x Lorch manual arc welding units
• Oerlikon TIG welding machine
• Submerged arc welding facility
• Autogenous flame cutting machine
• Powermax 65 Plasma cutting system

In addition to welding equipment, quality assurance has always played a major role in the construction industry. In steel construction, where 90% of the joints are welded, the quality of the welded joints is therefore of particular importance and must be accurately assessed by means of appropriate testing facilities. The equipment of the welding laboratory in the field of non-destructive and destructive weld seam testing and materials testing has therefore been expanded in recent years and includes the following testing facilities and equipment.

Non-destructive weld seam testing

• Dye Penetrant Testing
• Magnetic particle testing
• Ultrasonic testing using the modern phased array technique

Destructive weld seam and material testing

• Preparation of micro- and macrosections
• Hardness tests
• Notched bar impact test
• Chemical analyses in connection with the laboratory for construction chemistry

This means that comprehensive laboratory equipment is available for training in the field of welding technology, both for the welding itself and for the area of quality assurance. This enables the students to receive training at the level of the current state of the art, which is mainly characterised by the digital control of modern welding equipment.

Room

3/317 and 2/U03.3