Marine Welding Overview...

Marine welding: Welding is used in erecting and fabrication, in infrastructure and installations. It is an important process of modern mechanical, civil engineering, electrical industries, as well as in all branches of the marine and aeronautical arena's.

The process of welding involves forming a pool of molten mass the weld puddle and leaving it to cool to become a strong solid joint. To carry out repairs underwater, there is a separate process. That is called marine welding or underwater welding. Marine maritime welding is the basic technology to be used if damaged ships are to be repaired. It is a highly-specialized field more employed in the oil or shipping industry and also in military operations. There are two processes involved in marine welding; dry welding and wet welding.

For dry marine (maritime) welding, this is also known as hyperbaric welding. The whole operation is completed in a chamber, sealed around the structure to be welded. The chamber is normally filled with gas helium containing 0.5 bar oxygen. It is fitted onto the pipeline and filled with the breathable mixture of air. The welding is usually carried out in higher pressure. When the gas tungsten arc welding process is used, welding can be done without getting the usual problems posed by ocean currents and marine animals. Also, from the surface, one can virtually monitor joint preparation and pipe alignment.

The bad side of this process of marine welding though is the complex nature of the chamber which requires large equipment to support its surface. It is also very risky for the welder and to the equipment. The welder has to be insulated and he has to protect himself from electric shock. The voltage of the welding sets has to be controlled. Highly explosive equipments like the pocket of oxygen and hydrogen built up by the arc has to be monitored carefully. The welder has to take precaution because nitrogen will be built up in the blood stream of the welder, when exposed to air at high pressure under the water surface. Inspection, although very difficult, is a requirement which is very mandatory. Wet welding process of marine welding is mostly employed in marine engineering products when installing oil and gas rigs. Marine welding can be further classified depending on the type of procedures and type of equipment employed. Some of them are the Cofferdam welding process, manual metal arc building and Hyperbaric welding process.

The other type of marine welding, wet welding, is carried out underwater. This is carried out manually with a different type of electrode. The welder is allowed to have freedom of movement. Wet welding is the most efficient, effective and economical process. In this process, cables and hoses are connected to the welder while the welding power and supply unit is placed on the surface.

The good side of this process of maritime welding is that the operational speed is very high and the small size of the equipments will enable short time performance and minimal planning of the operation. Above all, it has minimal operational cost.

The skills and qualifications needed for entering the profession maritime welding are recognized as being an experienced welder-diver with commercial diving skills. You should be proficient with the use of specialized commercial diving equipment, have an understanding of diving safety, driving physiology, rigging and the underwater environment. In addition, you have to get the necessary certification to succeed in the maritime welding profession.

Related Articles:

Underwated Welding Jobs

Underwater Welding Schools