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An allround cored wire for an allround fabricator
By Ben Altemühl, Svetsaren editor, interviewing production management of SES TVP s.r.o, Slovakia
First published: Svetsaren 1/2000
Keywords: MMA, TIG, MMA, SAW, FILARC PZ6113
Segment: General fabrication
Summary: A flexible Slovakian fabricator organised its welding efficiency with the help of multi-purpose all-position rutile cored wire PZ 6113.
SES TVP s.r.o. Zeliezovce, part of the Slovakian SES Group (Slovenské Energetické Strojárne a.s.), is a fabricator that has adapted successfully to the new economic climate that evolved after the decline of European Communism and the partition of Czechoslovakia.
In answer to the falling demand from former Comecon countries, the company diversified their product range by contracting a variety of projects from other countries, aided by the relatively low Slovakian labour costs. Meanwhile, they increased the efficiency of their production, amongst others by a wide scale introduction of manual flux-cored arc welding to replace stick electrodes. The PZ6113, an all-position rutile cored wire, is universally applied as a multi-purpose cored wire. Other ESAB solutions are utilised for SMAW, GTAW and SAW.
Acknowledgement
We thank Mr. Milo Kohút, MD of SES TVP, for giving us the opportunity to visit his company, and Mr. Gabriel Bagala and his welding department for providing us with the information to base this article on. We congratulate ESAB Slovakia in general and Mr. Martin Janota in particular, with the marketing success achieved at SES.
SES
The SES group, with headquarters in Tlmace, consists of 15 companies, active in the field of steam boilers and equipment for power generation. The group had a 1998 turnover of 125 million Euro and is listed on the Bratislava Stock Exchange. The product programme includes various types of boilers, condensers, heat exchangers, fluidised bed boilers, waste incineration plants, sewage disposal plants, as well as general overhaul of power engineering equipment.
Although embedded in the structures of the SES Group, SES TVP functions independently with an own international marketing department, in-house engineering facilities, as well as a de-centralised production management. The company employs around 650 persons, of which 80 related to welding. The manufacturing lines are located in two halls of 18880 m2. They are devided in three sections: material preparation, machining and welding/assembly.
Over the past years, the active marketing team has increasingly been able to land contracts from outside SES’s traditional markets in Eastern Europe. This involved the delivery of condensers, heat exchangers, condensation pipelines and a variety of other products to countries like Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, Egypt, Turkey, China, The Philippines and Argentina. The company’s marketing successes were aided by a flexible attitude regarding the type of projects to be contracted, as well as the relatively low labour costs in Slovakia. Meanwhile, production facilities were gradually modernised by way of relatively small, but frequent investments. The most important improvement in the field of welding was undoubtedly the change from welding with stick electrodes to cored wire welding that took place over the past three years. It was supported by ESAB with training, products, and application help and provided SES with a dramatic increase in welding productivity.
Welding
SES TVP use the arc welding processes SMAW, GMAW, GTAW, FCAW and SAW. Apart from SAW, it all concerns manual welding. The cored wire used universally for manual FCAW is the FILARC PZ6113, together with a metal-cored type PZ6102 applied for rooting. Ar/CO2 mixed gas is universally used as shielding gas.
PZ6113 hardly needs explanation, because it is the all-position cored wire for mild steel most applied in Europe. It combines superb all-position weldability with very high productivity, and it can be welded in mixed gas, as well as CO2. It is classified T 42 2 P C 1 H5/T 46 2P M 1 H10 according EN 758-97.
When asked about the introduction of cored wire welding, Mr. Bagala answers the following: ”the first project to use cored wire welding was the construction of condenser for a French client. It was in fact the client himself prescribing the use of FCAW for this project. Having no experience with this process we referred to ESAB Slovakia who helped us setting-up a programme for welder training and procedure qualification. We started with a group of nine welders who were taught the ins and outs of cored wire welding by Carin Jansen, a female welding instructor from FILARC in The Netherlands.
Now three years later around 70% of all welding is done with FCAW. We educate our own welders here in Zeliezovce, as well as in the central welding school in Tlmace. We estimate that the production time for our major products has been reduced by 20-30%. This enables us to quote sharp prices and short delivery times and has helped us enormously becoming competitive and successful”.
Cored wire applications
During our visit at SES TVP a number of projects were under construction. Below they are briefly described, emphasising the role of cored wire welding
Heat exchanger for Klaipeda, Lithuania
To fabricate this component, SES use SAW for the circumferential and longitudinal welds of the cylindrical parts. These are symmetric X-joints, which are double-sided welded with the Vamberk wire/flux combination A103/F103.
SMAW and GTAW are used for the root passes on this project. All fillet welds and a variety of other joints and attachment works are done with PZ6113-1.2 mm. The details of cored wire weldments show the versatility of this wire for this kind of construction work. The waterbox shown is welded in three positions (PB, PF and PD) with the same parameter setting.
Goldisthal project, Germany
This project involves the fabrication of stop-logs and other steel construction modules for dam constructions for a hydro power plant. Double-sided, single layer fillet welds (a-size=5 mm) in PB position are welded simultaneously by two welders.
Steam condensers, Ho ping, China
During our visit a project was in progress involving 4 modules. Figures 3 show a water box; each module has two of them. The water box is a fine example of the level of skill that SES welders have acquired in manual cored wire welding. The weld appearance resembles that of mechanised welding.
The primary welds are unsymmetrical X-joints with a complex geometry. Root (ground) as well as filling is done with PZ6113. Previously, these welds were done with stick electrodes. With FCAW, these specific components are now welded 4 times faster. Moreover, no stress relieve treatment is needed because of the lower heat input.
Another interesting project is reviewed below, showing the flexibility of SES TVP as a fabricator, while exemplifying the use of ESAB cored wire products. It was performed earlier in 1999.
Steel convertor vessel spigot for Dillinger Eisenhütte, Germany
Two bearing rings for manouvring convertor vessels in the oxysteel process, diameter 9.5 m weighing 145 tons each, were fabricated from mild steel with a minimum yield strength of 355 MPa. Plate thicknesses for the circular box structure were 65 mm for the sidewalls and 80mm for the deck plates. Each ring consisted of two semi circular segments.
The complete structure was welded with PZ6113-1.2 (roots with PZ6102-1.2 mm). This involved the welding of through thickness K-joints in the PC position for the bottom and deck plates, and through thickness X-joints in PA and PF position for connecting the ring segments. each ring consumed 2.5 tons of cored wire.
The whole project was performed with a very low defect rate, which, together with the fine weld appearance, once again, exemplifies the possibilities of PZ6113 when used by skilled welders.
To conclude
Visiting SES TVP, we encountered a flexible fabricator in the sense of the variety of projects they can handle. Their welding is organised very efficiently, with a central role for manual FCAW, and based on a high level of welder skill.
The all-position rutile cored wire FILARC PZ6113, the standard in European shipbuilding, proofs its reputation as a multi-purpose FCAW consumable for other industrial segments as well.
First published: Svetsaren 1/2000
Keywords: MMA, TIG, MMA, SAW, FILARC PZ6113
Segment: General fabrication
Summary: A flexible Slovakian fabricator organised its welding efficiency with the help of multi-purpose all-position rutile cored wire PZ 6113.
SES TVP s.r.o. Zeliezovce, part of the Slovakian SES Group (Slovenské Energetické Strojárne a.s.), is a fabricator that has adapted successfully to the new economic climate that evolved after the decline of European Communism and the partition of Czechoslovakia.
In answer to the falling demand from former Comecon countries, the company diversified their product range by contracting a variety of projects from other countries, aided by the relatively low Slovakian labour costs. Meanwhile, they increased the efficiency of their production, amongst others by a wide scale introduction of manual flux-cored arc welding to replace stick electrodes. The PZ6113, an all-position rutile cored wire, is universally applied as a multi-purpose cored wire. Other ESAB solutions are utilised for SMAW, GTAW and SAW.
Acknowledgement
We thank Mr. Milo Kohút, MD of SES TVP, for giving us the opportunity to visit his company, and Mr. Gabriel Bagala and his welding department for providing us with the information to base this article on. We congratulate ESAB Slovakia in general and Mr. Martin Janota in particular, with the marketing success achieved at SES.
SES
The SES group, with headquarters in Tlmace, consists of 15 companies, active in the field of steam boilers and equipment for power generation. The group had a 1998 turnover of 125 million Euro and is listed on the Bratislava Stock Exchange. The product programme includes various types of boilers, condensers, heat exchangers, fluidised bed boilers, waste incineration plants, sewage disposal plants, as well as general overhaul of power engineering equipment.
Although embedded in the structures of the SES Group, SES TVP functions independently with an own international marketing department, in-house engineering facilities, as well as a de-centralised production management. The company employs around 650 persons, of which 80 related to welding. The manufacturing lines are located in two halls of 18880 m2. They are devided in three sections: material preparation, machining and welding/assembly.
Over the past years, the active marketing team has increasingly been able to land contracts from outside SES’s traditional markets in Eastern Europe. This involved the delivery of condensers, heat exchangers, condensation pipelines and a variety of other products to countries like Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, Egypt, Turkey, China, The Philippines and Argentina. The company’s marketing successes were aided by a flexible attitude regarding the type of projects to be contracted, as well as the relatively low labour costs in Slovakia. Meanwhile, production facilities were gradually modernised by way of relatively small, but frequent investments. The most important improvement in the field of welding was undoubtedly the change from welding with stick electrodes to cored wire welding that took place over the past three years. It was supported by ESAB with training, products, and application help and provided SES with a dramatic increase in welding productivity.
Welding
SES TVP use the arc welding processes SMAW, GMAW, GTAW, FCAW and SAW. Apart from SAW, it all concerns manual welding. The cored wire used universally for manual FCAW is the FILARC PZ6113, together with a metal-cored type PZ6102 applied for rooting. Ar/CO2 mixed gas is universally used as shielding gas.
PZ6113 hardly needs explanation, because it is the all-position cored wire for mild steel most applied in Europe. It combines superb all-position weldability with very high productivity, and it can be welded in mixed gas, as well as CO2. It is classified T 42 2 P C 1 H5/T 46 2P M 1 H10 according EN 758-97.
When asked about the introduction of cored wire welding, Mr. Bagala answers the following: ”the first project to use cored wire welding was the construction of condenser for a French client. It was in fact the client himself prescribing the use of FCAW for this project. Having no experience with this process we referred to ESAB Slovakia who helped us setting-up a programme for welder training and procedure qualification. We started with a group of nine welders who were taught the ins and outs of cored wire welding by Carin Jansen, a female welding instructor from FILARC in The Netherlands.
Now three years later around 70% of all welding is done with FCAW. We educate our own welders here in Zeliezovce, as well as in the central welding school in Tlmace. We estimate that the production time for our major products has been reduced by 20-30%. This enables us to quote sharp prices and short delivery times and has helped us enormously becoming competitive and successful”.
Cored wire applications
During our visit at SES TVP a number of projects were under construction. Below they are briefly described, emphasising the role of cored wire welding
Heat exchanger for Klaipeda, Lithuania
To fabricate this component, SES use SAW for the circumferential and longitudinal welds of the cylindrical parts. These are symmetric X-joints, which are double-sided welded with the Vamberk wire/flux combination A103/F103.
SMAW and GTAW are used for the root passes on this project. All fillet welds and a variety of other joints and attachment works are done with PZ6113-1.2 mm. The details of cored wire weldments show the versatility of this wire for this kind of construction work. The waterbox shown is welded in three positions (PB, PF and PD) with the same parameter setting.
Goldisthal project, Germany
This project involves the fabrication of stop-logs and other steel construction modules for dam constructions for a hydro power plant. Double-sided, single layer fillet welds (a-size=5 mm) in PB position are welded simultaneously by two welders.
Steam condensers, Ho ping, China
During our visit a project was in progress involving 4 modules. Figures 3 show a water box; each module has two of them. The water box is a fine example of the level of skill that SES welders have acquired in manual cored wire welding. The weld appearance resembles that of mechanised welding.
The primary welds are unsymmetrical X-joints with a complex geometry. Root (ground) as well as filling is done with PZ6113. Previously, these welds were done with stick electrodes. With FCAW, these specific components are now welded 4 times faster. Moreover, no stress relieve treatment is needed because of the lower heat input.
Another interesting project is reviewed below, showing the flexibility of SES TVP as a fabricator, while exemplifying the use of ESAB cored wire products. It was performed earlier in 1999.
Steel convertor vessel spigot for Dillinger Eisenhütte, Germany
Two bearing rings for manouvring convertor vessels in the oxysteel process, diameter 9.5 m weighing 145 tons each, were fabricated from mild steel with a minimum yield strength of 355 MPa. Plate thicknesses for the circular box structure were 65 mm for the sidewalls and 80mm for the deck plates. Each ring consisted of two semi circular segments.
The complete structure was welded with PZ6113-1.2 (roots with PZ6102-1.2 mm). This involved the welding of through thickness K-joints in the PC position for the bottom and deck plates, and through thickness X-joints in PA and PF position for connecting the ring segments. each ring consumed 2.5 tons of cored wire.
The whole project was performed with a very low defect rate, which, together with the fine weld appearance, once again, exemplifies the possibilities of PZ6113 when used by skilled welders.
To conclude
Visiting SES TVP, we encountered a flexible fabricator in the sense of the variety of projects they can handle. Their welding is organised very efficiently, with a central role for manual FCAW, and based on a high level of welder skill.
The all-position rutile cored wire FILARC PZ6113, the standard in European shipbuilding, proofs its reputation as a multi-purpose FCAW consumable for other industrial segments as well.
