Projects
HIPROTIG
project name: High Productivity Gas Tungsten Arc Welding Technology
initiating country: The European Union
Framework Programme: FP6 programme area: SME – Small and Medium Enterprises contract type: SME – Small and Medium Enterprise
contract/proposal/call number: 005991
status: active
start date: 2005
Keywords
keywords: SME
Project Budget
Participants
Note that the follow people may not represent the full extent of the consortium. FEAST has tried to identify the Australian participants, and their collaborators (or coordinator), within the project. Also note that Australian participation may not necessarily be on a formal level. Further details about the partners in this project can be found at the website listed below.
| name | organisation | state or country |
|---|---|---|
| CSIRO | Australia | |
| CRC-WS | NSW, Australia | |
| ISQ | Portugal |
Further information
WWW: www.hiprotig.net
summary:
The Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) process, also well known as Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) process, is a very precise and clean process that is used for joining a wide variety of materials, as carbon steels, stainless steels, nickel, titanium, zirconium and tantalum alloys as well as aluminium and copper based alloys. The process allows to produce high quality welds. Its main limitation is the slow deposition rate and additionally the quite low energy density that restricts the range of materials thickness that can be processed without filler metal and joint preparation (actually 2-3 mm).
Some variants of the conventional GTAW have been developed but, until quite recently, none of the later have shown an high potential to revolutionize the process and create a new technology. HIPROTIG will be an automated, high productivity and quality welding process based on the conventional GTAW process.
HIPROTIG is based on a new concept developed by CSIRO - Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (Australia). CSIRO's torch is able to work in the keyhole mode, like the high density beam processes, at a low cost. The main advantages are:
- up to 16 mm thick material weld in just one pass;
- reduced time in joint preparation (i.e., just square groove preparation);
- significant reductions in filler material consumption (just when required);
- welding speed increases in the order of 50%;
- total welding time is reduced to approximately 1/10 of what is required with conventional processes;
- automated process.
The required accuracy of joint preparation is also lower than that required for the high energy density beam processes (i.e., laser, electron beam and plasma), which represents an additional advantage relatively to these processes.
This is a primary condition for its applicability under SME conditions. Therefore, CSIRO's torch represents a key step in the development of a new GTAW technology accessible to SMEs, that is expected to contribute significantly to their productivity growth and therefore their competitiveness.
The innovative technological developments in HIPROTIG are based on the development of a new product, up to 1000 A intensity power source fitted to the specificities of the torch and process and on the process development in terms of its flexibility concerning operational conditions and control.
Source: project website
