Welding

The Importance of Weld Quality Assurance After Welding College

February 19, 2019

Welding is used in a wide variety of industries and settings, from creating bathroom pipes and common household objects to constructing bridges, buildings, and airplanes. Due to the importance of welding in society, ensuring that welds are durable is critical. After all, a pilot wouldn’t fly an airplane if they thought the plane was manufactured with low-quality welds!

If you’re considering a welding career, you’ll need to take weld quality seriously. By producing high-quality welds, you will prove to employers that you are dependable and that you take welding seriously, which in turn, can help you advance in your career.

Here’s why weld quality assurance matters, and how you can test the quality of your own welds during your training and beyond.

Develop the Skills to Produce High-Quality Welds in Your Welding Classes

The main reason that weld quality assurance is so important is because a poor-quality weld is more likely to break or leak. The consequences of weld failure can range from a small inconvenience, such as a kitchen pipe bursting, to something that’s far more dangerous like the structural failure of a bridge or gas pipe.

High-quality welds help improve the safety of structures, like pipelines

It’s clear then, that there’s a lot riding on a high-quality weld, which is why welding technician training is so essential to ensuring you develop the skills necessary to deliver consistently strong and durable welds throughout your career. Not only will your skills contribute to creating a better and potentially safer product, they will also help you gain a good reputation, and show clients and employers that you are reliable, and you’ve got the skills to handle any welding job. A solid reputation can help you progress in your career, since employers value welders who understand the importance of weld quality.

Welding Training Can Help You Spot the Signs of a High-Quality Weld

There are many tools and techniques used for determining weld quality, some of which are used by welders themselves while others are performed in laboratory settings. For instance, researchers use laboratory equipment to subject different types of metals to intense pressure in order to determine a metal’s durability and breaking point. Of course, as a welder, you won’t be directly involved in laboratory tests, but this research is how standards are developed for determining which materials and methods welders need to use for certain jobs.

However, there are other ways to test for weld quality, which you can try on the job. For instance, after completing a weld, you should check to make sure that any slag, which is the waste material produced during welding, can be easily removed. For some types of welding, like TIG welding, there should little to no slag at all. If there is an excessive amount of slag or the slag cannot be removed easily, then it may be a sign that the metal surface was not properly cleaned beforehand. An unclean surface can undermine the quality of your welds.

Additionally, if the structure you are welding is designed to hold liquid, you should check to make sure that your weld is leak proof. Many professionals spray their welds with soap bubbles, which will clearly show if and where a leak in the weld is located. By attending welding college, you’ll learn some of the methods that welders use on the job for ensuring they are delivering high-quality welds.

Welder training can help you develop skills for testing the quality of your welds

Are you interested in training to become a welder?

Contact North American Trade Schools today to learn about our welding classes!

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