ARTIGO CONVIDADO
State of the art of international standardisation in the field of welding and allied processes
O estado da arte da normalização internacional no campo da soldagem e dos processos afins
Detlef von Hofe
DVS - Düsseldorf - Germany
ABSTRACT
The development of new and the revision of existing ISO Standards in the field of welding and allied processes was formidable in the last five to seven years. In the middle of the year 2009 there were available more than 300 European and more than 270 International Standards in that field, most of the EN Standards are identical or very similar to ISO Standards. Industry has to take into account the new standards and the changes in the existing once especially in respect of filler materials, procedure qualification tests, personal qualification, non destructive tests and requirements to manufacturing joined products. There is a strong relation of these standards to product standards and to European Directives.
Key-words: Welding standards, quality, ISO.
RESUMO
O desenvolvimento de novas normas ISO e a revisão de normas ISO já existentes no campo da soldagem e de processos afins foi formidável nos últimos cinco a sete anos. Em meados de 2009 existiam disponíveis mais de 300 Normas Européias (EN) e mais de 270 Normas Internacionais nesta área, sendo a maioria das EN idênticas ou muito similares às Normas ISO. A indústria tem levando em consideração as novas normas e as alterações nas existentes, especialmente com respeito a materiais de adição, testes de qualificação de procedimento, qualificação de pessoal, ensaios não destrutivos e requerimentos para a fabricação de produtos com processos de união. Existe uma forte relação entre estas normas com normas de produtos e com as Diretrizes Européias.
Palavras-Chave: Normas de soldagem, qualidade, ISO.
1. Introduction
Technical standards are developed on national, regional and international levels (Figure 1). The national level does not need any interpretation, although some national standardization organizations have a strong international impact like ASME, API and AWS of the U.S. in the corresponding branches.
Examples of regional levels are:
African Regional Organization for Standardization (ARSO)
European standards are developed by CEN, the European Committee for Standardisation, CENELEC, the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation, both with their central offices in Brussels, and ETSI, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute with its central office in France.
This contribution mainly will deal with international standardisation activities by ISO, the International Organisation for Standardisation. ISO collaborates with its partners in international standardisation, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The three organizations, all based in Geneva, Switzerland, have formed the World Standards Cooperation (WSC) to act as a strategic focus for collaboration and the promotion of international standardization.
2. The scope of ISO's work
ISO has more than 17500 International Standards and other types of normative documents in its current portfolio. ISO's work programme ranges from standards for traditional activities, such as agriculture and construction, through mechanical engineering, manufacturing and distribution, to transport, medical devices, information and communication technologies, and to standards for good management practice and for services.
3. ISO's structure
The structure of ISO is given in Figure 2.
4. International standardisation in the field of welding and allied processes
The international standardization work in the field of welding and allied processes mainly is done in ISO TC 44 ''Welding and allied processes''. The secretariat is with AFNOR, the French national standardisation organisation, and chairman is Mr. Lobinger, from France as well.
The scope of ISO/TC 44 reads: ''Standardization of welding, by all processes, as well as allied processes; these standards include terminology, definitions and the symbolic representation of welds on drawings, apparatus and equipment for welding, raw materials (gas, parent and filler metals) welding processes and rules, methods of test and control, calculations and design of welded assemblies, welders' qualifications, as well as safety and health. Excluded: electrical safety matters related to welding which are the responsibility of IEC / TC 26''
ISO/TC 44 has published 274 ISO Standards and other ISO Documents like Corrigendum, Amendments, ISO/TR (Technical Reports) or ISO/TS (Technical Specifications). You can find the titles of these standards on the ISO Web Site by:
Cooperation of ISO/TC44 exists for instance with the following Technical Committees:
TC 5 Ferrous metal pipes and metallic fittings,
TC 10/SC 1 Technical product documentation,
TC 11 Boilers and pressure vessels,
TC 26 Copper and copper alloys,
TC 58 Gas cylinders,
TC 79 Light metals and their alloys,
TC 94 Personal safety -- Protective clothing and equipment,
TC 107 Metallic and other inorganic coatings (including thermal spraying),
TC 119 Powder metallurgy,
TC 135 Non-destructive testing,
TC 153/SC 1 Valves - Design, manufacture, marking and testing,
TC 164 Mechanical testing of metals,
TC 167/SC 1 Steel and aluminium - Structures, material and design,
IEC TC 26 Electric welding and othe rs
The ISO Technical Committees are divided in SC's, Sub Committees, and WG's, Working Groups, if necessary.
The structure of ISO/TC44 is given in Table 1. It has participating members from 34 countries and observing members from 37 countries all over the world.
5. Actual activities in ISO/TC44
Standards of ISO/TC44 published in 2009 are listed in Table 2. At the present stage, ISO/TC44 and its subcommittees (SC) are working on 51 projects. These are revisions of existing standards and developments of new standards. The projects are listed in Table 3. Most of these projects are handled in a strong cooperation with CEN, the European Committee for Standardisation, following the Vienna Agreement to avoid as far as possible different standards on the same subjects on the European and the international level. Anyway there are some projects that are on European but not on international interest. These projects are listed in Table 4 and are handled only by CEN/TC 121 ''Welding and allied processes'' and its sub committees. The structure of CEN/TC121 is given in Table 5. All about CEN/TC 121 can be found under:
6. IIW and Standardisation in the field of welding
In parallel to ISO/TC44 there does exist another organisation accepted by ISO as international standardising body in the field of welding. That is IIW, the International Institute of Welding. The mission of IIW reads as follows: ''To act as the worldwide network for knowledge exchange of joining technologies to improve the global quality of life.''
The IIW Main Goals are:
To identify, create, develop and transfer the best practices for sustainable development in a sustainable environment.
To identify, develop and implement the IIW Education, Training, Qualification & Certification Programmes on a global basis.
To promote the IIW and its Member Societies and services in various regions of the world for the common benefit of all. And its Key Figures are:
Conceived in 1947 and founded in 1948 by 13 countries, the IIW is today the largest worldwide network for welding and joining technologies.
53 Member Countries, representing experts in the various fields of welding and joining.
Technical Commissions and Working Units.
34 Authorized National Bodies which have awarded more than 40,000 Diplomas since 1998 and 6,000 Diplomas in 2008.
Here it is not the place to explain IIW in detail, its history, its organisation etc. But it has to be mentioned that all the IIW Commissions and some other working units (Table 6) are noted to do standardisation work, but under the same rules as followed by ISO. The reason to accept another international standardisation body in the field of welding is the existing of IIW since 1948 and the availability of experts there that are not engaged in ISO.
IIW standardisation projects can be found on the ISO web site by: www.iso.org/iso/standards_development/technical_committees/other_bodies/iso_technical_committee.htm?commid=55014, and clicking on ''Work programme''.
The Coordination of work in ISO/TC44, CEN/TC121 and IIW is done in the ISO/IIW Coordination Committee, once more to coordinate the work and to avoid duplication and competition.
Standards and Projects under CEN/TC121 and IIW lead are listed in Table 7 and 8.
7. European Market
In the European Union the harmonisation of the European Market is done mainly by European Directives.
EC directives define the ''essential requirements'', e.g., protection of health and safety that goods must meet when they are placed on the market.
The European standards bodies have the task of drawing up the corresponding technical specifications meeting the essential requirements of the directives, compliance with which will provide a presumption of conformity with the essential requirements. Such specifications are referred to as ''harmonised standards''.
Some of these harmonised standards have a strong relation to welding, see Table 9. In the case these product standards are the basis for contracts for manufacturers it is eminently important to consider the standards of CEN/TC 121 and/or ISO/TC 44.
(Received in 10/02/2010; Final Text in 15/03/2010)
Based on paper published on Sudura 05/2009 (Romania). Reprinted by consent of Sudura. Note: This paper presents the status of normalization projects in the first haft of 2009
Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
17 May 2010 -
Date of issue
Mar 2010
