Welding consumables for the LNG Industry - Because Böhler Welding cares

Pierre Gérard, Vice President Global Industry Key Account Management, joined voestalpine Böhler Welding in 2013 and is in charge of our global industry key accounts team, answering all technical questions of customers in various industries. Today he’ll talk us through some challenges within the LNG industry and how voestalpine Böhler Welding prepares for the change in LNG.

We are involved into the construction of LNG terminals and LNG carriers since the beginning of the technology. Important development have been done within the welding consumables section in order to both increase welding productivity and at the same time meet more stringent requirements on welding properties of weld metal.

This means being innovative and close to engineering companies in order to understand new requirements of the market. We work closely with our sister companies within the voestalpine group in order to support our customers with holistic packages.

In the construction of a LNG tank, there are mainly two welding positions involved.

»        The 2G position using SAW process and

»        the 3G up position using SMAW or FCAW.

Challenges are in reaching the designed mechanical properties of the weld metal and at the same time improving the welding productivity of these welding operations.

There are many challenges when constructing a LNG tank. That’s why we offer our customers technical on-site support so that we can aid them immediately if something occurs. Welding with submerged arc process in 2G position for the horizontal joints of the rings can be quite testing. For example, the position of the welding torch, the welding parameters, the recycling of the welding flux… if one of these is not perfectly controlled, defects can occur. Welding with stick electrode or flux-cored wire in 3G up position can also be a challenge.

As for the submerged arc process, the support of our company is very often required to optimize the welding operations and to pass all NDT being mandatory and part of the quality system of our customers.

I believe that we will see in the future new plate material coming, allowing LNG tanks and carriers to be flexible on the cryogenic liquid to be transported or stored. voestalpine Böhler Welding is following very closely this trend and is working on the development of welding consumables and procedures to meet future technical requirements.