High Speed Rotating Arc Welding Process

1. High Speed Rotating Arc Welding Process March 12-14, 2019 Charleston, SC DCN# 43-5022-19 Prepared under ONR Contract N000 14-16-D-4001 as part of the Navy ManTech Program DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

2. Acknowledgements • Project funding provided by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Navy ManTech Program • Navy ManTech program oversight provided by • Neil Graf – ONR Program Officer • Warren Southerland – Center for Naval Metalworking Project Manager • Tim Wallace – Project Technical Representative • Additional technical support provided by • WeldRevolution • Abicor Binzel DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

3. Project Team Neil Graf – Program Officer Dale Orren – Deputy Director Paul Blomquist – Technical Director Warren Southerland – Project Manager Tim Wallace – PTR Joe Blackburn – TWH John McGrorey – TWH Jeff Farren – NSWCCD TA Kevin Mendala – NSWCCD TA Steve Fuqua PMS 397 Larry Becker – BAH Charles McNamara PMS 450 Dave Hart – LCE Todd Hellman PMS 400 David Clark – CSRA Nick Evans – Technical Lead Rob McKay – Welding Supervisor Orlando “OJ” Jaramillo – Project Manager Ken Brill – ManTech Program Manager Nancy Porter – Senior Project Manager / Welding Engineer Steve Manring – Welding Engineer Steve Blevins – Project Manager / Welding Engineer Bill Tomich – Welding Engineer Kevin O’Donnell – Technical Lead Alex Lark – Groton Welding Engineer Dave Eubank – Project Manager John Iraci – ManTech Program Manager DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

4. Agenda • Background • Benefits • Objectives • Results • Next Steps DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

5. Background • Current Navy-approved GMAW processes for welding panels require significant effort to prepare plate joints for welding, such as beveling the plate edges to create a single or double V-groove to ensure 100% weld penetration • High speed rotating arc welding (a.k.a., WeldRevolution’s SpinArc) is a GMAW process variant that as been proven in many non-Navy applications to be an effective means of dramatically reducing the time and effort required to weld thick-plate, which could be used in Navy ship construction DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

6. Background (cont’d) • SpinArc is a GMAW process variant with a rotating contact tip that “spins” the filler wire while welding, allowing the arc to dig into side walls of the weld joint • The centrifugal force propels molten metal spray creating consistent weld beads and eliminating the need for bead contouring Images courtesy of WeldRevolution DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

7. Background (cont’d) • Adjustable spin diameter, speed, and direction allow for optimization of welds for specific use cases and can easily be combined with existing approved methods of spray/pulse welding • Instead of a “traditional V-groove”, SpinArc enables the use of a “narrow groove” (or reduced angle groove) that requires far less welding wire and “arc-on” time • SpinArc is not currently approved for use on Navy surface ships and submarines • SpinArc requires tailoring to specific Navy applications • Technology Readiness Level 7/8 Images courtesy of WeldRevolution DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

8. Benefits • By using a “reduced angle groove” vs a “traditional V-groove” weld joint preparation the shipyards expect to be able to • Reduce bevel machining costs by using reduced bevel sizes • Reduce weld distortion due to fewer weld passes • Reduce the use of temporary welded attachment (i.e. strong backs) and their associated removal and cleanup costs • Strong backs are used to prevent angular distortion with conventional weld joint designs DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

9. Benefits • Time studies will be performed to compare productivity of baseline mechanized GMAW welding process with the SpinArc welding process on the same materials and thicknesses DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

10. Objective • General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (Bath) and Electric Boat want to determine the advantages of SpinArc welding for Navy surface ship and submarine applications, respectively • Since SpinArc is not Navy-approved, Bath and Electric Boat need to • Determine the feasibility of SpinArc welding surface ship and submarine specific weld joints • Conduct shipyard testing to determine the viability of SpinArc in the shipyard environment • Current weld joint designs will be compared to the weld joint designs that SpinArc enables (i.e., traditional V-groove vs. reduced angle groove joints) DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

11. Technical Approach DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

12. Technical Approach • The team will iteratively narrow the selection of candidate welds, beginning with a relatively wide range of material types, thicknesses, joint types, and welding positions (flat, vertical, and horizontal) • Most promising welds from the initial set of candidate welds will be tested in the lab at EWI • Ultimately a final subset of candidate welds will be down-selected for testing at both shipyards to determine implementation viability DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

13. Status DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

14. Results • Task 1 – Project Initiation • Project kicked off • Task 2 – Identify Candidate Applications • Bath and Electric Boat identified the joints that they are interested in using SpinArc to determine if improvements can be realized • Task 3 – Create Technical Acceptance Test Plans • Test plans were created for both shipyards to determine if SpinArc welding can pass NAVSEA Technical Publication 248 (Tech Pub 248) welding procedure qualification DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

15. Results • Task 4 – Develop SpinArc Parameters for Candidate Weld Joints • Initial sets of parameters for Bath were determined and passed limited qualification testing in Tech Pub 248 • Parameters for Electric Boat are still being developed • Task 5 – Execute Technical Acceptance Testing • Started testing to determine if the parameters developed in Task 4 can pass full qualification testing in Tech Pub 248 • This task compares the baseline welding process vs SpinArc process DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

16. Example Joint Design vs SpinArc Joint Design (1G Position) Red Lines Signify Approximate Included Bevel Angle Baseline Joint Design Requires 13 Weld Passes SpinArc Joint Design Required 4 Weld Passes Not To Scale DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

17. Example Joint Design to SpinArc Joint Design (2G Position) Red Lines Signify Approximate Included Bevel Angle SpinArc Joint Design Required 2 Weld Passes Baseline Joint Design Requires 4-6 Weld Passes Not To Scale DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

18. Next Steps • For Bath: • Complete baseline process welding vs SpinArc weld quality comparison testing • For Electric Boat: • Finish parameter development • Begin baseline process welding vs SpinArc weld quality comparison testing DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

19. Questions? DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.