Modernization of Welding in Shipbuilding

Abstract

Unlike other structures, ship's hull has a very large dimension, and its construction is complicated. Therefore, it has been widely noticed to be difficult to promote automatic welding in the domain of shipbuilding. It would be evident that this can not be solved only by increasing labor equipment ratio, in view of the fact that the ratio of application of the highly modernized process, so called "line welding process" as seen in Swedish shipyards, for example, over the total amount of welding is within the range of only 10% in arc time. The authors succeeded in promoting automatic welding by applying various specialized welding techniques, such as one pass full penetration welding, automatic welding of curved shell plates or electroslag welding of both ordinary and consumable nozzle types, as well as by improving the process and quality controls, to all stages of shipbuilding.