Extent of the Weld Joint Reject of ASME B31.3
Extent of the Weld Joint Reject of ASME B31.3
(OP)
Hi All,
I have an inqury regarding the weld reject for the process piping during the fabricaton.
Is there any requirement in the ASME B31.3 where if one (1) joint gone through the NDE (RT) has been rejected, another two (2) additional joints shall be selected which is consider a penalty for the rejected joints.
This is the case if the process line only required random NDE.
Appreciate your feedback
I have an inqury regarding the weld reject for the process piping during the fabricaton.
Is there any requirement in the ASME B31.3 where if one (1) joint gone through the NDE (RT) has been rejected, another two (2) additional joints shall be selected which is consider a penalty for the rejected joints.
This is the case if the process line only required random NDE.
Appreciate your feedback





RE: Extent of the Weld Joint Reject of ASME B31.3
RE: Extent of the Weld Joint Reject of ASME B31.3
RE: Extent of the Weld Joint Reject of ASME B31.3
RE: Extent of the Weld Joint Reject of ASME B31.3
RE: Extent of the Weld Joint Reject of ASME B31.3
RE: Extent of the Weld Joint Reject of ASME B31.3
RE: Extent of the Weld Joint Reject of ASME B31.3
RE: Extent of the Weld Joint Reject of ASME B31.3
Just to share, common practices during my involvement of upstream project for the 100% RT apply to the process/critical line usually define by the engineering guys, however for the random@5% RT only for the utilities etc and most of the rejected weldment were from the random@5% because they put the least skilled welders to save a cost eventhough it is not save after repair.
RE: Extent of the Weld Joint Reject of ASME B31.3
Some managers never learn! Until they cease being managers.
RE: Extent of the Weld Joint Reject of ASME B31.3
In this case the pain is the cost of removing the rejected welds, rewelding, and reinspecting the completed welds.
Best regards - Al
RE: Extent of the Weld Joint Reject of ASME B31.3
To a good welder, ANY random RT serves to motivate them to do better work for fear of failing RT. To a bad welder, 100% RT alone won't make them into a good one. And RT, like any examination method, isn't foolproof- it can miss things and can also generate false positives. You still need to do all the VT and other supervision, training, procedure and welder qualification etc. in an attempt to eliminate the flaws before they're produced rather than trying to find them after the fact.
RE: Extent of the Weld Joint Reject of ASME B31.3
I've seen 'all of the above'. Had a 'mom & pop' mechanical company come to a refinery to install some pipe. They had so many rejects from every one of their welders that the job went to 100% RT, but in 'fits and jerks'. If the job had started out as 100% RT, it could've been done efficiently. Since the extra testing was being forced by the bad welds being found, the RT crew was shooting a couple and them processing the film. Then the rejects they found would force more RT the next day; again and again. Company went broke.
Seen a BUNCH of spurious RT rejects for Lack-of-Fusion, being called on good welders working on carbon steel or austenitic steel, welding 'stick' SMAW or 'tig' GTAW. When the 'defect' was being excavated, nothing could be found. Many, many times. Because LoF is such a major defect to leave in a pipe or vessel, the guy reading the film will stare at it until he thinks he sees something. Problem is, RT film is a collection of shadows; when you stare into shadows long enough, you will see whatever you are expecting to see. Ask any hunter or soldier.
So, if your project starts getting LoF rejects on easy-to-weld c/s or s/s, on welds made with stick or tig by your good welders, throw the "B.S." flag. Call in UT-shearwave [or phased array] to recheck the RT reject. RT is terrible at finding sidewall LoF, shearwave or phased array cannot miss it. Don't start cutting welds that may be good, recheck with an NDT method that works much better for LoF. And if you can't see the defect on the film, it probably is spurious. Reading film is not magic.
RE: Extent of the Weld Joint Reject of ASME B31.3
If I was limited to one test method, I would opt for UT.
Best regards - Al