The Nadcap program is an industry managed approach to conformity assessment of special processes and products related to aerospace manufacturing such as welding and brazing.
This blog focuses on Nadcap standards that Advance Welding adheres to for aerospace welding, and aerospace brazing.
The welding processes that are specified within Nadcap that Advance Welding provides are Manual GTAW, Robotic GTAW as well as GTAW Micro-welding and Resistance Spot Welding.
Nadcap Accredited Manual GTAW Welding (TIG): Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) or Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) is a method that uses a tungsten electrode to generate an electric arc to heat the metal. A filler metal is added into the weld pool as needed to help join materials.
Advance Welding is Nadcap accredited for Fusion Welding (GTAW). Advance Welding differentiates itself from its competition by owning the latest GTAW technologies such as Miller Dynasty 700 and 800 Power Sources which give Advance Welding a competitive advantage because these devices use inverter technology. This technology improves performance, cost and energy efficiency. The inverter technology helps the welding technician be more versatile and aids in the ability to control the welding arc.
Additionally, Advance Welding invests in advanced real-time welding monitoring and quality assurance technologies.
Nadcap Accredited Robotic TIG Welding (GTAW): Advance Welding has invested over $500,000 in equipment for this method of welding. Robot welding is the use of mechanized programmable robots. Robotic welding maximizes speed, output and accuracy, particularly for large or challenging welds. Manual processes simply cannot compete with the production efficiency and accuracy of a multi-process robotic welding work cell. As technology continues to advance, market demands for quality, speed, and lower costs are increasing exponentially. Whether it’s automating manual processes or upgrading legacy robotic systems, market demands have to be met in order to remain competitive.
Nadcap Accredited GTAW Micro-welding (TIG): Advance Welding offers microscopic gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) to the aerospace & defense industries. Microscopic (Micro) welding is performed while the operator observes the welding arc through a microscope.
Nadcap Accredited Resistance Spot Welding: Resistance Spot Welding is a subset of electric resistance welding which is a process that joins metals by the heat obtained from resistance to electric current. The pieces are held together under pressure exerted by electrodes.
The process uses two shaped copper alloy electrodes to concentrate welding current into a small "spot" and to simultaneously clamp the sheets together. Forcing a large current through the spot will melt the metal and form the weld. The attractive feature of spot welding is that a lot of energy can be delivered to the spot in a very short time. That permits the welding to occur without excessive heating of the remainder of the sheet.
There are two types of common Nadcap brazing techniques used in aerospace, Torch Brazing and Induction Brazing.
Torch Brazing: This brazing technique uses a hot gas torch on or near a joint to heat the workpieces and melt the filler alloy used to fill the gap. The filler materials chosen should melt significantly below the workpieces' oxidizing temperature which protects the joint from oxidation. There are three types of torch brazing: manual, automatic, and machine.
Induction Brazing: Induction welding uses an induction coil energized with a radio wave electric current and electromagnetic induction to heat the pieces. Both an electrically conductive and ferromagnetic work piece will be acted upon by an electromagnetic field. Eddy currents are used, and resistive heating takes place.
Advance Welding offers manual Nadcap induction brazing for aerospace and defense applications, which is most commonly used on small production volumes or in applications where the part size or configuration makes other brazing methods impossible. Operator skill is required to obtain quality brazed joints.
Advance Welding also offers Nadcap induction brazing which is a process in which two or more materials are joined together by a filler metal that has a lower melting point than the base materials using induction heating. In induction heating, usually ferrous materials are heated rapidly from the electromagnetic field that is created by the alternating current from an induction coil. The benefits of using induction brazing include selective heating, better joint quality, reduced oxidation and acid cleaning, faster heating cycles, more consistent results and suitability for large volume production. Advance Welding utilizes an RF Induction Heating Power supply.
If you have any questions about Nadcap, you can review our Guide to Nadcap here. To learn about Nadcap Heat Treating visit the blog here and for more information on Nadcap NDT you can visit that blog as well here.
We're also ready to answer Nadcap certified welding and brazing questions, reach out to us in the Request a Discovery Call form up there on the right!