Services
Solving Your Metallurgical Problems
My journey into the welding world happened prior to my engineering career. I spent several years working in small fabrication shops welding on a large variety of projects with a variety of processes; never becoming great at any of them, but developing a broad familiarity and appreciation. This led to my desire to learn more about the science of welding and metallurgy.
I always look forward to welding projects that require some calculations ahead of time to determine the best path forward. Projects involving materials with less desirable weldability are my specialization.
Here are some solutions that I offer:
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Welding Guidelines: A welding procedure specification (WPS) is usually what people refer to when looking for guidance on welding, however, I find a WPS is often too general and vague to be of much use. A welding guideline is often useful for a repair weld that may require closer attention to temperature and heat input. Included in the guideline are details on joint preparation, preheat, a narrow welding parameter range, consideration for post weld heat treatment (PWHT), and non-destructive examination (NDE) after welding. I get a lot of satisfaction writing welding guidelines as they are useful for both the maintenance engineer and welder to read and they usually ACTUALLY GET READ, rather than filed. Depending on the application, they might take the place of a formally qualified WPS or they might work in conjunction with a WPS. These are often used with high hardenability materials like chromoly or materials sensitive to over tempering.
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In-Service Welding: Welding on in-service pipelines requires consideration of burn-through, if the temperature is too high, and excessive hardness, if the temperature is too low. The codes governing in-service welds, CSA Z662 and API 1104, have several cautions and considerations that are important to the integrity of the weld, but the code doesn't provide guidance on how to assess the risks. For a paper I wrote discussing these considerations, see PPIM's 2025 conference papers (contact me if you don't have access to the paper and would like to read it).
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CWB Division 2: I am an approved welding engineer for your fabrication shop's certification to the CWB Division 2 requirements. I know this can be a confusing process for new shops seeking certification and I am happy to help you through the process.
Need to know why something failed? Our Calgary laboratory can determine the failure mechanism, from cracks to corrosion. This may establish whether the failure was related to a manufacturing defect or incorrect application by the end-user. We provide an unbiased opinion based on the facts we can observe in the lab. While our Calgary lab focuses on metallurgical parts, Stress Engineering Services also has a polymer lab. Send us a note with a photo, preferably, and we can discuss the analysis process.
We recognize that you are the expert regarding your part's design and application, so we rely on you to provide that background information. With that established, we observe the identifiers that tell us about:
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What kind of crack is present
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What corrosion products are present
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What the material's microstructure is
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What the material's mechanical properties are
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What loading would cause the observed damage
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What part geometry could affect cracking or corrosion
Failure analyses can take unanticipated twists as the investigation proceeds. We strive to establish a process for dealing with surprises that keeps you informed and prepared for changes to the scope. We understand that everyone's needs differ regarding the depth of the investigation, so we are flexible — from a quick email response after making a cross-sectional cut through a crack to a full report prepared for a legal case. Let us know what you need, and we will inform you about the of analysis that your needs require.
Stress Engineering Services has extensive testing capabilities. If you are ever in Houston or Waller, Texas, and would like to see our facilities, let me know and I will find someone to give you a tour.
At our Calgary lab, we have the capability to perform traditional mechanical testing like tensiles and hardness, but this is not the best use of our services, unless you have a critical test that requires an engineer's oversight. Our services include:
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Strain Gauging: Strain gauges can be used in all kinds of creative ways, often for verifying designs or determining strain/stresses at particular locations of a part. Short term, long term, indoor, outdoor, remote, etc.
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Acoustic Emission Testing: Acoustic emission testing is typically used on tanks and vessels to identify the presence of an active crack. The requirement for using AE is that a stress must be placed on the part, to listen for the sounds of an active crack; this stress may be by pressurizing a vessel or filling a tank to a higher level. It is important to realize that AE does not provide any sizing of cracks, nor does it hear benign cracks. What it does do is locate active cracks and provides a global examination with minimal to no intrusion of the tank/vessel. There are other creative applications for AE; feel free to ask about an application.
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Load Testing: We have a number of load cells and the capability to create unique ones through our strain gauge knowledge. Let us know what you have in mind and we can figure something out.