Focus on Courses

Heat Treatment Practitioner

Heat Treatment Practitioner performing local heat treatment of welded fabrications on site, or in a workshop, using resistance heating, will benefit from this course. The course is also suitable for maintenance personnel who are responsible for supervising heat treatment operations. Candidates who preferably have a Grade 12 qualification as well as experience in engineering and/or metal working is recommended.

COURSE CONTENT:

Theory:
Basic metallurgy; heat treatment definitions; welding processes; welding effects on materials – why is heat treatment necessary?; heat treatment cycles, heating and cooling rates, soaking
temperatures, soaking times; code and material specification requirements for welding; preheat, post-weld heat treatment, normalising, annealing, hydrogen removal; methods of heat
treatment; equipment.

Practical:
Determining pre- and post-weld heat treatment requirements to codes and standards; determining heating and insulation band widths; determining heating configurations on nozzles; setting up equipment for weld heat treatments – thermocouples, heaters, insulation; operating heat treatment equipment.

5-Day Engineers – Appreciation of Welding

In many companies a mechanical or electrical engineer, engineering superintendent or engineering supervisor is given the responsibility of managing ‘the welding department’. Often this engineer will have absolutely no welding background and almost certainly his/her university or college study programme will have included no training in welding technology. If the engineer is lucky he/she may be assisted by an experienced welder or even a welding supervisor but this is not enough to accept the responsibilities assigned to his/her job.

For these reasons the 5-Day Appreciation course is one of the Institute’s oldest courses and one of its most successful. The course was first developed in the early 1980s when it was derived
from an in-company training course. It has been continuously updated to ensure industry relevance. Many engineers from all types of large companies and parastatals have attended the course as part of their professional development. It is, however, an extremely important course for engineers working in smaller companies where there is very little in-house back-up for the engineer who has to be a ‘ jack-of-all-trades’.

The course introduces engineers to the complexities of welding, informing them of what can go wrong and the consequences of a failure including economic disaster. It covers the common welding processes and their applications. It describes the effect of welding on materials and welding defects and their causes. It looks at cost issues, the need for qualified welding procedures and how to go about specifying them. Importantly engineers are encouraged to bring their welding experiences and problems to the course for sharing with the class in discussion. The case history discussion period is held at the end of the course and is often one of the most helpful parts of the course for the engineer. It’s very much about helping the engineer to know and be aware of when he/she needs to bring in specialist help.

The 5-Day Appreciation course can be held in-company and anyone interested in running the course should call Shelton Zichawo on 011 298 2100.