Weld build-up by 3D-printing

Due to a corrosion damage of a compressor housing flange Effee was urgently called to perform a repair offshore on a platform on the Norwegian continental shelf. Four machined flanges was heavily corroded, up to 11mm into the carbon steel (ASTM A350 LF2 material) compressor body, and the client wanted to have the damages repaired by weld build-up. The repair was to be performed on a live platform, i.e. welding in habitat was required.

Effee personnel was offshore 3 days after being requested.

The welding required temper beads for annealing of the compressor base material together with 180°C preheating during welding to ensure satisfactory material properties after welding as PWHT was not allowed on the live platform. The temper bead welding and tolerances was thoroughly tested and material properties verified in our in-house materials laboratory.  

The repair was done by using software programmed weld paths, i.e. actually in-field 3D print or Additive Manufacturing. This was because the corroded areas was flange faces which has a difficult geometry to weld with bolt holes and gasket groves, which means a manually programmed robot weld would be more complex and time consuming.

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