TWI, since its early beginnings as the British Welding Research Association in 1946, has been at the forefront of arc welding development. It developed CO 2 shielding for MIG/MAG making the process viable for welding carbon steel. It built the first solid-state power sources, paving the way for thyristor and inverter technology.
More recently, work has concentrated on high productivity welding, seeking higher welding speed, cost reduction and increased productivity. Automation and robotics also feature strongly in its work with many aspects of mechanisation and remote
welding, such as seam tracking and sensing being studied. A fully flexible manufacturing system with an autonomous robot has been developed in a collaborative programme.
TWI is noted for its work on welding fume and hazards. It contributes expert advise to several national and international standards committees such as BSEN 14717. The Arc Welding Department specialises in methods of control of fume generation by appropriate selection of process and procedure.
Also of great interest is the control of distortion. A number of Low Stress/No Distortion (LSND) techniques have been evaluated and developed at TWI
