Requirements of Brazing Qualifications(Procedure & Performance ) as per ASME SEC IX.

PROCEDURE QUALIFICATION. QB-103 Responsibility QB-103.1 Brazing. Each manufacturer1 or contractor1 is responsible for the brazing done by his organization, and shall conduct the tests required in this Section to qualify the brazing procedures he uses in the construction of the brazed assemblies built under this Code and the performance of brazers and brazing operators who apply these procedures. QB-103.2 Records. Each manufacturer or contractor shall maintain a record of the results obtained in brazing procedure and brazer or brazing operator performance qualifications. These records shall be certified by a signature or other means as described in the manufacturers or contractors Quality Control System and shall be accessible to the Authorized Inspector. Refer to recommended Forms in Nonmandatory Appendix B.

PROCEDURE QUALIFICATION 1) Prepare a preliminary BPS (Brazing procedure qualification)-Proposal. (a) Brazing Procedure Specification (BPS). A BPS is a written qualified brazing procedure prepared to provide direction for making production brazes to Code requirements. The BPS or other documents [see QB-200.1(e)]

may be used to provide direction to the brazer or brazing operator to assure compliance with the Code requirements. (b) Contents of the BPS. The completed BPS shall describe all of the essential and nonessential variables for each brazing process used in the BPS. These variables are listed in QB-250 and are defined in Article XIV, Brazing Data. The BPS shall reference the supporting Procedure Qualification Record(s) (PQR) described in QB-200.2. The manufacturer or contractor may include any other information in the BPS that may be helpful in making a Code braze 2) Submit it with all the relevant certificates such as material certificates for the base metal, filler material etc.,

3) For BPS use the format recommended by Sec ix. Format of the BPS. The information required to be in the BPS may be in any format, written or tabular, to fit the needs of each manufacturer or contractor, as long as every essential and nonessential variable outlined in QB-250 is included or referenced. Form QB-482 (see Nonmandatory Appendix B) has been provided as a guide for the BPS. It is only a guide and does not list all required data for all brazing processes. 4) braze a coupon or multiple coupons as per asme sec ix as per the proposed BPS. QB-210 PREPARATION OF TEST COUPON
(d)

QB-211 Base Metal and Filler Metal The base metals and filler metals shall be one or more of those listed in the BPS. The dimensions of the test assembly shall be sufficient to provide the required test specimens. The base metals may consist of either plate, pipe, or other product forms. Qualification in pipe also qualifies for plate brazing, but not vice versa. QB-212 Type and Dimension of Joints The test coupon shall be brazed using a type of joint design proposed in the BPS for use in construction.

5) Record all the activities(essential/non essential variables) during the brazing ie. Called pqr, for pqr also use the format recommended by sec ix. (a) Procedure Qualification Record (PQR). A PQR is a record of the brazing data used to braze a test coupon. The PQR is a record of variables recorded during the brazing of the test coupons. It also contains the test results of the tested specimens. Recorded variables normally fall within a small range of the actual variables that will be used in production brazing. (b) Contents of the PQR. The completed PQR shall document all essential variables of QB-250 for each brazing process used during the brazing of the test coupon. Nonessential or other variables used during the brazing of the test coupon may be recorded at the manufacturers or contractors option. All variables, if recorded, shall be the actual variables (including ranges) used during the brazing of the test coupon. If variables are not monitored during brazing, they shall not be recorded. It is not intended that

the full range or the extreme of a given range of variables to be used in production be used during qualification unless required due to a specific essential variable. The PQR shall be certified accurate by the manufacturer or contractor. The manufacturer or contractor may not subcontract the certification function. This certification is intended to be the manufacturers or contractors verification that the information in the PQR is a true record of the variables that were used during the brazing of the test coupon and that the resulting tensile, bend, peel, or section (as required) test results are in compliance with Section IX. (d) Format of the PQR. Form QB-483 (see Nonmandatory Appendix B) has been provided as a guide for the PQR. The information required to be in the PQR may be in any format, to fit the needs of each manufacturer or contractor, as long as every essential variable, required by QB-250, is included. Also the type of tests, number of tests, and test results shall be listed in the PQR. Additional sketches or information may be attached or referenced to record the required variables.

6) Test the coupon/coupons as per asme sec ix. QB-202 Type of Tests Required QB-202.1 Tests. The type and number of test specimens which shall be tested to qualify a brazing procedure are given in QB-451, and shall be removed in a manner similar to that shown in QB-463. If any test specimen required by QB-451 fails to meet the applicable acceptance criteria, the test coupon shall be considered as failed.

7) Brazing variables,

QB-250 BRAZING VARIABLES QB-251 General QB-251.1 Types of Variables for Brazing Procedure Specification (BPS). Brazing variables (listed for each brazing process in tables QB-252 through QB-257) are subdivided into essential and nonessential variables (QB-401). QB-251.2 Essential Variables. Essential variables are those in which a change, as described in the specific variables, is considered to affect the mechanical properties of the brazement, and shall require requalification of the BPS. QB-251.3 Nonessential Variables. Nonessential variables are those in which a change, as described in the specific variables, may be made in the BPS without requalification. See QB-252( attached) for torch brazing variables.

PERFORMANCE QUALIFICATION 1) QB-301 Tests QB-301.1 Intent of Tests. The performance qualification tests are intended to determine the ability of brazers and brazing operators to make sound braze joints. 2) QB-301.2 Qualification Tests. Each manufacturer or contractor shall qualify each brazer or brazing operator for each brazing process to be used in production brazing. The performance qualification test shall be brazed in accordance with one of any of his qualified Brazing Procedure Specifications (BPS). The brazer or brazing operator who prepares the BPS qualification test coupons is also qualified within the limits of the performance qualifications, listed in QB-304 for brazers and in QB-305 for brazing operators. He is qualified only for the positions tested in the procedure qualification in accordance with QB-407. The performance test may be terminated at any stage of the testing procedure, whenever it becomes apparent to the supervisor conducting the tests that the brazer or brazing operator does not have the required skill to produce satisfactory results. 3) QB-301.3 Identification of Brazers and Brazing Operators. Each qualified brazer and brazing operator shall be assigned an identifying number, letter, or symbol by the manufacturer or contractor, which shall be used to identify the work of that brazer or brazing operator.

4) QB-301.4 Record of Tests. The record of Brazer or Brazing Operator Performance Qualification (BPQ) tests shall include the essential variables (QB-350), the type of tests and the test results, and the ranges qualified in accordance with QB-452 for each brazer and brazing operator. A suggested form for these records is given in Form QB-484 (see Nonmandatory Appendix B). 4) QB-302 Type of Test Required QB-302.1 Test Specimens. The type and number of test specimens required shall be in accordance with QB-452, and shall be removed in a manner similar to that shown in QB-463. All test specimens shall meet the requirements prescribed in QB-170 or QB-180, as applicable. Tests for brazing operators shall meet the requirements of QB-305. QB-302.2 Test Coupons in Pipe. For test coupons made in pipe, specimens shall be removed as shown in figure QB-463.2(c) at approximately 180 deg apart. QB-302.3 Combination of Base Metal Thicknesses. When joints are brazed between two base metals of different thicknesses, a performance qualification shall be made for the applicable combination of thicknesses, even though qualification tests have been made for each of the individual base metals brazed to itself. The range of thickness of each of the base metals shall be determined individually per QB-452. 5) QB-304 Brazers Each brazer who brazes under the rules of this Code shall have passed the tests prescribed in QB-302 for performance qualifications. 6) QB-310 QUALIFICATION TEST COUPONS

QB-310.1 Test Coupons. The test coupons may be plate, pipe, or other product forms. The dimensions of the test coupon and length of braze shall be sufficient to provide the required test specimens. QB-310.2 Braze Joint. The dimensions of the braze joint at the test coupon used in making qualification tests shall be the same as those in the Brazing Procedure Specification (BPS). QB-310.3 Base Metals. When a brazer or brazing operator is to be qualified, the test coupon shall be base metal of the P-Number or P-Numbers to be joined in production brazing. 7) QB-351.1 Essential Variables Manual, Semiautomatic, and Machine Brazing (a) QB-402 Base Metal (1) QB-402.2 (2) QB-402.3 (b) QB-403 Brazing Filler Metal (1) QB-403.1 (2) QB-403.2 (c) QB-407 Flow Position (1) QB-407.1 (d) QB-408 Joint Design (1) QB-408.1 (2) QB-408.3 (e) QB-410 Technique (1) QB-410.5