High-end offshore welding wire ushered in the dual challenges and growth opportunities of certification and performance

The implementation of the strategy of a maritime power and the continuous development of offshore wind power and offshore oil and gas resources by the global energy transformation have led the offshore engineering equipment manufacturing and shipbuilding industry to enter a new boom cycle.This field is one of the most densely applied and demanding fields of welding technology, which has directly driven the demand for high-end offshore welding wires.The first thing that offshore welding wire faces is an extremely complex certification system.Products must obtain type approval certificates from a number of mainstream international classification societies (such as DNV GL, ABS, LR, CCS, etc.), and the scope of certification must cover a full range of materials from ordinary strength to ultra-high strength (such as EH40, EH550), from carbon steel to low temperature steel, stainless steel, nickel-based alloys, which constitute extremely high barriers to entry.

In terms of performance, offshore welding wire needs to meet the extreme challenges of extreme environments.The thick-plate high-strength steel welding wire used for welding platform pipe frames and wind power single piles must ensure that the welds still have excellent crack resistance and impact toughness at -40℃ or even lower, in order to resist the harsh conditions in the cold waters of the North Sea and the Arctic.For welding corrosion-resistant material welding wires for seawater pipelines and ballast tanks, it is necessary to ensure that the welding joints are in a long-term soaking and high salt spray environment, and their resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion matches the base material, or even better.In addition, the requirements of deep-sea equipment for the fatigue performance and anti-cracking performance of welded joints have also reached the extreme.

Therefore, the offshore welding wire market is a typical “dual-driven technology and qualification” market.Suppliers not only need strong R&D capabilities to overcome material and process problems, but also need long-term investment to establish and maintain a complete classification society certification “passport”.At present, as domestic shipbuilding and offshore companies undertake a large number of high-end orders, the replacement demand for domestic high-end offshore welding wire is becoming more and more urgent.This provides a historic opportunity for domestic welding material companies with strong technical accumulation and certification first-mover advantages to break the long-term monopoly of foreign brands in the field of ultra-high-strength and special material welding wires and realize independent guarantees.