Howard Lister (L) thanks Barry for his excellent presentation.
The April Technology Evening of the Durban branch was held on 3 April at the Durban Country Club, where Barry Mercer of Fluor gave an informative and well-structured introductory talk titled ‘Welding metallurgy for instrumentation and control systems’.
Durban branch chairman, Howard Lister, gave a brief summary of the Durban Branch plans and activities for 2013 before introducing the guest speaker.
Barry is a materials and welding engineer for Fluor SA with 35 years experience in the welding industry and is extremely knowledgeable on the subject of materials and welding for high pressure systems. He reminded those present that instrumentation and control systems usually see the same service conditions as the equipment they are serving and therefore they are also subject to the many damage mechanisms as the equipment that they are monitoring and controlling. He provided an overview of some of the potential failure mechanisms that apply to pressurised equipment and to which the associated instrumentation is exposed, and emphasised the criticality of ensuring that the correct materials and procedures are employed at all times; not just for the pressure vessels but also for instrumentation components that are exposed to the same process media.
Unfortunately the meeting was very poorly attended. Many apologies were received from members who were unable to be present because of work commitments, but it was most disappointing to have such a well presented talk so poorly attended. We urge our members to participate in these informative evenings because of the educational value of the presentations plus the informal exchange of knowledge and opinions that always occurs afterwards.
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