Heat-Resistant Weld Backing Tape For Double-Sided Welding Of Grooved Joint Preparations

A double-sided arc welding assembly configured as a grooved joint preparation, comprising:

• first and second workpiece structures to be welded together, the first and second workpiece structures being arranged to form a workpiece configured as a grooved joint preparation;
• the workpiece having a front side on which welding is to be performed and a rear side opposite from the front side;
• the grooved joint preparation being defined by a front-side groove formed in the front surface of the workpiece and a back-side groove formed in the rear surface of the workpiece, each groove having a common apex defined at a welding root gap, each groove further having a pair of sidewalls extending from the apex to respective front and rear surfaces of the workpiece;
• a heat-resistant weld backing tape disposed in the back-side groove of the workpiece;
• the heat-resistant weld backing tape comprising:
• a flexible tape substrate;
• the tape substrate having a longitudinal length that extends between first and second tape substrate ends;
• the tape substrate having a lateral width that extends between first and second tape substrate side edges;
• the tape substrate having a substantially planar first face and a substantially planar second face, each tape substrate face being bounded in a longitudinal direction by the first and second tape substrate ends and in a lateral direction by the first and second tape substrate side edges;
• the first and second tape substrate faces being mutually parallel and spaced from each other by a tape substrate thickness;
• the tape substrate length and the tape substrate width being substantially larger than the tape substrate thickness;
• a heat-resistant material supported by the first tape substrate face at a location that is substantially centered between the first and second tape substrate side edges;
• an adhesive material supported by the first tape substrate face on each side of the heat-resistant material;
• the weld backing tape being bendable into a folded shape with the heat resistant material on a convex side thereof for seating in the back-side groove of the grooved joint preparation, with an apex of the heat-resistant material substantially packing an apex of the back side groove to block weld pool material introduced into the front-side groove of the grooved joint preparation during arc welding;
• and
• the heat-resistant material having a maximum width selected to leave a portion of each side wall of the back-side groove exposed for engagement by the adhesive material to retain the heat-resistant material in position in the back side groove during welding.

A double-sided arc welding method for a grooved joint preparation, comprising:

• providing first and second workpiece structures to be welded together, the first and second workpiece structures being arranged to form a workpiece configured as a grooved joint preparation;
• the workpiece having a front side on which welding is to be performed and a rear side opposite from the front side;
• the grooved joint preparation being defined by a front-side groove formed in the front surface of the workpiece and a back-side groove formed in the rear surface of the workpiece, each groove having a common apex defined at a welding root gap, each groove further having a pair of sidewalls extending from the apex to respective front and rear surfaces of the workpiece;
• installing a heat-resistant weld backing tape in the back-side groove of the workpiece;
• the heat-resistant weld backing tape comprising:
• a flexible tape substrate;
• the tape substrate having a longitudinal length that extends between first and second tape substrate ends;
• the tape substrate having a lateral width that extends between first and second tape substrate side edges;
• the tape substrate having a substantially planar first face and a substantially planar second face, each tape substrate face being bounded in a longitudinal direction by the first and second tape substrate ends and in a lateral direction by the first and second tape substrate side edges;
• the first and second tape substrate faces being mutually parallel and spaced from each other by a tape substrate thickness;
• the tape substrate length and the tape substrate width being substantially larger than the tape substrate thickness;
• a heat-resistant material supported by the first tape substrate face at a location that is substantially centered between the first and second tape substrate side edges;
• an adhesive material supported by the first tape substrate face on each side of the heat-resistant material;
• the weld backing tape being bendable into a folded shape with the heat resistant material on a convex side thereof for seating in the back-side groove of the grooved joint preparation, with an apex of the heat-resistant material substantially packing an apex of the back side groove to block weld pool material introduced into the front-side groove of the grooved joint preparation during arc welding;
• and
• the heat-resistant material having a maximum width selected to leave a portion of each side wall of the back-side groove exposed for engagement by the adhesive material to retain the heat-resistant material in position in the back side groove during welding.
• welding the first and second workpiece structures together in the front-side groove of the workpiece;
• and
• completely removing the backing member from the back-side groove of the workpiece without the need for back gouging by peeling it away from the back-side groove sidewalls.