Titanium Donation for Pennsylvania College of Technology, Fabrication of Alloys Class

We were happy to support the welding program of Pennsylvania College of Technology. They sent us a letter of appreciation that also tells a bit about their welding program and how important material donations are to their education.

PCT PTG Donation 1 welding in a box

When Penn College reached out to Jenna Aviano, President of Performance Titanium Group, about helping to support the welding program with a material donation, there was no hesitation with the response. It is because of the generosity of industry leaders like PTG that enables our program to provide an experience for our students that they could not receive anywhere else.

The welding program at Penn College in Williamsport PA (www.pct.edu/welding) follows the college’s tradition of providing hands on education with industrial quality equipment. We have recently expanded our welding education facility with a large addition to bring the welding laboratory space to 55,000 sqft. This enables us to use an expanded inventory of industrial quality equipment with our approx. 350 welding students. Our titanium welding capability has been enhanced with a classroom dedicated to alloy welding and the purchase of two additional purge chambers. The first purge chamber is inflatable ( approx. 30 inch diameter by 20 inches tall ) with one pair of access gloves and the second purge chamber is stainless steel ( approx. 62 inches long x 24 inches deep x 30 inches tall ) with two pairs of access gloves.

Our Bachelor of Science degree “Welding and Fabrication Engineering Technology” (BWE) includes four semesters of hands-on welding and four semesters of engineering related classes. In the seventh semester our students are required to complete a class entitled “Fabrication of Alloys.” During the sixteen weeks (eighty hours) we explore the “why behind the how” of successfully welding a variety of metals.

We start with carbon steels, we add chromium with stainless steels, then move to titanium, and finally aluminum. Successfully welding titanium requires attention to detail; when cleaning, handling, setup of the purge chamber and then welding. Our titanium lab requires the students to measure the effect of improper cleaning and shielding on the final mechanical properties of the weldment.

Performance Titanium Group has again supported this class with their recent donation of titanium sheet. Their donations have been very useful in helping students understand the cleaning, handling, purging and welding techniques needed to make aesthetically pleasing and mechanically sound welds.

Penn College’s Youtube channel (www.youtube.com/penncollege) has several videos of the expanded welding laboratory and other student welding activities. Search the channel for “welding” or go to the welding playlist directly (www.bit.ly/pct-welding-playlist).

Thank you very much,

Pennsylvania College of Technology
Fabrication of Alloys Instructor Team
James Tanner, Welding Instructor
Hao Guo, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Ryan Good, Assistant Professor

PCT PTG Donation 2 welding in inflatable purge chamber

Student Comments Regarding the Donation:

Student #1 – “I always appreciate donations to our program, especially for materials such as titanium, which I know can be expensive.  Since my experience has only really been on steels, stainless steels, and aluminum I had never had the opportunity to weld on titanium.  I always like having the opportunity to practice welding on exotic materials so I can do things which most welding students may never experience.  I look forward to working with these donated materials and learning about the differences from the normal materials covered in our other classes.  Thank you again for donating these materials they will not go to waste.”

Student #2 – “The donation of titanium is truly beneficial for students in the welding program. The donation of titanium adds a whole new spectrum of learning to our welding program. It allows us to go from a learning classroom environment to a hands-on learning environment, where we can apply what we have learned. The knowledge we have gained by this donation will benefit us when we enter the workforce.”

Student #3 – “This donation of the titanium gives the students in our class the opportunity to work with and learn about this very interesting material. Since titanium needs to be in such a controlled environment to achieve proper welding, we have not had many opportunities to work with it. However, thanks to the generous donation we have had the opportunity to weld titanium for the first time. We performed a lab to determine if titanium welded with proper coloration would still be brittle and to see the effects the different levels of cleaning and shielding can have on the weld.”

Student #4 – “We are very grateful that companies are willing to donate expensive materials for use in our education, which relies heavily on hands-on learning. To become respectable and capable welding engineers we must have a wide range of experience in welding many types of metal. Titanium is a very sensitive material to weld, in that its oxide layer readily dissolves into the molten weld pool. This causes the weld to become very brittle and susceptible to failure. Titanium gives no visible indications if the weld metal has been compromised by the dissolution of oxides into the weld metal. By having titanium available to weld, we can see firsthand what is necessary to make a satisfactory titanium weld.”

Student #5 – “We want to thank the Performance Titanium Group for their donation of titanium materials. As future fabricators and welders, the opportunity to utilize this material is crucial, because titanium is becoming more commonplace in industry. The benefits of having a knowledge of titanium will aid in identifying areas where titanium may be a benefit in industry. This knowledge will help us weld it successfully and understand where problems will occur.”

PCT PTG Donation 1 welding in a box

PERFORMANCE TITANIUM GROUP: A CUT ABOVE THE REST