Welder Performance Qualification Record (WPQR)

An ASME Section IX aligned Word template for capturing a welder's performance qualification test. Covers identification, WPS reference, essential variables, coupon, parameters, test results (visual / bend / RT-UT), and range qualified.

ASME Section IX (QW-300 series) governs the performance qualification of welders. Every welder who produces production welds under ASME Section VIII, ASME B31.3, ASME B31.1, or AWS D1.1 (when ASME IX is invoked) must hold a current WPQR that demonstrates their ability to deposit sound weld metal in the variables they will see on production.

Use this template at the welder qualification booth. Record the actual values used during the test, the visual and mechanical bend test results, the range qualified, and the continuity log. The structure follows ASME IX QW-484A / QW-484B and is acceptable to most Authorized Inspectors and TPIs.

Atlantis NDT can deliver a fully digital WPQR workflow with photo capture, automatic range qualification per QW-452, and integration to the welder continuity register.

Photo capture, automatic range qualification, welder continuity register — ask for a demo.

What this page covers

  • Overview
  • Sections Included
  • Related Free Templates
  • Need a digital WPQR workflow?

Key points covered

  • Welder identification — name, ID/stamp, employer, date of birth, photo reference
  • WPS used for the test — WPS ref, supporting PQR, welding process, transfer mode, power source
  • Essential variables tested — QW-350 variables, actual values, ranges qualified
  • Test coupon — base metal spec, thickness, diameter (if pipe), joint configuration, bevel angle
  • Filler metal & welding parameters — pass-by-pass record (root / hot pass / fill / cap)
  • Test results — visual examination (QW-302.4), bend test results (QW-462), RT / UT acceptance
  • Range qualified — processes, P-No., F-No., position, diameter / thickness ranges, backing
  • Certification statement and signatures — welder, welding engineer, AI / TPI

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Reading and maintaining WPQR records

A welder qualification record is only as strong as its essential variables: process, material grouping, thickness range, position, filler classification — each with qualified ranges the production work must fall inside. The template's job is to make range-checking mechanical: record what was tested AND the ranges thereby qualified, so a stranger can verify tomorrow's joint against yesterday's test without interpreting the code from scratch. The recurring audit finding is continuity: most codes lapse a qualification after a defined period without the process being used, and companies discover this retroactively — during a client audit, against welds already made. Track continuity per welder per process as a living record, not an annual scramble.

File the supporting NDT and mechanical test reports with the WPQR itself; a qualification whose radiographs cannot be produced is one document request away from re-testing.

Where this document sits in the wider system

Templates fail as loose files and work as parts of a system: this document should cross-reference the records that feed it and the decisions it feeds, carry a revision history like any controlled document, and live where the whole team retrieves the CURRENT version — not the copy someone improved privately last year. Companies running their inspection operations on a single system of record generate most of these documents from live data rather than filling them by hand; that is the practical difference between managed records and managed paperwork. Browse all templates and resources, or ask how the generated version works.