AIST Steel Intern Scholarship
Dominic L. Piccone
This past summer I had the opportunity to intern at Lincoln Electric Automation in Fort Collins, Colo., USA. Lincoln Electric Automation is a manufacturing and welding company that focuses on welding automation solutions for different manufacturing challenges. Interning at Lincoln Electric was an incredibly valuable experience and provided me the opportunity to get meaningful engineering experience at an innovative and impactful company. My internship began on the assembly floor where I learned how different automation systems are assembled and learned to interpret different engineering drawings, electrical schematics and CAD models. My time on the assembly floor provided me with a valuable perspective on engineering design and communication, lending me the ability to design engineering solutions with assembly and operation in mind. After my time on the assembly floor, I transferred into a welding engineering position where I worked on a hot wire laser cladding system. This system utilized laser cladding to coat mild steel boiler pipes with corrosion resistant layers of 309L stainless steel and different nickel alloys.
While working on the hot wire laser cladding system, I collaborated closely with the project engineer to adjust welding parameters, tooling and other system designs to meet stringent metallurgical welding specifications. This process taught me how many factors from different facets of engineering need to come together to manufacture a final product of spec. A large amount of my time on this project was spent working on weld development, where I would run design experiments to help understand weld parameters and find a process window in which cladded tubes met customer specification. This process taught me extensively how different laser welding parameters affect the quality and metallurgical character of a clad. Throughout this process I developed a report where I analyzed different welding parameter data and reported how different weld parameters can help resolve common hot wire laser cladding defects and problems. This report will be used to help streamline future laser cladding systems within Lincoln Electric Automation and provide a guide to troubleshooting issues in clad quality.
My time at Lincoln Electric Automation allowed me to expand on my knowledge gained in the classroom while being exposed to problems and solutions that one can only experience in industry. Moving forward from this internship I will be equipped with a very strong engineering foundation that will serve me very well throughout my career as a metallurgical engineer. I would like to thank everyone at Lincoln Electric Automation for providing me with the opportunity to learn and grow at your company. Finally, I would be remiss if I did not thank AIST and the coordinators of this scholarship for providing this experience and opportunity that will not only serve me through school but also throughout my career.