Section IX relates to the qualification of welders, welding operators, brazers, brazing operators, and fusing operators, and the procedures employed in welding, brazing, or plastic fusing in accordance with the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code and the ASME B31 Code for Pressure Piping. As such, this is an active document subject to constant review, interpretation, and improvement to recognize new developments and research data. Section IX is a document referenced for the qualification of material joining processes by various construction codes such as Section I, III, IV, VIII, XII, etc. These particular construction codes apply to specific types of fabrication and may impose additional requirements or exemptions to Section IX qualifications. Qualification in accordance with Section IX is not a guarantee that procedures and performance qualifications will be acceptable to a particular construction code.

Section IX does not contain rules for production joining, nor does it contain rules to cover all factors affecting production material joining properties under all circumstances. Where such factors are determined by the organization to affect material joining properties, the organization shall address those factors in the Procedure Specification to ensure that the required properties are achieved in the production material joining process.

Careful application of this Section will help users to comply with applicable regulations within their jurisdictions, while achieving the operational, cost and safety benefits to be gained from the many industry best-practices detailed within these volumes.