The scientific activity of the Institute based on the principle of combining fundamental research and applied engineering tasks. Scientists at the Institute successfully developed a method of automatic submerged-arc welding and elaboration of the scientific principles, technology and equipment for this process, which laid the basis for mechanisation and automation of welding production. The activi
ty at the Institute featured expanding and deepening of theoretical and experimental investigations of welding different grades of steels, estimation of the strength of welded joints and structures and development of new systems of fluxes, wires and welding facilities. In the 1950s the scientific activity of the Institute resulted in a wide application of automatic and semiautomatic welding in leading industries - ship building, tank, boiler and bridge construction, etc. "electroslag" welding, was developed on the basis of welding with forced weld formation. The technology of metal surfacing using alloyed solid and flux-cored wires was elaborated at that time for repair and manufacture of new products. Investigations were conducted to provide the technology for welding low-alloy and alloyed steels, aluminium, titanium and their alloys. The Institute was active in making new welding consumables, special equipment, power supplies and automatic control systems. A new technology for producing super high-quality metals and alloys, i.e. special electrometallurgy, emerged on the basis of using welding heat sources. Paton has headed the Institute of over 1500 specialists, which today is the world largest research and development centre on weldingand special electrometallurgy.
