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ME 538Welding Design, Fabrication and Quality Control

Units
0.50
Faculty
Engineering
Subject
Mechanical Engineering

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 2 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: scheduled, 2 lecture sections. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

Manufacturing principles of welded mechanical components, machinery, pressure vessels, and structures subject to static or dynamic loading. Design of weld joints for structures made from ferrous alloys such as plain carbon and low alloy steels and non-ferrous alloys such as aluminum alloys. Residual stresses in weldments and distortion of weldments. Quality and quality control in welding fabrication; welding standards; welding procedure qualification; nondestructive examination methods for welds and brazed joints such as radiography, dye penetrant, magnetic particle, ultrasonic, and eddy current techniques.

Prerequisites

  • Complete all of the following
    • Must have completed the following:
      • ME322 - Mechanical Design 1 (0.50)
      • ME436 - Welding and Joining Processes (0.50)
    • Students must be in level 4A
    • Enrolled in H-Mechanical Engineering

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

No course lists it as a requisite.

Winter 2027 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
LEC 00147890 / 35TTh 10:00–11:20
LEC 701192023 / 9999Online or by arrangement
LAB 10151180 / 35T 11:30–14:20
F 08:30–11:20

Reviewed on UW Flow

75% liked it100% easy63% useful

From 4 ratings and 2 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • A somewhat interesting but pretty easy course. No final just two term tests, one was based on our quizzes and the other was just performing weld design. The labs and projects were easy and interesting. Was nice being able to practice the non-destructive testing methods we learned in class. The content itself was okay but not overly interesting. Basically an overview of the non-destructive and destructive testing methods for welds and what they will reveal. A bit of weld design is done at the end but this is mostly just reading through CSA welding manuals for the specs. I'd say take this course if you are in the weld specialization or if you want a relatively easy bird course

    Apr 2026 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Had to take this class for weld specialization - if you don't have to take it DONT! If you DO - don't go to lecture, your time is better spent... doing anything else. Go read a blank wall. The content it teaches is an embarrassing excuse to appease some committee so that the welding specialization could get accreditation. The lab's will be a VERY good opportunity to learn NDT, don't waste them - learn everything you can online about analysis techniques before the lab - the class doesn't teach enough. I'm only halfway through the course writing this review and I see the writing on the wall. It sucks.

    Feb 2026 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

One post or comment in 1 thread mentions ME 538, June 2015 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Spring 2015

Any mech eng doing/done the tron option? 1 point, 6 comments

“I just wanna know if there are any mech eng that are doing/done the tron option. I wanna know what courses you took to complete the option (ECE or MTE courses?) and if doing the option itself was …”

u/annihilatron: “https://uwaterloo.ca/mechanical-mechatronics-engineering/future-undergraduate-students/mechanical-engineering/specializations-and-options bottom of the page; link to …”

u/annihilatron: “Only two of these are part of the option, and they only fulfill two of the requirements; you'd still have to take ECE484 and RTOS or a similarly difficult programming course. - ME 555 is a bird course about CAD and some additional mathematics related to CAD. …”

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Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

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