This installment of “Meet the Team” features Nick Kapustka. Nick is a bright young engineer with experience in aerospace applications and non-ferrous materials. Please don’t hesitate to contact Nick if you have any questions or interests related to EWI or Arc Welding. You can reach him at 614.688.5000 or [email protected].
Technical Expertise
Nick Kapustka is an expert in arc welding processes, aluminum, titanium, and advanced high-strength steels (AHSS). While completing his B.S. he conducted fume characterization research at EWI, and concentrated on welding metallurgy at OSU. The major focus for his M.S. was arc welding processes and gas metal arc welding (GMAW) of AHSS sheet.
Nick’s main areas of interest include arc welding processes, the arc welding of aluminum, titanium, magnesium, and nickel-based alloys, precision GMAW, and AHSS. Nick also has experience in resistance butt welding, projection welding, fume testing and analysis, gas tungsten arc welding, plasma arc welding, submerged arc welding, resistance spot welding, friction stir welding, and inertia welding.
Background and Project Experience
Nick joined EWI in January of 2004 as a Junior Technician in the Resistance and Solid-State Welding (RSSW) group. He became a Graduate Fellow in September of the same year, during which time he researched GMAW of AHSS sheet. Upon completion of his M.S. in Welding Engineering, Nick was promoted to Applications Engineer in the Arc Welding group. As an Applications Engineer, he is responsible for initiating, conducting, managing, and reporting contract work.
Nick has done extensive work on the arc welding of aluminum, titanium, magnesium, and nickel-based alloys. Nick has expertise in applying the precision GMAW process (i.e. Fronius CMT) for critical applications such as the repair of aerospace components. He has also managed a large program in which the oxy-fuel cutting (OFC) process was optimized to minimize opacity in shipyard scrapping applications. Nick has provided onsite engineering assistance to numerous organizations. He has also conducted work on resistance butt welding of similar and dissimilar materials, and development of mechanized GMAW and plasma arc gouging equipment for shipyard applications. Nick is also an American Welding Society (AWS) Certified Welding Inspector (CWI).
He has written over 60 technical reports for contract work. Nick has authored several papers and spoken at numerous conferences. In 2009 he received the McKay-Helm Award from the American Welding Society for his peer-reviewed Welding Journal article on GMAW of AHSS. Nick has also co-invented several shielding devices for GMAW and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) of reactive metals.
Education
B.S. Welding Engineering, The Ohio State University
M.S. Welding Engineering, The Ohio State University
Professional Affiliations
American Welding Society Member
National Society of Collegiate Scholars