If your fab shop or engineering firm is transitioning WPS documentation from AWS D1.1:2020 to the 2025 edition, you need a precise accounting of what changed in Table 6.6 — the essential variables table for SMAW, SAW, GMAW, FCAW, and GTAW procedures. Most WPS parameters stayed the same. But four specific changes in Table 6.6 (plus two in the CVN supplementary Table 6.8) can affect whether your existing PQR still supports your WPS, or whether requalification is now on the table.
This article walks through each change that a CWI or QC manager needs to check before signing off on a 2025-compliant WPS.
Rule library based on AWS D1.1:2025; verify against your governing edition — the AHJ or contract may specify 2020 or an earlier revision.
The Table Renumbering You Might Have Missed
Before getting into the content changes, note the renumbering:
- AWS D1.1:2020 essential variables for SMAW/SAW/GMAW/FCAW/GTAW = Table 6.5
- AWS D1.1:2025 same content = Table 6.6
ESW/EGW essential variables moved from Table 6.6 to Table 6.7. CVN supplementary essential variables moved from Table 6.7 to Table 6.8. If you have internal procedures or quality manuals referencing table numbers, update those references.
Row 4: A5.36 Removed from the GMAW/FCAW Filler Metal Column
The most consequential change for shops running solid wire GMAW or flux-cored FCAW involves filler metal classification. In the 2020 edition, AWS A5.36 electrodes were listed alongside A5.18 and A5.28 as acceptable filler metal designations for GMAW, and alongside A5.20 and A5.29 for FCAW, without triggering requalification when switching within that listed group.
In the 2025 edition, A5.36 was dropped from the allowed filler metal groupings in Table 6.6 Row 4. What this means in practice: if your current WPS lists an A5.36-classified electrode (common in dual-certified wires marketed as A5.18/A5.36 or A5.20/A5.36), that electrode designation may now fall outside the no-requalification bracket that covered it under the 2020 table. Review your WPS filler metal entries against the 2025 Row 4 language before your next project delivery.
For shops that already track the A5.36 classification changes in the 2025 edition separately, see the related article on the new A5.36 –G designator rules.
Row 7: ±10% Electrode-to-Supplemental-Filler Ratio
When a WPS calls for supplemental filler metal fed separately from the primary electrode (a technique sometimes used in SAW or GTAW-with-filler configurations), Row 7 controls what deviation in the ratio between the two constitutes an essential variable change.
The 2025 edition establishes a clear ±10% threshold: changing the ratio of electrode to supplemental filler metal by more than ten percent is now an essential variable requiring a new PQR or an amendment to an existing one. The 2020 edition's language for this row was structured differently and did not articulate the same explicit percentage band.
Shops running SAW with supplemental additions or GTAW with cold wire should:
- Document the exact electrode-to-filler ratio in the original PQR heat input record.
- Establish a production monitoring parameter on the WPS that bounds this ratio within ±10%.
- If the ratio drifts in production, treat it as an essential variable deviation requiring WPS review.
Row 8: The New –G Designator Rule
Row 8 in the 2025 table addresses the electrode designator suffix — specifically the situation where a filler metal carries a –G (general) suffix under the applicable A5 classification.
In the 2020 edition, Row 8 covered different content entirely. The 2025 version introduces a specific rule: a –G suffix on either the original WPS electrode or the substitute electrode creates a requalification trigger under defined conditions. The –G designator indicates that the mechanical properties of the electrode are "as agreed upon between supplier and user" and are not published in the standard tables — which means the welding engineer cannot assume equivalency between two –G electrodes the way they might between two fully specified classifications.
Practically, this matters most when:
- Your WPS lists an E71T-1C-H8G or similar –G electrode and you want to substitute another –G wire from a different manufacturer.
- Your PQR was run with a fully-specified wire and you are now evaluating a –G substitute.
Under 2025 Row 8, the –G substitution scenario requires new PQR testing rather than a simple administrative WPS amendment. This is a tightening of the rules from 2020, not a relaxation.
For more on reading electrode classification suffixes across the H, C, M, and G designators, see electrode H-suffix classification and WPS documentation.
The Dropped Interpass Temperature Decrease Row
AWS D1.1:2020 Table 6.5 included a standalone row that made a decrease in the maximum interpass temperature an essential variable for certain processes. That row was in the 2020 edition and was the subject of occasional CWI questions: if you lowered your interpass ceiling (a seemingly conservative move), did it trigger requalification?
That row does not appear in 2025 Table 6.6. The 2025 edition removed the standalone interpass-decrease essential variable. The practical effect: a reduction in maximum interpass temperature is no longer itself a requalification event under Table 6.6. An increase still falls within the general temperature essential variable scope, but lowering the interpass ceiling is not penalized in the same way under the current edition.
Note: if your WPS cites specific interpass temperature ranges on the form, you still must update the form to reflect any change — but that change alone, under 2025 rules, does not require new PQR testing.
Table 6.8 Changes: CVN Supplementary Essential Variables
Two changes to the CVN supplementary table (Table 6.8 in 2025, formerly Table 6.7 in 2020) affect shops where impact toughness testing was part of the PQR and is called out in the WPS.
Row 2(a) — Minimum Thickness Floor: The minimum base metal thickness at which the CVN supplementary essential variables apply was reduced from 5/8 in [16 mm] in 2020 to 1/2 in [12 mm] in 2025. This means some medium-plate applications that previously sat below the CVN-trigger threshold now fall within it. If your PQR was qualified at 1/2 in plate without CVN testing because the 2020 threshold exempted it, check whether your 2025-edition WPS now requires CVN data.
Row 8 — Preheat Removed from CVN Scope: The 2020 edition included preheat changes in the list of variables that trigger CVN requalification when toughness testing applies. The 2025 Table 6.8 Row 8 removes preheat entirely — only an increase in maximum interpass temperature remains in that row's scope. This is a relaxation: adjusting preheat for a CVN-qualified WPS no longer forces you back to the test lab for Charpy specimens.
For more detail on how CVN supplementary essential variables interact with your PQR qualification documentation, see CVN supplementary essential variables under AWS D1.1 Table 6.8.
Practical Checklist for 2025 Edition Compliance
When reviewing a WPS originally written to the 2020 edition:
- Update table number references — change all "Table 6.5" citations to "Table 6.6."
- Audit GMAW/FCAW filler metal entries — confirm no A5.36 electrode appears in a position that relied on the 2020 Row 4 grouping.
- Check supplemental filler ratio documentation — add the ±10% production limit to any WPS using supplemental filler.
- Review –G electrode entries — flag any –G designator for the Row 8 substitution analysis.
- Check medium-plate CVN status — for applications between 1/2 and 5/8 in thickness, determine whether the 2025 Table 6.8 threshold change requires new PQR impact testing.
- Remove stale interpass-decrease language — any QC procedure or traveler note citing the old essential variable for interpass-temperature decreases can be retired.
None of these changes affect the WPS form structure itself — the Annex M form fields are unchanged — but the supporting PQR may need additional documentation or new testing for items 2, 3, and 5 above.
For a full walk through essential variable versus nonessential distinctions and when a WPS amendment requires new PQR backing, see essential variables vs nonessential variables on a WPS. For the parallel question of what triggers requalification in a production setting, see essential variable changes and CWI decisions in production.
To manage multiple WPS revisions and track which PQRs support which WPS versions, WPS software built for AWS D1.1:2025 gives you a living procedure library instead of a file cabinet.