TPT January 2016

Industry News

Testing systems for ERW-welded pipes

straight probe, measuring the wall thickness in the area of the weld seam and controlling the quality of the scarfing. At the end of the production line, the pipes undergo final testing executed by means of a testing bridge since this beam

TWO ultrasonic testing systems for ERW-welded pipes were to be installed at the Polish pipe mill Huta Labedy in 2015. They are part of a completely new pipe mill, realised by the SMS Group fromMoenchengladbach, Germany. The SMS Group was also the contractual partner of Karl Deutsch. Basis of the contract were pipes with following dimensions: diameters from 114mm to 324mm, wall thicknesses from 3mm to 16mm and lengths from 6m to 18m. After forming the steel strips and welding, a first ultrasonic testing of the longitudinal weld is performed on the (still) endless pipe. The ultrasonic probes are mounted on a carriage, which is mounted to a machine stand. The carriage is placed on the top of the pipe and follows the pipe with rollers in an optimal way. The carriage can be into a service position (offline) to check the calibration on a short reference pipe. The reference pipe can be moved motor-driven, allowing a dynamic verification of the calibration. The carriage contains five probes, all working with a water delay line for ultrasound coupling. Four probes are used for longitudinal flaw detection, two of them for inner flaws and two for outer flaws. The fifth probe is an oscillating

Arrangement of probes for weld inspection on the endless pipe

The remaining four probes are used to inspect the heat-affected zone next to the weld for delaminations. The rotational inspection of the pipe body is carried out at a circumferential speed of approximately 1.5m/s with five special TR-probes with three channels each. Each probe has one transmitter and three receiver channels, yielding a scan width of 50mm. The total scan width of 250mm from all five probes enables a high throughput. Ultrasonic coupling is performed by a water gap and all probes are mounted in holders, which perfectly follow the surface even in case of changing radius curvatures. Additionally, the probe holders are designed to cover the entire diameter range without the need for mechanical changes.

concept provides maximum throughput. In the extreme case 140 pipes per hour have to be inspected. The self-supporting bridge, with an overall length of 30m, is equipped with probe carriages on both sides. In twelve o’clock position the longitudinal weld seams are inspected first. Then the pipes are transported transversally underneath the bridge into the second testing position. Here, the pipes are rotated and tested for delaminations on the full pipe body. Both testing positions are equipped with calibration units, which allow a reproducible calibration of the probes’ sensitivity with the aid of short tube sections (left side in the picture above). The weld testing is performed by a total of eight probes mounted on a single carriage, working with a test speed of 2m/s. As in the first testing system, four probes are used for longitudinal flaw detection.

Karl Deutsch GmbH – Germany Website: www.karldeutsch.de

Fives to supply a new vertical furnace to South Korea

of 500,000 tons dedicated to the high- end GI/GA exposed and advanced high strength steels (AHSS), is expected to be completed in 2017. The vertical annealing furnace is critical process equipment needed to produce the latest AHSS grades, which are becoming an important part of steelmakers’ strategy. Fives will design and supply its latest generation Stein Digiflex ® vertical annealing furnace, including the patented Flash Cooling ® technology operating at high H 2 rate (up to 65 per cent H 2 ) and the latest AdvanTek ® 2.0 radiant tube combustion

POSCO, an autosheet manufacturer, has entrusted Fives with a contract for design and supply of a high-performance vertical annealing furnace for the new hot-dip galvanising line at POSCO’s Gwangyang plant in South Korea. In line to expand its production of premium automotive steel sheet for global carmakers, POSCO launched the construction of its seventh continuous galvanising line (CGL) at its largest and most modern plant of Gwangyang Steelworks on Korea’s southern coast. CGL No7, a specialised production line with an annual production capacity

system operating with coke-oven gas. Fives stated that it gained the contract by offering the best operational expense savings, production flexibility, accuracy of operation and compact furnace design. The last two continuous galvanising lines of POSCO’s Gwangyang plant, CGL No5 and CGL No6 producing exposed panels and HSS grades, are also equipped with Fives vertical annealing furnaces.

Fives Group – Russia Fax: +7 495 775 48 40 Website: www.fivesgroup.com

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J anuary 2016