TPT May 2011

CONTENTS

V OL 24 N O 3

M AY /J UNE 2011

92

114

Tube Mills & Roll Forming Machines

OCTG & Pipeline Manufacturing

The roll forming process in a state-of-the-art tube mill not only incorporates the best of what stamping, extrusion and press brake bending deliver: it also accommodates so-called secondary operations so smoothly as to obscure the distinction. Welding. Hole punching. Embossing. Trimming to length. The roll former folds them all in. It does so while producing high-toleranced parts in long lengths and high volumes; continuously; without missing a beat.

Oil Country Tubular Goods may be the broadest category in the tube and pipe industry, covering as it does a span from sensitive instrumentation tubing to petroleum pipeline but physical size is only one factor among many across this spectrum. A section of pipeline in which a man can stand upright, with his raised arms touching only air, is a marvel. The companies reviewed here are aware that, from this behemoth of the desert down to the narrowest drill string, the integrity of that piece of OCTG is wholly dependent on the quality of its manufacture.

126 FEM analysis of a pipe forming process Sven Renkel – SMS Meer GmbH, Germany