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How seamless tubes are manufactured

How seamless tubes are manufactured

It is no simple matter to produce a premium Oil Country Tubular Good from a round block of high-strength steel. voestalpine Tubulars GmbH & Co KG in Kindberg, Austria, has mastered this technology for decades.

Nachaufnahme von vielen gestapelten Stahlrohren in einer Fabrikshalle
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The premium steel used to produce seamless tubes by voestalpine Tubulars GmbH & Co KG, based in Kindberg, Austria, originates from voestalpine’s own steel plant.

  1. To manufacture Oil Country Tubular Goods, massive steel billets are heated to the forming temperature and formed into shells.
  2. These shells are then rolled over a mandrel on the push bench into a mother tube/ hollow.
  3. In the stretch reducing mill the tubes get their final customized dimension and wall thickness. At this point the tubes can be up to 150 meters long
  4. After cooling the tubes are cut into desired random or fixed lengths.
  5. Depending on the end finish and final grade, the tube is then upset and heat-treated, which provides it with the desired mechanical properties. Next, it is furnished with a threaded connection.

Quality is absolutely essential in high-strength Oil Country Tubular Goods. Therefore numerous testing units are installed in between the production steps, such as non-destructive testing, magnetic particle inspection, ultrasonic testing etc., and the final products are accurately inspected before they leave the facility. In addition, voestalpine Tubulars has its own testing facility, including the biggest European sour gas laboratory.

Produktion im Nahtlosrohrwalzwerks: Erwärmung, Umformung, Walzung, Demontage, Erneute Erhitzung, Abwalzung de Rohre, Abkühlen, Beschnitt und Weiterverarbeitung

Resistance welding

Oil Country Tubular Goods can also be manufactured by means of electric resistance welding. In this process, long sheet steel is rolled into a cylinder and welded along the edges. This is followed by heat treatment and being furnished with a threaded connection. voestalpine Tubulars GmbH & Co KG focuses on seamless tubes, which have the decisive advantage of having no welded seam, since welded seams are a sensitive area.

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Die voestalpine ist ein weltweit führender Stahl- und Technologiekonzern mit kombinierter Werkstoff- und Verarbeitungskompetenz. Die global tätige Unternehmensgruppe verfügt über rund 500 Konzerngesellschaften und -standorte in mehr als 50 Ländern auf allen fünf Kontinenten. Sie notiert seit 1995 an der Wiener Börse. Mit ihren Premium-Produkt- und Systemlösungen zählt sie zu den führenden Partnern der Automobil- und Hausgeräteindustrie sowie der Luftfahrt- und Öl- & Gasindustrie und ist darüber hinaus Weltmarktführer bei Bahninfrastruktursystemen, bei Werkzeugstahl und Spezialprofilen. Die voestalpine bekennt sich zu den globalen Klimazielen und verfolgt mit greentec steel einen klaren Plan zur Dekarbonisierung der Stahlproduktion.