one of the steel mills in northwest Indiana is 19,000 acres. That's five times the size of O'hare Airport....they are huge. The real credit has to go to the engineers who design these machines. Now a lot are owned by a guy from India named Mittal....
WOW, amazing automation, very impressive line. They must either have a damn good cleaning crew, or that plant is very new, as every steel mill I have been is a hell hole, grease, oil, water, mill scale, dust, carbon, refractory sand, etc etc, everywhere. Either way, its a damn clean plant, with a very modern process system! A+++! Great video
I see clearly the mandrels been warmed to make the hole at 1:32, 1:45 mandrel loading, 1:52 oil film to the mandrels to avoid sticking, 2:03 mandrel charging and locking, 2:05 the hot rod of raw material that is about 3 m long later come out about 20 meters long, 2:38 mandrel hydraulic ramming, 2:42 see how the ram flexes as it is applying inmense force while pushing the mandrel to the material, 2:56 pipe is ejected, being very much large than the initial rod, 3:23 second mandrel pass to final dimensions. you see? easy, all those conclutions using the thinking football.
Nick the hole is made at 3:20 into the video, thats when the ram shoves the hot billet into the piercer. The pipe which comes out the other end has the hole in it.
Billet Yard to Billet Cutting, Billet cutting to Billet Charging, Charging to Rotary Frunace (Charge Boom) Furnace to piercer inlet (Discharge Boom) Piercer to Mandrel Processing Mill inlet, Graphite Dosing transfer over, Insert lubed mandrel bar, Push throw the MPM, outlet to the Hotsaws, Hot saws to reheat furnace, Reheat furnace to Strech Reducing Mill, SRM to cooling bed, Cooling Bed to Cold Saws, Saws to finishing! Easy stuff! Thats a clean mill!
Large solid rounds are cut, then heated really Freakin' hot, then pressed over a steel mandrel, various steps afterwards to reduce the diameter, and then cut into shorter pieces for further processing/shipping. What part did you miss?
built a plant in Youngstown Ohio that is almost identical. steel goes into rotating furnace and gets a lift up to 2nd floor. The Pearcer pushes a large rod threw the hot steel making a hole. Then it goes through the rollers/reheat coiple times to get the right diameter and wall thickness. Cut to length then off the thread mill
So is that the moment, at 3:19, when they bore it out? Looks like they just rammed a hydraulic mandrel into it! I've seen one method where they take a long, rotating drum and just pour molten metal into it. The centrifugal force makes the metal stick to the sides of the drum, forming the pipe, and as it cools it shrinks, making it easy to remove. They just push it out with a hydraulic ram and voila!
+stainless0521 The heated steel slug is being forced over a mandrel and hollowed out. The hole is then enlarged. ;2:43 to 3:22.The video "seamless pipe manufacturing" by Tenaris provides a much better description of the process.
+stainless0521 The actual process is done by heating a billet (the white hot metal bar that turns into the pipe) and running a Plug Bar through it by using a rotating method via a machine called a "piercer". A shell is produce from this. The shell is then transferred to a machine called the FQM or "Fine Quality Mill" that gives the pipe initial ovality and a base diameter. this process is done by running a graphite lubricated "mandrel" through the shell and and through the FQM. The process goes further down the line to get more refined and and get a desired length and diameter and wall thickness.
Interesting video but does not really explain the process. The Solid bars are heated and a mandrel is forced through the middle. The excess material moved then goes to extend the tube. Its a process that uses a ton of energy. Ive seen them heated by electricity, gas and even microwave ( didn't believe microwave would even work at first). Inefficient? Absolutely. The person that comes up with a method to make seamless tubes without all that additional heat energy is going to be rich.
You are correct Philip it doesn't explain the process (very few of them ever do), which makes it almost useless for people viewing it for the sole purpose of learning the process. Would having a narrator or using a closed caption styled format, so we could at least read the explanation, be so difficult to add to the video? Your very basic explanation was probably as much help to people as the video was.
yup, gas fired, refractory lined (Blast) FURNACE, with arch roof design, has a huge Combustion chamber, with ingots to be heated placed on the floor, or stood up, on iron spacers, fire brick, or furnace stone. I believe I read the blast furnace used to heat Forging Stock is around 6% efficient. Heat is introduced through combustion portals, and driven by bast air fans forcing oxygen into the arch, creating a rolling ball of fire, and peak temps around 2450° f. Like you, I've been a Union Blacksmith for 30+ years, having worked with all the billet heating methods you mentioned, still fascinated by the process, and still learning, every day I Que up for job assignment at 7a.m. " FORGED STEEL - THE METAL YOU CAN TRUST! Cheers, my fellow ' Smith...
yup, gas fired, refractory lined (Blast) FURNACE, with arch roof design, has a huge Combustion chamber, with ingots to be heated placed on the floor, or stood up, on iron spacers, fire brick, or furnace stone. I believe I read the blast furnace used to heat Forging Stock is around 6% efficient. Heat is introduced through combustion portals, and driven by bast air fans forcing oxygen into the arch, creating a rolling ball of fire, and peak temps around 2450° f. Like you, I've been a Union Blacksmith for 30+ years, having worked with all the billet heating methods you mentioned, still fascinated by the process, and still learning, every day I Que up for job assignment at 7a.m. " FORGED STEEL - THE METAL YOU CAN TRUST! Cheers, my fellow ' Smith...
yup, gas fired, refractory lined (Blast) FURNACE, with arch roof design, has a huge Combustion chamber, with ingots to be heated placed on the floor, or stood up, on iron spacers, fire brick, or furnace stone. I believe I read the blast furnace used to heat Forging Stock is around 6% efficient. Heat is introduced through combustion portals, and driven by bast air fans forcing oxygen into the arch, creating a rolling ball of fire, and peak temps around 2450° f. Like you, I've been a Union Blacksmith for 30+ years, having worked with all the billet heating methods you mentioned, still fascinated by the process, and still learning, every day I Que up for job assignment at 7a.m. " FORGED STEEL - THE METAL YOU CAN TRUST! Cheers, my fellow ' Smith...
I think its because a lot of manufacturers have been running into problems with cuts being too short. No matter how many times they cut it, it's still too short.
Do any of you know the machining time for each of the processes in the fabrication of a seamless pipe? If you do know, can you also provide me with a source of where you got the information from. Thank you
samin6n Depends on the size and the process used. One pass cold drawn material can be ordered and shipped the next day if you're willing to pay. Source : I make the shit.
+Joseph Stokes Your eyes can help extract knowledge the same as spoken word, but I understand what you are saying. This guy posted this as a marketing tool more than an educational tool. In case you haven't found a better video regarding the process, I'll copy and paste another users comment here. It's a decent explanation. From TheKennonprua: The actual process is done by heating a billet (the white hot metal bar that turns into the pipe) and running a Plug Bar through it by using a rotating method via a machine called a "piercer". A shell is produce from this. The shell is then transferred to a machine called the FQM or "Fine Quality Mill" that gives the pipe initial ovality and a base diameter. this process is done by running a graphite lubricated "mandrel" through the shell and and through the FQM. The process goes further down the line to get more refined and and get a desired length and diameter and wall thickness.
I agree with the fact that they don't really explain how they bore the internal diameter of the steel Billet, but it shows how Blacksmithing is equal parts art, and Industrial Engineering Brilliance, looks like Induction, versus gas fired heat, for the 1st "Heat" if the cold bar, very small amount of scale present as the bar emerged from Induction... induction Furnace heat by means of electric current wound over a refractory lined coil, requires serious supply of electricity, I've been a Union Blacksmith for 30+ years, have worked with both induction and gas fired (blast) Furnaces... conventional arch style gas fired refractory brick lined FURNACE is about 6% efficient, lot of wasted heat, due to space needed for Combustion, induction heating coils surrounds round and round corner square steel bars, heating them from the inside out, almost like a giant microwave oven... resulting efficiency results in continuous controlled heat, usually ± 10 degrees Fahrenheit... scaling is greatly reduced, providing a cleaner outside surface for immediate Hammer, Press or Roll Forging. Scale Flakes of 2400 degree heated steels and Alloys, as bars are brought out of furnace into room temp, flaking off in potato chip thickness, which can have a detrimental effect, in particular, with complex, near-net deep draft closed impression DIE Forging of Aerospace , Agricultural, Mining, Automotive, Railroad, and General Heavy Industrial Hardware components, requiring defect free finish surfaces, a great deal of decision making goes into scale reduction and elimination, as stated, in closed impression Dies, because when scale builds up in a die impression, it displaces the flow of malleable, plastic state steel, for example, an engine crankshaft, with large counterweights that provide rotational thrust in an internal combustion engine, require deep impressions sunk into the Closed Impression Dies, so called, due to the fact, that during Forging, the top and bottom Dies close shut, completely surrounding the billet as it is forged, squeezing out a layer of excess steel into a "gutter" machined around the die impression, to accept steel displaced by the force of the Forge Hammer or press on the workpiece, so, as scale collects deep into a Counterweight impression, it leaves nowhere for steel to flow, and often causing a no-fill condition serious enough to cause the part to be scrapped, but sometimes able to be "cleaned up" in the process of finish machining. It is the Operator, (Hammerman or Pressman) who is responsible for instructing a Blacksmith shop "helper" in the method he decides on, or is instructed to do, on the process sheet for the production run of the specific job, for the control of various methods of hot scale elimination. An oil swab, a hand held compressed air nozzle, fiber glass, coal dust, super fine found glass, called Frit, water jets, protective coatings applied before heating, are a few of the methods employed in between blows as the hammer is "tripped" or the Mechanical Press is cycled, both processes utilizing tremendous force to reduce cross section, thereby refining and compressing internal grain structure, thus tremendously increasing the ability of the Forged part to withstand tremendous amounts of load, combined with high temperature Combustion, such as the atmosphere inside a modern Rolls-Royce Jet engine, making Forged Steel, Titanium, and complex, mission critical Alloys, the Absolute choice for these INTENSE conditions, versus a much weaker cast part. As the now, sadly, closed, and moved to Asia, first Forge Shop I Apprenticed in, and spent 20 good years at, Interstate Drop Forge, in Milwaukee, used for thier Stationary slogan, "FORGED STEEL IS THE METAL YOU CAN TRUST" Amen. Hope I haven't bored everyone to death. I do enjoy what I do, I'm not much good at much else, but I've gotten to be a relatively decent Blacksmith over the years... Grateful for the last of the WWII generation of 'Smith's, just beginning to retire as I began my 6 year Apprenticeship, and the old school way they taught me, green as hell, about the Complexity of the Forge... They were True Craftsmen, Master level Blacksmiths, they don't make men like that anymore! cheers...
Man, what you said is very precious to me, because you can't find specific details anywhere on the internet, you worked as a blacksmith in the major industrial market, or like one of those guys in their garages doing it by hand? I have a question, when it says the market price of steel is 60$ a ton, what does that mean? I hear from people selling scrap metal that the price of steel is 60$ a ton now. Can i just go and buy pipe by that price? I'm looking for ways to get things cheap and understand the market better. Also, since everything is made in china, how cheap do you think steel is worth by the ton now?
Dear Mr. Sunil, this is Amy from Jinan Possible machine, we are the manufacture of marking machines in China. Our Pneumatic marking machine can mark and engraving serials number and letter on your metal pipe, if you need, pls contact us directly
Hisham Hashim ahh, you were expecting to learn the details of the ID mandrel weren't you? This is what makes it hard to learn manufacturing - everyone is secretive.
+OldHickory Jackson very good point... Proprietary manufacturing methods are protected like the Royal family jewels... engineering is super expensive, and will make all the difference in manufacturing success or failure... good comment
OK I see everybody is confused as though hope it came out hollow. It got extruded and central hollow portion is because of mandrel. all of this happens inside the dies, hence is not visible.
Making bombs out of seamless pipes would be an extreme waste, these will probably end up in some high-pressure industrial application... Bomb casings (the fragmetary ones) are usually made out of cast steel, since it shatters into shrapnel better...
the alloy used for each pipe run is specifically engineered to withstand whatever substance will be run thru it. Primary reason why the Titanic sank, the era before complex Metallurgy was understood, and utilized... resulting in brittle, fracture prone steel plate... throw it into the cold Atlantic, have it run into an immovable object at 2 a.m. on an April night, and the basic rolled pig iron ruptures like an egg shell, resulting in incalculable human tragedy... advances in complex engineering and safety practices are often, sadly, written in blood... every disaster is reverse engineered, with lessons learned advanced to new Protocols...
