Annealing of carbon steel seamless pipe and atmosphere requirements

Annealing of carbon steel seamless pipe is a heat treatment process designed to adjust the structure of the steel pipe, improve its mechanical properties, eliminate internal stress, and prepare for subsequent processing or use. The annealing process of carbon steel seamless pipe includes three stages: heating, insulation and cooling, and each stage has specific precautions.

1) Heating stage

Heating is a key step in the annealing process of seamless pipe. The steel pipe needs to be evenly heated to a predetermined temperature range. Heating temperature that is too high or too low may result in unsatisfactory annealing effect. In order to ensure uniform heating, methods such as furnace heating or induction heating are usually used. During the heating process, the following points need to be noted:

1. Heating speed: The heating speed should be appropriate to avoid being too fast or too slow. Too fast heating speed may cause excessive temperature difference between the inside and outside of the steel pipe, resulting in thermal stress; while too slow heating speed will prolong the annealing cycle and reduce production efficiency.

2. Temperature control: The heating temperature should be strictly controlled to ensure that the steel pipe is evenly heated within the predetermined temperature range. Excessive temperature fluctuations may cause uneven structure of the steel pipe and affect the annealing effect.

2) Insulation stage

The insulation stage is to keep the steel pipe at a predetermined temperature for a period of time so that its structure can be fully adjusted. The length of the insulation time depends on the material, size and annealing purpose of the steel pipe. During the insulation process, the following points should be noted:

1. Insulation time: The insulation time should be long enough to ensure that the steel pipe structure is fully adjusted. Too short insulation time may lead to unsatisfactory annealing effect; while too long insulation time will increase production costs.

2. Temperature stability: During the insulation stage, the temperature should be kept stable to avoid temperature fluctuations. Temperature fluctuations may cause uneven structure of the steel pipe and affect the annealing effect.

3) Cooling stage

The cooling stage is the last stage in the annealing process of seamless steel pipes. The steel pipe will undergo structural transformation during the cooling process, which will affect its mechanical properties. The cooling rate and method should be determined according to the material of the steel pipe and the purpose of annealing. During the cooling process, the following points should be noted:

1. Cooling speed: The cooling speed should be appropriate, avoiding too fast or too slow. Too fast cooling speed may cause residual stress in the steel pipe and affect its performance; while too slow cooling speed may cause coarsening of the steel pipe structure and reduce its mechanical properties.

2. Cooling medium: The selection of cooling medium should be determined according to the material of the steel pipe and the purpose of annealing. Commonly used cooling media include water, oil, air, etc. Different cooling media have different cooling capacities and cooling speeds, and need to be selected according to actual conditions.

In addition to the precautions in the above three stages, the following points should be noted during the annealing process of carbon steel seamless pipes:

1. Equipment maintenance: Annealing equipment should be regularly maintained and maintained to ensure its normal operation. Equipment failure may cause instability in the annealing process and affect the quality of the steel pipe.
2. Operating specifications: Operators should be familiar with the annealing process and operate strictly in accordance with the operating procedures. Irregular operation may lead to unsatisfactory annealing results or even damage the equipment.
3. Quality inspection: The annealed steel pipe should be quality inspected to ensure that it meets the use requirements. Quality inspection includes appearance inspection, mechanical property testing and other aspects. For unqualified steel pipes, they should be processed or scrapped in time.

Temperature and atmosphere requirements for annealing of carbon steel seamless pipes:

Bright annealing of seamless pipes, also known as bright annealing, is a method of heating the carbon steel pipe in a closed space, and letting the temperature slowly cool down to at least 500 degrees in a closed space, and then cooling naturally, so that there will be brightness, thereby preventing decarburization problems.

1. Whether the annealing temperature reaches the specified temperature
Heat treatment generally adopts solid solution heat treatment, which is what people usually call "annealing", with a temperature range of 1040~1120℃.

2. Annealing atmosphere
Generally, pure hydrogen is used as the annealing atmosphere, and the purity of the atmosphere is more than 99.99%. If the other part of the atmosphere is an inert gas, the purity can be lower, but it must not contain too much oxygen or water vapor.

3. Furnace sealing
The annealing furnace should be closed and isolated from the outside air; if hydrogen is used as the protective gas, only one exhaust port is open (to ignite the discharged hydrogen).

4. Protective gas pressure
In order to prevent micro-leakage, the protective gas in the furnace should maintain a certain positive pressure. If it is hydrogen protective gas, it is generally required to be above 20kBar.

5. Water vapor in the furnace
On the one hand, check whether the furnace body material is dry. The furnace body material must be dried for the first time. On the other hand, check whether there are too many water stains left in the furnace. Especially if there are holes on the pipe, do not let water leak in, otherwise the furnace atmosphere will be completely destroyed.

Application scenarios and effects of carbon steel seamless pipe annealing:

Annealing of carbon steel seamless pipes is widely used in various steel processing, mainly used to improve the processing performance and mechanical properties of materials. Complete annealing is suitable for carbon steel and alloy steel with medium carbon or above, which can reduce hardness, improve cutting performance and eliminate internal stress. Spheroidizing annealing is mainly used for high carbon steel, aiming to reduce hardness and improve cutting performance. Stress relief annealing is mainly used to eliminate internal stress and is suitable for the treatment of various steel pipes.

In short, the annealing process of carbon steel seamless pipes is a complex and critical heat treatment process. Through reasonable heating, insulation and cooling operations, as well as strict equipment maintenance and operating specifications, it can ensure that the steel pipe obtains the ideal annealing effect and improves its performance. At the same time, quality inspection is also an important measure to ensure the quality of steel pipes.

Read more: Seamless Steel Pipe Manufacturing Process or Carbon steel tube material and use