Production process of 304 seamless stainless steel pipe

304 seamless stainless steel pipe is a high-quality, high-corrosion-resistant metal pipe material, widely used in petroleum, chemical, food, medicine, aerospace and other fields. Its production process mainly includes smelting, rolling, perforation, straightening, cutting and other links. The production process of these links will be introduced in detail below.

1) Smelting

Smelting is the first step in the production of 304 seamless stainless steel pipe. Its purpose is to melt the raw materials into molten steel of a certain composition and temperature. The specific steps are as follows:

1. Prepare raw materials: Select suitable 304 stainless steel raw materials, and inspect and clean them.
2. Melting: Add the raw materials to the smelting furnace, heat to the melting point and keep it for a certain time to fully melt the raw materials into molten steel.
3. Adjust the composition: According to product standards and customer needs, add an appropriate amount of alloy elements to adjust the composition of molten steel.
4. Pouring: Pour the molten steel into the ingot mold to form an ingot of a certain shape and size.

2) Rolling

Rolling is one of the important links in processing steel ingots into 304 seamless stainless steel pipes. The specific steps are as follows:

1. Heating: Place the steel ingot in a heating furnace and heat it to a certain temperature to increase its plasticity and reduce deformation resistance.
2. Rolling: Feed the heated steel ingot into the rolling mill, and gradually reduce the pipe diameter and increase the pipe length through multiple rolling passes.
3. Straightening: Use a straightening machine to straighten the rolled pipe to eliminate stress and improve straightness.
4. Cooling: Cool the straightened pipe naturally or forcefully to reduce its temperature and increase strength.

3) Perforation

Piercing is one of the important links in processing solid tube billets into hollow tubes. The specific steps are as follows:

1. Prepare the tube billet: Select the appropriate 304 stainless steel solid tube billet, and inspect and clean it.
2. Perforation: Feed the tube billet into the perforator, and the tube billet is perforated into a hollow tube through the rotation and advancement of the perforating tool.
3. Straightening: Use a straightening machine to straighten the perforated pipe to eliminate stress and improve straightness.
4. Cooling: Cool the straightened pipe naturally or forcefully to reduce its temperature and increase its strength.

4) Straightening

Straightening is one of the essential links in the production of 304 seamless stainless steel pipes. Its purpose is to make the pipe straight, beautiful, and eliminate stress. The specific steps are as follows:

1. Prepare the pipe: Select the 304 seamless stainless steel pipe that needs to be straightened, and inspect and clean it.
2. Straightening: Send the pipe into the straightening machine, and through the rotation and pressure of the straightening wheel, the pipe gradually tends to be straight.
3. Inspection: Inspect the straightened pipe to ensure that it meets product standards and customer needs.
4. Cooling: Cool the qualified pipe naturally or forcefully to reduce its temperature and increase its strength.

5) Cutting

Cutting is the last link in the production of 304 seamless stainless steel pipes. Its purpose is to cut the pipe into finished products of specified length. The specific steps are as follows:

1. Prepare tools: Select appropriate cutting tools, such as plasma cutting machine, laser cutting machine, etc.
2. Cutting: Feed the pipe into the cutting machine and cut it according to product standards and customer needs.
3. Inspection: Inspect the finished product after cutting to ensure that it meets product standards and customer needs.
4. Packaging: Pack qualified finished products to protect their surface quality and prevent damage during transportation.

The above is the production process of 304 seamless stainless steel pipes. Each link has its specific requirements and operating specifications. Only by strictly following the requirements can high-quality 304 seamless stainless steel pipes be produced.

Read more: 304 vs 316 Stainless Steel or 304 vs 321 Stainless steel