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machine arranged downstream of the tempering furnace, which guarantees straightening results of 0.9 millimeter per meter for the pipe end and 0.8 millimeter per meter for the pipe body. The column design and group drives are a proven design which allows easy maintenance and quick and easy tool changing.
The presence of two separate quenching systems makes this
SMS group GmbH
heat treatment line extremely exible. It features an outside sprayer primarily intended for small pipes and fast production rates and a special tank for pro- cessing the heavier-walled tubes. The quenching process for the various pipe sizes and grades had been simulated in advance with the SMS-Quench computational model in order to develop the process recipes that were later on
transferred to the control system of the real line.
The annealing furnaces are heated by eco-friendly, digitally controlled recuperative burners, which produce with very low nitro- gen oxide (NOx) emissions in the furnace. These burners allow fuel savings of up to ve percent com- pared to conventional burners.
advanced Texas plant
Tenaris has successfully started production at its seamless pipe mill in Bay City, Texas, about 80 miles southwest of Houston. The company invested a total of 1.8 billion dollars in the plant, located near the most active shale plays in the United States. The plant manufactures tempered oil country tubular goods for use in the production of natural gas and crude oil. The new PQF® tube mill, erected by SMS group, is designed to produce 600,000 tons per year precision seamless tubes with diameters of up to 9 5/8 inches.
The high-strength PQF® seamless tubes produced at the new mill are mainly used for casing appli- cations as well as line pipe. With its Rig Direct® strategy, Tenaris is synchronizing its pipe manu- facturing with customer drilling operations to reduce storage, maintenance and inspection costs.
High-quality tubes for the do- mestic oil and gas industry
In the past, the U.S. had to import a signi cant portion of the
tubes required for shale gas pro- duction from Asia and other parts of the world. “Our goal is to make the tube and pipe industry more effective and to drastically reduce imports for our market,” says Germán Curá, President of Tenaris North America. Analysts and market experts see huge opportu- nities for success in the strategy being pursued by Tenaris, which
may also give the company a sig- ni cant competitive advantage.
SMS group has worked very closely with Tenaris on the installation of state-of-the-art production tech- nology for seamless tubes that satis es the challenging require- ments concerning both quality and tolerances as per API stand- ards. Speaking of the new plant, Germán Curá goes on to say: “It
Member News
PQF® seamless tube production underway in
ITAtube Journal No2/July 2018
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