EP3189167B1 - Apparatus and method for quenching rods and tubes - Google Patents

Apparatus and method for quenching rods and tubes Download PDF

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Publication number
EP3189167B1
EP3189167B1 EP15791773.3A EP15791773A EP3189167B1 EP 3189167 B1 EP3189167 B1 EP 3189167B1 EP 15791773 A EP15791773 A EP 15791773A EP 3189167 B1 EP3189167 B1 EP 3189167B1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
tube
quenching
rod
axis
positioning
Prior art date
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Active
Application number
EP15791773.3A
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German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
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EP3189167A1 (en
Inventor
Pietro DELLA PUTTA
Jimmy FABRO
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
SMS Group SpA
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SMS Group SpA
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    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C21—METALLURGY OF IRON
    • C21D—MODIFYING THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF FERROUS METALS; GENERAL DEVICES FOR HEAT TREATMENT OF FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS METALS OR ALLOYS; MAKING METAL MALLEABLE, e.g. BY DECARBURISATION OR TEMPERING
    • C21D9/00—Heat treatment, e.g. annealing, hardening, quenching or tempering, adapted for particular articles; Furnaces therefor
    • C21D9/08—Heat treatment, e.g. annealing, hardening, quenching or tempering, adapted for particular articles; Furnaces therefor for tubular bodies or pipes
    • C21D9/085—Cooling or quenching
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C21—METALLURGY OF IRON
    • C21D—MODIFYING THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF FERROUS METALS; GENERAL DEVICES FOR HEAT TREATMENT OF FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS METALS OR ALLOYS; MAKING METAL MALLEABLE, e.g. BY DECARBURISATION OR TEMPERING
    • C21D1/00—General methods or devices for heat treatment, e.g. annealing, hardening, quenching or tempering
    • C21D1/62—Quenching devices
    • C21D1/667—Quenching devices for spray quenching
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C21—METALLURGY OF IRON
    • C21D—MODIFYING THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF FERROUS METALS; GENERAL DEVICES FOR HEAT TREATMENT OF FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS METALS OR ALLOYS; MAKING METAL MALLEABLE, e.g. BY DECARBURISATION OR TEMPERING
    • C21D9/00—Heat treatment, e.g. annealing, hardening, quenching or tempering, adapted for particular articles; Furnaces therefor
    • C21D9/0075—Heat treatment, e.g. annealing, hardening, quenching or tempering, adapted for particular articles; Furnaces therefor for rods of limited length
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C21—METALLURGY OF IRON
    • C21D—MODIFYING THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF FERROUS METALS; GENERAL DEVICES FOR HEAT TREATMENT OF FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS METALS OR ALLOYS; MAKING METAL MALLEABLE, e.g. BY DECARBURISATION OR TEMPERING
    • C21D9/00—Heat treatment, e.g. annealing, hardening, quenching or tempering, adapted for particular articles; Furnaces therefor
    • C21D9/08—Heat treatment, e.g. annealing, hardening, quenching or tempering, adapted for particular articles; Furnaces therefor for tubular bodies or pipes

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a process for quenching products from rolling mills, in particular, for quenching rods and tubes, and to a respective apparatus for implementing it.
  • the static quench wherein the body to be quenched is put under the quenching agent, for instance industrial water, along its entire length at the same time
  • the so called "progressive" quench wherein the body to be quenched advances at a suitable speed through the quenching agent flux, so that the tube is quenched progressively along the length.
  • static quenching systems working by immersion, progressive quench systems with nozzles/spray directed radially with respect to the advancing direction of the bar, and progressive quench systems with nozzles directed tangentially with respect to the bar, are known.
  • Such systems are particularly suitable for quenching bars.
  • quenching tubes having a thickness of not more than 20 mm
  • progressive quench systems having nozzles directed tangentially with respect to the bar and a lance which can be inserted within the same tube, for cooling from its inner surface
  • systems for the static quenching having nozzles radially directed with respect to the tube and a nozzle for cooling the inner surface of the tube, are known.
  • progressive quench systems with lances which can be inserted in the tube offer an optimal heat transfer on the external surface, but have some limit.
  • the lance in fact, working counterbalanced, needs to be thick enough to support its weight and to have a diameter suitable for ensuring the necessary water flow. Accordingly, introducing it in tubes having a hole equal to or smaller than its diameter is not possible.
  • the thick rods and tubes have a very low crossing speed. This implies that the material to be quenched may remain for a relatively long time in the room, albeit small, which is between the exit of the furnace and the quenching station, lowering the temperature of the product to be quenched and obviously thus reducing the effect of the quench.
  • US 4 834 344 and CN-A 102 776 343 disclose an apparatus and a method for quenching.
  • the object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the known art and to provide a process for quenching rods and tubes, and a respective apparatus for implementing it, which are more efficient.
  • the main object of the invention is an apparatus for static quenching of a product equipped with a main development axis and coming from a rolling plant.
  • the apparatus of the invention comprises a seat for housing the product, or quenching position, equipped with a positioning axis and with a lifting device, suitable for transferring the product to be quenched from the transport means of the treatment plant (roller path outgoing from the furnace) to the main axis of the apparatus, which is vertically placed above the same roller path. In this way, when the product is housed in the quenching position, the main development axis of the product coincides with the main axis of the apparatus.
  • first external nozzles for dispensing quenching agent, arranged around the positioning axis.
  • the first external nozzles are arranged along a curvilinear surface, substantially equidistant from the positioning axis, for instance having a circular cross section, and the first external nozzles are adjustable so as to deliver a flow of quenching agent tangential to the surface of the product.
  • quenching action occurs simultaneously on the whole surface of the product, subjecting it to a flow of liquid always cold, increasing thus efficiency of the static quenching with respect to the one by immersion in tank.
  • the curvilinear surface is open at the bottom.
  • a further advantage is the possibility of allowing possible lifting devices, supporting the product and permitting the evacuation, passing.
  • the apparatus may comprise a second internal nozzle for dispensing quenching agent, arranged in correspondence of the positioning axis, for advantageously quenching the inner surface of a possible tube, having any dimension.
  • the apparatus comprises rotating means in order to operate the rotation of a product about the main development axis, when the product is housed in the seat.
  • the rotating means permit adjusting the relative speed of the quenching agent when it comes into contact with the product to be quenched: by changing the speed or the direction of rotation, modifying the drastic nature of quenching is possible, for adapting it to the kind of steel to be treated. For the steels susceptible to cracks due to quenching, this possibility is very important.
  • the contact period between the product and the quenching agent is extended, while if the rotation occurs in the opposite direction such contact period decreases.
  • the nozzles are preferably mounted on lances, providing thus a water flow which is very steady with a relatively low pressure (circa 2,5 bar). Furthermore, the nozzles may be arranged with an angle between the lines smaller than 15°, as it is apparent in the attached figures: this ensures the possibility of inserting a big total amount of nozzles which are suitable for providing a big water flow.
  • Another subject of the present invention is a process for static quenching of a product equipped with a main development axis and coming from a plant for treating rolled products, implementable by an apparatus according to the invention and comprising the following steps:
  • the apparatus of the invention has the peculiarity of joining the advantages of the known technologies up to now avoiding the drawbacks.
  • the apparatus of the invention in fact, provides a static quenching, so that the product 1 (a tube or a bar) to be quenched is put under the quenching agent 2, for instance water, along its entire length at the same time. Externally, the bar is quenched by a rim 3 of nozzles 4 covering a part of the circumference of the product.
  • the nozzles 4 are adjustable so that the quenching agent 2 hits the product 1 tangentially.
  • the product 1 is housed on rotating devices (rollers or lunettes) 5 and during the step of quenching ( figure 2 ) the product 1 rotates about itself along the direction of the narrow R, about its own main development axis, perpendicular to the plane of the figure and passing by the point A.
  • a nozzle At the head of the apparatus of the invention there is a nozzle, not shown, adequately sized and shaped, which ensures an optimal flow of quenching agent even on the inner surface 6 of the product 1.
  • a hopper 7 At the back of the apparatus of the invention there is a hopper 7, collecting the quenching agent 2 coming from the internal nozzle after having crossed the length of the product.
  • the process of quenching of the invention may comprise the following steps:
  • the tangential quenching ensures an optimal exchange on the external surface of the product 1, since the quenching agent 2 hits the product 1 with such a speed that breaks the vapour barrier.
  • the apparatus of the invention provides a quenching agent flow which is tangential to the product 1, i.e. which has not a line symmetry with respect to the axis A of the product 1.
  • the tangential flow in fact, increases in proportion to the contribution given by each rim 3 of nozzles 4.
  • This permits making the quenching more or less drastic basing on the direction and on the speed of rotation of the product 1.
  • basing on the direction of rotation R that as shown in figure 2 may be clockwise or counter-clockwise, the difference in the heat exchange is comparable to the difference that there is between a heat exchange in downstream and an exchange occurring in upstream.
  • the quenching more or less drastic is possible; for the steels susceptible to the cracks this possibility is very important.
  • the product 1 does not move axially; for cooling the inner surface of the product to be treated, thus, using a not moving nozzle, that does not completely enter within the product 1, is possible as in the case of the lances which are used at the moment for progressive quench.
  • the non moving nozzle is suitable for optimise the inner cooling of the tube, since the section which is available for the cooling water flow coincides with the inner section of the tube, and is not partially obstructed by the lances.

Landscapes

  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Thermal Sciences (AREA)
  • Crystallography & Structural Chemistry (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Metallurgy (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Heat Treatment Of Articles (AREA)
  • Heat Treatments In General, Especially Conveying And Cooling (AREA)
EP15791773.3A 2014-09-01 2015-08-31 Apparatus and method for quenching rods and tubes Active EP3189167B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
ITVI20140219 2014-09-01
PCT/IT2015/000206 WO2016035103A1 (en) 2014-09-01 2015-08-31 Apparatus and method for quenching rods and tubes

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP3189167A1 EP3189167A1 (en) 2017-07-12
EP3189167B1 true EP3189167B1 (en) 2019-08-28

Family

ID=52001014

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP15791773.3A Active EP3189167B1 (en) 2014-09-01 2015-08-31 Apparatus and method for quenching rods and tubes

Country Status (6)

Country Link
US (1) US20170283898A1 (ru)
EP (1) EP3189167B1 (ru)
CN (1) CN107109504B (ru)
ES (1) ES2759355T3 (ru)
RU (1) RU2017106755A (ru)
WO (1) WO2016035103A1 (ru)

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP3255160B1 (en) * 2015-02-06 2019-10-02 JFE Steel Corporation Steel pipe quenching method, steel pipe quenching apparatus, steel pipe production method, and steel pipe production equipment
CN108048630A (zh) * 2018-01-31 2018-05-18 中国重型机械研究院股份公司 一种通过式钢管调质生产线和应用方法
DE102019205724A1 (de) * 2019-04-18 2020-10-22 Sms Group Gmbh Kühlvorrichtung für nahtlose Stahlrohre

Family Cites Families (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4490187A (en) * 1982-02-16 1984-12-25 Kruppert Enterprises, Inc. Method for heat treating steel
US4834344A (en) * 1987-02-20 1989-05-30 Surface Combustion, Inc. Apparatus for inside-outside tube quenching
RU2217507C2 (ru) * 2001-06-05 2003-11-27 Открытое акционерное общество "Электростальский завод тяжелого машиностроения" Устройство для охлаждения цилиндрических изделий
CN201376984Y (zh) * 2009-04-17 2010-01-06 上海热处理厂有限公司 曲轴类工件淬火器
CN201553765U (zh) * 2009-12-15 2010-08-18 重庆美心曲轴制造有限公司 汽油机曲轴曲颈淬火装置
JP5252131B2 (ja) * 2011-03-18 2013-07-31 新日鐵住金株式会社 鋼管の焼入方法
CN202688382U (zh) * 2012-06-29 2013-01-23 衡阳华菱钢管有限公司 用于钢管淬火的淬火装置
CN202717814U (zh) * 2012-07-16 2013-02-06 天津赛瑞机器设备有限公司 钢管隧道式淬火装置
CN102776343A (zh) * 2012-07-24 2012-11-14 太原重工股份有限公司 隧道式钢管淬火设备及其淬火方法

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
None *

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO2016035103A1 (en) 2016-03-10
CN107109504B (zh) 2018-08-28
RU2017106755A (ru) 2018-10-03
ES2759355T3 (es) 2020-05-08
CN107109504A (zh) 2017-08-29
US20170283898A1 (en) 2017-10-05
EP3189167A1 (en) 2017-07-12

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