JP2010270394A - Continuous heat-treatment method for steel pipe - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a continuous heat-treatment method for steel pipe, suitable to full body heat-treatment of an electroseamed steel pipe for expanding pipe, used especially as an oil-well pipe, related to the continuous heat-treatment method for steel pipe. <P>SOLUTION: Under state of connecting both end parts of the steel pipes, the steel pipes are continuously sent into a heat-treatment facility and heat-treatment accompanied with rapid cooling with cooling water to the whole body of steel pipes, is applied. The end part at one side of the steel pipe is expanded in diameter and a female-screw is cut on its inner peripheral surface and the other steel pipe is screw-combined to be connected. Further, both end parts of steel pipes can be connected through a connecting member. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for continuous heat treatment of steel pipes, and more particularly to a method for continuous heat treatment of steel pipes suitable for full body heat treatment of ERW steel pipes for expansion used as oil well pipes.

  Line pipes and oil well pipes are sometimes expanded to increase the inner diameter during use. In particular, techniques have been developed to reduce drilling costs by expanding the oil well pipes while they are buried underground. In order to improve the pipe expandability, it is necessary that the steel pipe has material characteristics excellent in workability. However, in order to lower the oil well pipe deeply into the ground, it is necessary for the steel pipe to have high strength. In order to improve the workability of the steel pipe, a soft structure is advantageous, and in order to increase the strength, a hard structure is advantageous. For this reason, it is not easy to achieve both workability and strength, but it is possible to achieve both of these characteristics by using a composite structure steel (dual phase steel) in which hard martensite is dispersed in soft ferrite. It becomes.

In order to make the structure of a steel pipe into such a composite structure, the steel pipe is heated to a temperature of Ac ₁ point or more and Ac ₃ point or less to be held to form a structure composed of ferrite and austenite, and then rapidly cooled. It is necessary to have a structure in which martensite is precipitated in ferrite. Naturally, the heat treatment for this must be performed on the entire steel pipe (full body).

  In view of this, a method has been developed in which the steel pipe is heated to the above temperature and then cooled rapidly by spraying cooling water in a water cooling device. In this method, in order to increase productivity, the rear end surface of the preceding steel pipe and the front end surface of the subsequent steel pipe are brought into contact with each other, and are fed into the heat treatment apparatus without interruption. However, part of the cooling water sprayed on the steel pipe may flow into the steel pipe from the end face of the steel pipe and back flow in the direction of the heating area. Stable product characteristics may not be obtained near the end of the steel pipe.

  It is well known to heat-treat the welded seam portion of the ERW steel pipe, but this is not a heat treatment for the full body of the steel pipe. Patent Document 1 discloses a method for improving the tube expandability of a joint portion by diffusing and joining the end portions of a seamless steel pipe and then tempering the joint portion. However, this is a heat treatment only for the joint end of the steel pipe, and is not a heat treatment for the full body of the steel pipe, nor is it a quenching with cooling water.

JP 2001-300743 A

  As described above, a technique that can heat-treat the entire steel pipe continuously with high productivity and without allowing cooling water to enter inside has not been known. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a continuous heat treatment method for a steel pipe that can efficiently perform heat treatment with water cooling on the entire steel pipe for pipe expansion while preventing intrusion of cooling water into the inside of the steel pipe. is there.

  The continuous heat treatment method of a steel pipe of the present invention made to solve the above problems is to continuously feed the steel pipe to a heat treatment facility in a state where the ends of the steel pipe are connected to each other, and quench the entire steel pipe with cooling water. It is characterized by performing a heat treatment involving The steel pipe can be a steel pipe for expansion used as an oil well pipe.

  In the present invention, it is preferable that one end portion of the steel pipe is expanded in diameter, and a female screw is cut on the inner peripheral surface thereof to be screwed to another steel pipe. In addition, it is preferable to connect the ends of the steel pipes via a connecting member, and it is preferable to release the connection between the steel pipes after the heat treatment. The heat treatment equipment is preferably provided with a heating means, a heat-retaining furnace, and a water cooling means, and it is preferable to generate a composite structure in which martensite is dispersed in ferrite by heat treatment. Moreover, it is preferable that the steel pipe of this invention is used for the steel pipe for expansion used as an oil well pipe.

  According to the present invention, in the state where the ends of the steel pipes are connected to each other, the entire steel pipe is subjected to heat treatment accompanied by quenching with cooling water, so that the cooling water for quenching enters the inside from the end of the steel pipe as in the prior art. There is no fear. For this reason, the whole steel pipe can be heat-treated uniformly to obtain a steel pipe for expansion that has both workability and strength. In the present invention, since the ends of the steel pipes are connected to each other, they can be easily separated after the heat treatment, and the subsequent handling is also easy. In addition, there is an advantage that a connecting member such as a pipe joint is not necessary when screwed, and when connecting the ends of steel pipes via a connecting member, it is not necessary to cut the screw into the steel pipe. There is an advantage that can be linked.

  In addition, if a composite structure in which martensite is dispersed in ferrite by this heat treatment, the tube expansion rate can be significantly increased from 15% to 25-30% while maintaining a strength of 600 MPa or more. A steel pipe suitable for use as an oil well pipe can be obtained. The tube expansion rate means (outer diameter after tube expansion-outer diameter before tube expansion) / outer diameter before tube expansion, and is represented by the maximum value that allows tube expansion without cracking in this specification.

1 is an overall view of a heat treatment apparatus in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a graph which shows heat processing conditions. It is an enlarged view of the connection part when screwed together. It is a block diagram which shows embodiment of this invention. It is an enlarged view which shows another connection member. It is an enlarged view which shows another connection member. It is a perspective view which shows another connection member. (A) The front view before use which shows another connection member, (b) The front view of a use condition.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
In the following embodiment, the steel pipe for expansion used as an oil well pipe is continuously heat-treated to produce a composite structure in which martensite is dispersed in ferrite. Although the size of the steel pipe is various, the length of one is 10-15 m, the outer diameter is 114-340 mm, and the plate thickness is about 5.2-13 mm. If an electric resistance welded steel pipe having a small thickness variation compared to a seamless steel pipe is used as this steel pipe, it is possible to more reliably prevent rupture at the time of pipe expansion and increase the pipe expansion ratio.

  In the present invention, the steel composition of the steel pipe for pipe expansion is not particularly limited, but C: 0.03 to 0.20% (mass%, the same applies hereinafter), Si: 0.01 to 1.20%, Mn: 0.30 to 2.50%, P: 0.03% or less, S: 0.01% or less, AL: 0.001 to 0.01%, N: 0.01% or less, Ti: 0.005% ~ 0.05%, Ca: 10-40 ppm, Nb: 0.01-0.1% as a selection element, V: 0.01-0.1, preferably a composition comprising the balance Fe, In particular, it has been confirmed that the addition of Ca contributes to an increase in the tube expansion rate.

The ERW steel pipe having such a composition is heated to a temperature of Ac ₁ point or more and Ac ₃ point or less to be held to form a structure composed of ferrite and austenite, and then rapidly cooled to precipitate martensite in the ferrite. . A specific heating temperature is 760 to 845 ° C., and the temperature range from 700 ° C. to 300 ° C. is rapidly cooled at a cooling rate of 20 ° C./second or more after being held in this temperature range for 1 minute or more. When the cooling rate is slower than this, the martensite fraction in the steel structure is lowered, and the strength is lowered.

  FIG. 1 is an apparatus configuration diagram for performing such a heat treatment, and a steel pipe 1 is sent to the right in FIG. 1 by a number of rollers 2 arranged at an angle of about 3 to 6 ° with respect to a horizontal plane. Heat treatment is continuously performed while passing through a heat treatment apparatus including the heating means 3, the heat retaining furnace 4, and the water cooling means 5. However, in the present invention, it is not essential to have such an inclination, and it may be arranged horizontally.

  As the heating means 3, a high-frequency heating device is used in this embodiment. While passing through this high-frequency heating device, the steel pipe is heated to 760 to 845 ° C. and held in the heat retaining furnace 4 for 1 minute or more. Thereafter, cooling water is sprayed from the surroundings in the water cooling means 5 and rapidly cooled to 300 ° C. or less at a cooling rate of 20 ° C./second or more to obtain a composite structure in which martensite is dispersed in ferrite. FIG. 2 shows the heat treatment conditions.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the steel pipe 1 to be heat-treated is at a position where the tip is low, and the cooling water is devised so that the cooling water enters the inside and is difficult to flow backward, but it is still possible to completely prevent the cooling water from entering. Impossible. Therefore, in the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, one end of the steel pipe 1 is expanded and a female thread is cut on the inner peripheral surface thereof, and the other end of the steel pipe 1 is tapered to reduce the outer peripheral surface thereof. The corresponding male screw is cut and the ends of the steel pipe 1 are directly screwed together. In this way, if the steel pipes 1 are connected in series in the previous process and passed through the heat treatment apparatus, the possibility of cooling water entering from the end of the steel pipe 1 and flowing backward becomes zero, and heat treatment by intrusion of cooling water is performed. Defects are eliminated. Although the connecting portion is doubled, the wall thickness is increased, but there is no problem if a cooling rate of 20 ° C./second or more can be secured.

  Thus, it has not been known at all to perform a full body heat treatment after screwing the steel pipes 1 together. When the screw connection is released after the heat treatment is completed, the steel pipes can be shipped again one by one. If screws are used in this way, coupling and separation can be easily performed, so that workability is improved as compared with joining by welding.

As an example of connecting the steel pipes 1, the case where the ends of the steel pipes 1 are screwed together as described above has been described. However, the ends of the steel pipes 1 can also be connected via the connecting members 6. Examples of the connecting member 6 include the following.
In FIG. 5, tapered portions 7 a, 7 a having a gradually decreasing inner diameter are formed on the inner peripheral surfaces of both side portions of the cylindrical main body portion 7, and the diameter of the end portion of the steel pipe 1 is reduced in the tapered portion 7 a. It has a structure that is press-fitted and connected. In FIG. 6, taper portions 8a and 8a having gradually decreasing outer diameters are formed on the outer peripheral surfaces of both side portions of the cylindrical body portion 8, and the diameter of the end portion of the steel pipe 1 is increased in the taper portion 8a. It has a structure that is press-fit while being connected. 7 is provided with a plurality of slits 9a, 9a on both sides of a cylindrical main body 9, and a ring 9b (only one ring is shown in FIG. 7). After the end of the steel pipe 1 is inserted into the main body 9, the ring 9b is slid toward the end so that the slit is reduced so as to reduce the diameter, and the steel pipe 1 is fixed and connected. ing.
In FIG. 8, the spring wire 11 is stretched at an angle between the two rings 10 and 10. When the steel pipe 1 is inserted, the spring wire 11 is stretched and comes into contact with the steel pipe 1. The end portions of the steel pipe 1 are connected to each other.

In these connection members 6 shown in FIGS. 5 to 8, the end portions of the steel pipe 1 can be easily connected to each other, and separation in a subsequent process can be easily performed. 5 to 6, the end of the steel pipe 1 is in close contact with the connecting member 6, and in FIG. 7, the end of the steel pipe 1 is covered with a cylindrical main body 9. Therefore, there is no possibility that the cooling water enters from the end of the steel pipe 1 and flows backward, and the heat treatment failure due to the penetration of the cooling water is eliminated.
In the case of FIG. 8, there is no waterproofing effect by the connecting member 6, but if the ends of the steel pipe 1 are connected in close contact with each other, intrusion of cooling water can be prevented. The connecting member 6 is not limited to the above-described shape, and may be any other shape and structure as long as it is easy to attach and detach, can withstand high temperatures, and has the ability to prevent water from entering.

  The obtained steel pipe is a steel structure of dual phase steel as a whole, and is a steel pipe for expansion that has both workability and strength. In addition, about the workability, the pipe expansion rate of 25-30% was able to be achieved, and about 600 MPa or more was able to be achieved about the intensity | strength. In addition, the strength of this structure is further increased by re-processing due to the effect of carbon dissolved in ferrite, so that if the tube is expanded in the ground, it can have a high crushing strength.

C: 0.06%, Si: 0.2%, Mn: 1.3%, P: less than 0.005%, S: 0.003%, Nb: 0.03%, V: 0.02%, AL: 0.003%, N: 0.003%, Ti: 0.02%, Ca: 20 ppm, balance Fe and unavoidable impurities, length 12m, outer diameter 300mm, plate thickness 11mm The ERW steel pipe was screwed as shown in FIG. The length of the joint is about 300 mm. The joined steel pipe is passed through a heat treatment device at a speed of 0.4 m / min by a roller having an inclination of 4 ° with respect to a horizontal plane, heated to 800 ° C. by a high-frequency heating device with an output of 800 kW, and kept in a heat retaining furnace for 90 seconds. The temperature was maintained over a period of time, and cooling water was sprayed from the surrounding area at a flow rate of 2 m ³ per minute to rapidly cool to 300 ° C. or lower. The cooling rate is about 25 ° C./second.

  When the screw connection of the heat-treated steel pipe was released and the tensile strength and the maximum pipe expansion ratio were measured, they were 700 MPa and 27%, respectively, and no characteristic difference was observed between the central portion and the tube end portion.

The same ERW steel pipe as in Example 1 was connected via a connecting member as shown in FIG. The connected steel pipes were heat-treated with a high-frequency heating apparatus in the same manner as in Example 1, and then kept at a temperature in a heat-retaining furnace, and then cooled rapidly by blowing cooling water from the surroundings.
After the above heat treatment, the connecting member was removed from the steel pipe, and the results of measuring the tensile strength and the maximum expansion ratio of the obtained steel pipe were confirmed to be the same values as in Example 1, and the pipe end portion However, there was no difference in characteristics from the central part.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Steel pipe 2 Roller 3 Heating means 4 Heat retention furnace 5 Water cooling means 6 Connection member 7 Cylindrical main-body part 8 Column-shaped main-body part 9 Cylindrical main-body part

Claims (7)

  A continuous heat treatment method for steel pipes, characterized in that the steel pipes are continuously fed to a heat treatment facility in a state where the ends of the steel pipes are connected, and the whole steel pipe is subjected to heat treatment accompanied by quenching with cooling water.   2. A continuous heat treatment method for a steel pipe according to claim 1, wherein one end of the steel pipe is expanded in diameter, and a female thread is cut on the inner peripheral surface thereof to be connected to another steel pipe by screw connection.   The continuous heat treatment method for a steel pipe according to claim 1, wherein the ends of the steel pipe are connected to each other via a connecting member.   The method for continuous heat treatment of steel pipes according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the connection between the steel pipes is released after the heat treatment.   The continuous heat treatment method for a steel pipe according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the heat treatment equipment includes a heating means, a heat retaining furnace, and a water cooling means.   The continuous heat treatment method for a steel pipe according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a composite structure in which martensite is dispersed in ferrite is generated by heat treatment.   The method for continuous heat treatment of a steel pipe according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the steel pipe is a steel pipe for expansion used as an oil well pipe.

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