Nonferrous Material & Heat Treatment Methods

Still I try to focus with this Piping & Fabrication blog, even I post this blog rarely, but I think that would be enough to gave some information about Piping System.

Nonferrous Materials. Bending and forming of nonferrous materials may result in undesirable work-hardening. Some nickel alloys may be subject to carbide precipitation when hot bent or formed. Materials that can be hardened by precipitation require other considerations. Depending on the final use, it may be desirable to perform some type of postbending or forming heat treatment. Because of the great many new materials being developed and used, it is suggested that the user contact the material manufacturers or material associations for their recommendations on the specific material and service.

Heat Treatment Methods. Shop heat treatments are most often carried out in specifically designed heat treatment furnaces, but local stress relieving of welds may also involve induction, resistance, or torch heating. Above critical heat treatments, such as annealing, normalizing, and normalizing and tempering for ferritic steel and carbide solution heat treatment for austenitic stainless steels, are performed in large heat-treatment furnaces. These same furnaces are also used for stress-relieving heat treatments of ferritic steels. Such furnaces are generally fired with natural gas, propane, or low-sulfur oil. Depending on their design, they may attain temperatures up to 2300°F (1260°C) which covers the entire spectrum of temperatures commonly encountered in piping applications. Heating and cooling rates and holding temperatures are automatically controlled. Larger furnaces may have two or more zones, each independently controlled. Records of furnace zone temperatures and material temperatures are obtained using recording potentiometers.

When assemblies are too large or furnaces are not available, local stress relieving of individual welds may be accomplished in the shop using electrical induction, electrical resistance, or gas torch heating. Induction equipment involves alternating current frequencies of the order of 60 to 400 Hz. Induction generates heat within the wall of the pipe. This has the advantage of amore uniform temperature through the thickness with greater uniformity at the lower frequencies. The heat treatment cycle is controlled automatically with thermocouples attached directly on or adjacent to the weld. The weld and

thermocouple are covered with insulating material. The induction field is generated in copper cables or solid or water-cooled copper coils external to the insulation.

Resistance heating involves the use of direct current in suitable lengths of nichrome heating wire. Various configurations and sizes of prefabricated heating elements consisting of heating wires separated by ceramic beads are available commercially. Depending on the size, wall thickness, and desired heating temperature, multiple heating units and combinations of elements may be needed. The weld and heating elements are covered with insulating blankets to retain the heat. Since heating is from one side, a somewhat wider heating band on the outside may be needed to assure that the inside of the pipe attains the required temperature. Thermocouples attached directly to the weld or adjacent to it are used to control heating, holding, and cooling temperatures. Torch heating can often be used for stress relieving, but where controlled heating and cooling rates are mandated, it may be less than satisfactory. Single torches may be used for pipe up to about NPS 3 (DN 80), but ring burners are needed for larger sizes. Exothermic heating has been used in the field and is discussed in the section ‘‘Installation.’’