TMK’s Seversky Pipe Plant awarded SMS group the final acceptance certificate for a heat-treatment line for tubes and pipes at its Polevskoy site in Russia. The line has an annual capacity of up to 300,000 tons of pipes with diameters between 168 and 370 mm (6.6 and 14.5 inches), a wall thickness of up to 40 mm (1.5 inches) and lengths of up to 13.5 meters (44.3 feet). The line is able to process small batch sizes and different product groups in a cost-efficient manner.

Seversky Pipe Plant now has a fully automated quenching and tempering heat-treatment line that satisfies all preconditions in terms of production and final material quality and allows TMK to offer fully finished high-quality pipes for the oil-and-gas industry. The certificate was awarded following successful hot, cold and performance tests.

SMS group’s scope of supply included the entire heat-treatment line. It is made up of the SMS quenching head, which features a patented inner quenching lance for tube-wall thicknesses of more than 25 mm (1 inch). The design of the inner lance coupled with the quenching head maximizes heat transfer and facilitates the successful treatment of very heavy tubes, which was previously difficult or impossible to process through water tank systems or using earlier versions of internal lances. SMS group also supplied the complete water-treatment system and automation and electrical systems for the entire heat-treatment line.