The Production Of Nickel And High Nickel Alloy Seamless Tubing

THIS paper is a brief discussion of the past and present methods employed by the Huntington Works of The International Nickel Co., Inc., in the production of nickel and high nickel alloy seamless tubing. The various operations for both hot and cold processing will be considered in their natural sequence, together with the processing characteristics of the high nickel alloys and some descriptions of the equipment used. The tools and lubricants currently in use will be described. This discussion will relate primarily to nickel, Monel,† and Inconel,† since these are the most common of the many alloys processed into tubing at the Huntington Works. The nominal compositions of the materials are shown in Table I. CONVERSION FROM SOLID BILLETS TO TUBE SHELLS History The commercial production of seamless nickel and high nickel alloy tube shells is a comparatively recent development, the first nickel shells having been produced in 1922, Monel in 1930, and Inconel in 1931 on rotary-type piercing mills. Rolled or forged billets, ranging from 3 ½ - to 7 ½ in. diam, were pierced to produce shells ranging' in size from 4 3/8 in. OD X 0.180 in. wall to 8 3/8 in. OD X 1.0 in. wall. After piercing, the shells. were further processed by hot rolling, reeling, and sizing. Subsequent to these operations the shells were either supplied to the trade as "hot finished" tubes, or were processed by cold drawing to smaller sizes at the Huntington Works of the International Nickel Co. The extrusion of nickel and high nickel alloys also may be classed as a relative newcomer to the field of hot-forming methods, for it was not until 1928 that the commercial extrusion of these alloys was begun on a 600 long ton vertical extrusion press installed at Zenith Works of Henry Wiggin and Co., Ltd., Glasgow, Scotland. This press did considerable pioneer work and the results were so favorable that in 1937 a -2200 long ton horizontal press was installed. The quality of the inside surface of the tubing produced on this press was superior to that produced by piercing on a rotary-type mill and, as a result of this experience, a 4000 ton horizontal extrusion press was installed at the Huntington Works in 1943. Billet Preparation The first step in the extrusion, process is the selection of ingots with good hot malleability, as indicated by the test described by Martin and Bieber.1 Ingots then are forged into rough rounds which are machined to the desired billet diameter on a "bar peeler." This machine consists of a rotary head which carries the cutting tools and is driven by a 200 hp, dc motor. The feed mechanism consists of hydraulically driven input and output carriages on the respective sides of the cutter head. The diameter of the forgings used and the machined size or "billet diameter" that corresponds to the four different sizes of