Anda di halaman 1dari 6

HEAVY WEIGHT DRILL PIPE HARDFACING BY USING

WELDING TECHNOLOGIES
V. Ulmanu 1, M. Bdicioiu1, M. Claru 1, Gh. Zecheru 1,
Gh. Drghici 1, M. Minescu 1, C. Preda 1
1. Petroleum-Gas University of Ploieti, Romania

ABSTRACT
During the open hole drilling process, the drill string components are exposed to an
intensive wear process, that leads to a drastically reduction of their durability. In order to increase the drill pipe wear resistance in the area frequently exposed to an
abrasive wear process hardfacing wear alloys are applied using welding technologies. The present paper brings forward the experimental researches regarding the
heavy weight drill pipe hardfacing by using welding technology, in order to increase
their wear resistance.
KEYWORDS: Hardfacing, Welding, Heavy weight drill pipe

1. INTRODUCTION
The heavy weight drill pipes are the most expensive elements of the drill string and their durability is essential for the economical drill work efficiency. In the exploration work, abrasion wear
occurs and the durability of the heavy weight drill pipe is decreased. The abrasion wear is the
result of the friction between the heavy weight drill pipe with the inner surface of the casing or
the open hole wall. In order to improve the heavy weight drill pipes wear resistance the hardfacing technology is worldwide applied, /1/, /2/, /3/.

134

The heavy weight drill pipes are pipes with thick walls having De = 90168 mm outer diameter
and L 9000 mm length, manufactured from full forged blanks. The hardfacing alloy is applied
on the external surface of the pin and box (Figure 1), /7/, /10/.

20

100
760

Figure1: The hardfacing area of the heavy weight drill pipe.


The hardfacing technology applied on the heavy weight drill pipes has a lot of advantages, such as:
it increases the durability of the heavy weight drill pipes hardbanded with hardfacing alloys by improving the resistance to abrasion wear, it increases the functionality of the heavy weight drill pipes
hardbanded with hardfacing alloys, it reduces the accidents and the following expensive intervenProceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Manufacturing Engineering (ICMEN), 1-3 October 2008, Chalkidiki, Greece
Edited by Prof. K.-D. Bouzakis, Director of the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Manufacturing Engineering (),
Aristoteles University of Thessaloniki and of the Fraunhofer Project Center Coatings in Manufacturing (PCCM),
a joint initiative by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Published by: and PCCM

341

tions in the drilling process, it increases the demand on the international market of the heavy weight
drill pipes hardbanded with hardfacing alloys, /4/, /5/, /6/].
The present paper present the experimental researches regarding the heavy weight drill pipe
hardfacing by using welding technology, in order to increase the their wear resistance.

2. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
2.1. Material (Specimen)
The experimentally researches regarding the heavy weight drill pipes hardfacing with resisting
wear alloy by using welding process, were performed on specimens having 80 mm length,
134 mm outer diameter and 76 mm inner diameter, manufactured by steel AISI 4145H (utilized
in heavy weight drill pipes construction). The chemical composition and the mechanical characteristics of the AISI 4145H steel are presented in table 1 and table 2.
Table 1: Chemical characteristics of AISI 4145H alloy steel.
C,%

Mn,%

Si,%

P,%

S,%

Cr,%

Mo,%

Al,%

Ni,%

Cu,%

0.43

0.97

0.31

0.022

0.012

0.99

0.21

0.028

0.11

0.14

Table 2: Mechanical characteristics of AISI 4145H alloy steel.


HB

Rm,N/mm2

A, %

Z, %

336

1124.7

14

51

A recess grove with 50 mm width and 1.5 mm depth was machined onto the specimens and
filled flush with hardfacing alloy in order to avoid the wear of casing inner diameter.
2.2. Hardfacing material
In the experimental work it was used a wear resistant flux core tubular wire of 1.6 mm diameter,
/8/, /9/. The deposit characteristics are presented in table 3. The deposit hardness is very important in the drilling process because a value higher than 57-62 HRC will cause an excessive
wear of the casing. In this condition is very important to choose the most suitable hardfacing
materials, /8/, /9/.
Table 3: The deposit characteristics.

C,
%

Mn,
%

Si,
%

0.45 0.85

1.5 2.1

0.50 0.85

Chemical composition of the deposit


P,
S,
Cr,
Mo,
Nb,
%
%
%
%
%
0.020

0.020

5.07.0

0.350.85

Hardness
Ni,
%

B,
%

Fe,
%

HRC

rest

57-62

The metal active gas welding process (MAG) was used to hardfacing the heavy weight drill pipe.
The shielding gas was 80 % Ar and 20 % CO2.
2.3. Welding equipment
For the experimental research a welding equipment was designed and manufactured which allowed, from the cinematic point of view, the following movements: continuous rotation of the
specimen; axial feed of the welding torch; oscillate the welding torch. Figure 2 shows a scheme
of the welding equipment used in the experimental work.

342

3rd ICMEN 2008

170190
X = 1238 mm

Welding torch
Grip and oscillate device

Y=1825 mm
Specimen

Table

Figure 2: The welding equipment scheme.

The welding equipment has the following components:


- constant direct current (DC) power supply capable of furnishing a current of 180400 Amperes and 2030 Volts, with the wire positive (DCEP);
- griping and rotating device able to grip and rotate the heavy weight drill pipe at a constant
rotating speed of between 0.2 to 1.2 rotations per minute;
- grip and oscillate device able to oscillate the welding torch parallel to the pipe surface with
the amplitude of 15 to 25 mm and at approximately 60 to 90 oscillations per minute, and to
incline the welding torch, in the direction of the rotation, between 1719 degrees as measured from the centre-line of the heavy weight drill pipe.
2.4. Hardfacing research methodology
In order to hardfacing the surface of the heavy weight drill pipe the following specific welding
procedure were applied:
a) Material preparation. After turning the specimen by using a lathe machine a visual inspection
of the weld surface was performed to ensure it is clean and without rust, dirt, grease, oil etc.
b) Griping the specimen in the griping and rotating device.
c) Preheating the specimen. Before to starts the hardfacing process, the specimen was preheated at 100 degree Celsius during the rotation. Inadequate preheating of the parent steel
may cause undesirable cracking in the parent metal.
d) Hardbanding the specimen. Three welding beads were intermittently hardfaced on specimen
by using the technological parameters presented in table 4. To avoid the superheating of the
parent metal it was necessary to wait until the temperature of the specimen decreases below
300 oC, before proceeding to the next welding bead.
e) Controlled cooling of the specimen. When the hardfacing process was finished the hardfaced
specimen was slowly cooled to avoid the cracks in the weld beads.

Casting, Thixo - Forming, Welding

343

Table 4: Technological parameters of the hardfacing regimes.


Technological parameters
Polarity
Amperage, A
Voltage, V
Shielding gas, l/min
Filler metal speed, m/min
X distance (from figure 2), mm
Y distance (from figure 2), mm
Rotating speed of the specimen,rot/min
Welding speed, m/h
Oscillating the welding torch:
- oscillating speed, oscillation/min
- oscillation amplitude, mm
Preheat temperature, oC
Interpass temperature, oC

Values
reverse
260 10
24 1
13.5
4.5
20
20
0.6
14.5
60
25
100
350

2.5. Research regarding the tribological behavior of the hardfaced layer


After the cooling, the harfaced specimens were analyzed and tested in order to verify the influence of the hardfacing technology to the heavy weight drill pipe wear resistance. From the hardfaced specimens was cut the test sample used in the tribological testing facility (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Hardfaced specimen.


In order to investigate the wear resistance, at micro scale, was utilized the Baroid Lubricity
Tester modified (Figure 4) that allowed to appreciate the wear protecting materials behavior
based on the test samples weight loss, U in g.

Figure 4: The Baroid Lubricity Tester modified.

344

3rd ICMEN 2008

The tribological tests were carried out in drilling mud on barite basis with the characteristics presented in table 5.
Table 5: Characteristics of the drilling mud.
Physical caharacteristics
Density (a), Kg/m3
Plastic viscosity (p), cP
Apparent viscosity (a), cP
Shearing dynamic stress (0), N/mm2

Value
1090
13
15
1,92
4,8 (i =1)
8,6 (i =10)
9,8
2,3

Shearing static stress (i), N/mm2


Filtered volume (Vf), cm3
Mud cake thickness (t), mm
The tribological testing conditions are presented in table 6.
Table 6: Tribological testing conditions.
Friction couple 1
Sabot-Heavy
weight drill pipe

Work conditions

Ring-Casing

Friction couple 2
Sabot-Heavy
weight drill pipe
hardfaced with
Ring-Casing
wear resisting
alloy

Sample

20 x 30 x 16 mm 35 x 8.5 mm 20 x 30 x 16 mm 35 x 8.5 mm
AISI 4145H
OLT 65
dendritic strucOLT 65
sorbitic structure ferito-pearlitic
ture
ferito-pearlitic
structure
structure
Rockwell hardness, HRC
34.6
20.3
56.9
20.3
Load force, N
350
350
Rotation speed, rot/min
72
72
Testing time, min
10
10
Friction coefficient (dry fric0.94
0.56
tion conditions)
Sample dimensions
Material

The wear of the test samples appreciated by the weight loss are presented in figure 5.
30

26.2 Sabot

-3

U *10 , g

25

Sabot
14

20
15
10

Ring
6.4

5
0

Ring
0.88

1
2
Friction couple

Figure 5: The wear of the test samples.

Casting, Thixo - Forming, Welding

345

3. CONCLUSIONS
Based on experimental researches, the technology and the equipment for heavy weight drill
pipe hardfacing were developed.
The tribological behavior of the deposit was analyzed by performing wear tests using the two
following friction couples:
- couple 1: ring - casing, sabot - heavy weight drill pipe;
- couple 2: ring casing, sabot - heavy weight drill pipe hardfaced with resisting wear alloy.
From the experimental researches performed on the friction couples investigated (ring - casing;
sabot - heavy weight drill pipe and ring - casing; sabot - heavy weight drill pipe hardfaced with
resisting wear alloy) the following conclusions were results:
- Friction couple 1 (ring - casing; sabot - heavy weight drill pipe) present an adhesive and
abrasive wear, characterized by the important deeps appears on the both sliding contact
surfaces;
- Friction couple 2 (ring - casing; sabot - heavy weight drill pipe hardfaced with resisting wear
alloy) present an spare adhesive wear, without no important deeps on the both sliding contact surfaces;
- Due to the wear process the weight losses in the case of friction couple 1 (ring - casing; sabot - heavy weight drill pipe) is practically double comparatively with the weight loses in the
case of couple 2 (ring - casing; sabot - heavy weight drill pipe hardfaced with resisting wear
alloy);
- The friction coefficient (dry) in the case of couple 1 (ring - casing; sabot - heavy weight drill
pipe) is 0.94 and in the case of couple 2 (ring - casing; sabot - heavy weight drill pipe hardfaced with wear alloy) is 0.56; this indicate that the couple 1 present a better behavior to the
friction than the couple 2.

4. REFERENCES
1. Ulmanu, V., Tehnologia fabricrii i reparrii utilajului petrolier, Editura ILEX (2002).
2. Ulmanu, V., Fabricarea, repararea i ntreinerea utilajului chimic i petrochimic, Editura didactic i pedagogic, Bucureti (1981).
3. Nicolescu, A., Contribuii la mrirea durabilitii n exploatare a garniturilor de foraj cu racorduri sudate n condiiile forajului de mare adncime, Tez de doctorat, I.P.G, Ploieti (1980).
4. Ulmanu, V., Zecheru, Gh., Dr[ghici, Gh., Elaborarea tehnologiei de ncrcare a racordurilor
speciale cu carburi metalice, Contract de cercetare, I.P.G. Ploieti (1992).
5. Ulmanu, V., Minescu, M., .a., Cercetri privind tehnologia de recondiionare utiliznd ncrcarea prin sudare a racordurilor speciale uzate, Industria de petrol i gaze - Prezent i perspectiv, Secia utilaj petrolier, Ploieti, 9-15 (1992).
6. Ulmanu, V., Minescu, M., .a., ncrcarea prin sudare cu carburi de wolfram a elementelor
garniturii de foraj, Nouti n domeniul tehnologiilor i utilajelor pentru prelucrarea la cald a
metalelor, vol. 7, p. 7, Universitatea Transilvania Braov (1993).
7. Ulmanu, V., Material tubular petrolier, Editura tehnic, Bucureti (1992).
8. Hercovici, F., Materiale dure, Editura Tehnic, Bucureti (1970).
9. Ciocrdia, C., Drgulnescu, E., Drgulnescu, I., Aliaje dure sinterizate din carburi
metalice, Editura tehnic, Bucureti (1985).
10. *** Recommended procedures manual for the preparation, application and inspection of
ARNCO 100XTTM, Hardbanding, Version 1.0, November (1999).

346

3rd ICMEN 2008

Anda mungkin juga menyukai