A process for the manufacture, assembly and continuous construction of tubular sections made of steel or polymer in individual pipelines with gradual movement that is designed to mechanize and automate a process substantially eliminating or mitigating existing inefficiencies and risks, considerably reducing the time vessels need to be moored at piers while paying extremely expensive daily rates, increasing the quality of welds, inspections and the entire process The process including inside the manufactured unit one or more weld cabins and a series of support devices with synchronized driven and free wheels that carry the pipe segments while simultaneously enabling movement of the entire stalk without external interference, following the joining of several pipe segments (welded together), of variable length, in which the embodiments provided in the present invention enable each stalk to be approximately 1.2 km long or longer.

A process for the manufacture, assembly and continuous construction of tubular sections made of steel or polymer in individual pipelines with gradual movement that is designed to mechanize and automate a process substantially eliminating or mitigating existing inefficiencies and risks, considerably reducing the time vessels need to be moored at piers while paying extremely expensive daily rates, increasing the quality of welds, inspections and the entire process The process including inside the manufactured unit one or more weld cabins and a series of support devices with synchronized driven and free wheels that carry the pipe segments while simultaneously enabling movement of the entire stalk without external interference, following the joining of several pipe segments (welded together), of variable length, in which the embodiments provided in the present invention enable each stalk to be approximately 1.2 km long or longer.

A process for preparing a multi-thickness welded steel vehicle rail, the process comprises the steps of: (a) forming a first tube having a first outer diameter, an inner diameter and a first wall thickness; (b) forming a second tube having the first outer diameter, a second inner diameter and a second wall thickness different than the first wall thickness; (c) swaging a first end of the first tube to a second outer diameter less than the second inner diameter of the second tube; (d) inserting the swaged first end of the first tube into an end of the second tube to form a joint; (e) welding the first tube and the second tube together to form a weld at the joint to form a tube blank with a heat affected zone of lower metal strength in the area of the weld; (f) preheating the tube blank to create a common crystalline microstructure along a length of the tube blank; (g) introducing the tube blank into a blow molding tool having inner molding walls; (h) molding the tube blank at an elevated temperature by expanding the tube blank against the inner molding walls of the molding tool by injecting a pressurized medium into an interior cavity of the tube blank; and (i) quenching the tube blank by replacing the pressurized medium with a cooling medium through the molding tool and the tube blank to achieve a rapid cooling effect on the tube blank and to create a completed vehicle rail with essentially uniform material strength across the weld. A completed vehicle rail has an overlapped welded structure and uniform microcrystalline structure along the length of the rail.

A method for piercing a titanium alloy solid billet, the method including: 1) providing a Mannesmann rotary piercer including two rollers, a feed channel, a plurality of centering devices, and a mandril including a plug; fixing the mandril using the plurality of centering devices, where the Mannesmann rotary piercer has a feeding angle of 6-18°, a cross angle of 15°, and a roll speed of 30-90 rpm; 2) heating a titanium alloy solid billet to 930-990° C.; 3) transferring the titanium alloy solid billet to the feed channel of the Mannesmann rotary piercer; and 4) aligning the titanium alloy solid billet with the plug of the mandril, and driving the titanium alloy solid billet to pass through the plug of the mandril, thereby piercing the titanium alloy solid billet and yielding a titanium alloy tube.

One aspect relates to a method for producing a ring electrode, including providing an outer element including an outer tube; providing a first inner element, including a first inner tube having a first core made of a sacrificial material, a material of the outer element and a material of the first inner element having a similar microstructure to each other; providing a second inner element, including a second core made of a sacrificial material; forming a composite tube by arranging the first inner element and the second inner element inside the outer element, the first inner element and the second inner element being arranged eccentrically; drawing the composite tube in a longitudinal direction of the composite tube, the material of the outer element and the material of the first inner element retaining a similar microstructure; separating a composite tube disk from the composite tube; removing the sacrificial material of the first core; and removing the sacrificial material of the second core to obtain a contacting opening in the ring electrode.

One aspect relates to a method for producing a ring electrode, including providing an outer element including an outer tube; providing a first inner element, including a first inner tube having a first core made of a sacrificial material, a material of the outer element and a material of the first inner element having a similar microstructure to each other; providing a second inner element, including a second core made of a sacrificial material; forming a composite tube by arranging the first inner element and the second inner element inside the outer element, the first inner element and the second inner element being arranged eccentrically; drawing the composite tube in a longitudinal direction of the composite tube, the material of the outer element and the material of the first inner element retaining a similar microstructure; separating a composite tube disk from the composite tube; removing the sacrificial material of the first core; and removing the sacrificial material of the second core to obtain a contacting opening in the ring electrode.

A method for piercing a titanium alloy solid billet, the method including: 1) providing a Mannesmann rotary piercer including two rollers, a feed channel, a plurality of centering devices, and a mandril including a plug; fixing the mandril using the plurality of centering devices, where the Mannesmann rotary piercer has a feeding angle of 6-18°, a cross angle of 15°, and a roll speed of 30-90 rpm; 2) heating a titanium alloy solid billet to 930-990° C.; 3) transferring the titanium alloy solid billet to the feed channel of the Mannesmann rotary piercer; and 4) aligning the titanium alloy solid billet with the plug of the mandril, and driving the titanium alloy solid billet to pass through the plug of the mandril, thereby piercing the titanium alloy solid billet and yielding a titanium alloy tube.

A process for the manufacture, assembly and continuous construction of tubular sections made of steel or polymer in individual pipelines with gradual movement that is designed to mechanize and automate a process substantially eliminating or mitigating existing inefficiencies and risks, considerably reducing the time vessels need to be moored at piers while paying extremely expensive daily rates, increasing the quality of welds, inspections and the entire process The process including inside the manufactured unit one or more weld cabins and a series of support devices with synchronized driven and free wheels that carry the pipe segments while simultaneously enabling movement of the entire stalk without external interference, following the joining of several pipe segments (welded together), of variable length, in which the embodiments provided in the present invention enable each stalk to be approximately 1.2 km long or longer.

A process for the manufacture, assembly and continuous construction of tubular sections made of steel or polymer in individual pipelines with gradual movement that is designed to mechanize and automate a process substantially eliminating or mitigating existing inefficiencies and risks, considerably reducing the time vessels need to be moored at piers while paying extremely expensive daily rates, increasing the quality of welds, inspections and the entire process The process including inside the manufactured unit one or more weld cabins and a series of support devices with synchronized driven and free wheels that carry the pipe segments while simultaneously enabling movement of the entire stalk without external interference, following the joining of several pipe segments (welded together), of variable length, in which the embodiments provided in the present invention enable each stalk to be approximately 1.2 km long or longer.

A method of producing a clad billet includes inserting a solid carbon or low-alloy steel (CS) material into a hollow interior of the slightly larger diameter (CRA) cylinder so that a standoff gap is provided between an outer surface of the (CS) material and the inner diameter of the (CRA) cylinder; providing an explosive material around the (CRA) cylinder; detonating the explosive material to collapse at least the inner diameter of the corrosion resistant alloy cylinder onto the outer surface of the solid carbon or low-alloy steel material and eliminate the standoff gap, creating at least a partial metallurgical bond at an interface with the outer surface and resulting in a composite billet assembly; and extruding the composite billet assembly to reduce its size and form the clad billet having a metallurgical bond between the (CS) material and the (CRA) cylinder.