TPi November 2013

products & developments

40 years of service Since its founding in 1971, IRC SpA has developed into an important company in the manufacture of butt-welding fittings, and is well-known around the world. Over the last 40 years, the company has gone from being an important player in the Italian market to being an international player, increasing export turnover to nearly half of the total, exporting across Europe and in strategic markets in the Middle East, Asia, Australia and South America.

a bend block of two parts, which enabled bending of the 180º product with the required accuracy to meet all dimensions. The choice of the bend radius was an optimum of hardness of the tube after bending, minimised tube material, machine possibilities and dimensional requirements. After preparing for six months, the project was a success: on time and within budget. Tebunus Tube Bending can bend pipe and tubes in ferrous and non-ferrous materials. Thecompany canbendcarbon and stainless steel from 2 to 114.3mm in diameter, and aluminium and copper up to a diameter of 168.3mm. Tebunus designs and produces its own bend tooling, and has a wide range of tooling in diameters and radii available on the shelves, enabling immediate production upon request. Constant focus on technological, man- agerial and qualitative improvements, backed up by a continuously updated computer system, has allowed the company to create a flexible manufacturing department and a high capacity warehouse. Products range from ½" to 48", seamless and welded, in diverse thicknesses and grades of materials, compliant with ASME and EN standards (used in the most common project codes) and with all requirements set forth in EN 10204:2004 3.1 and attachment I section 4.3 of Directive PED 97/23/CE. The company can supply butt-weld fittings for the oil and gas, naval, energy and chemical sectors, suitable for sys- tems at low, medium and high tempera- tures, manufactured in standard sizes or according to special requirements, all with guaranteed quality thanks to a series of analyses and inspections on the final product: chemical analyses, mechanical tests and controls, both destructive and non-destructive. IRC SpA – Italy irc@ircbwf.it www.ircbwf.it

facilities, growing from their original 7,000m² to the current surface area of approximately 50,000m². The company’s ethical business practices are placed at the service of each customer, international companies as well as smaller entrepreneurial businesses, along with special attention to the quality of materials and production processes, regardless of the nature and importance of the order. For these reasons, IRC has always implemented versatile working policies, capable

The pursuit of these targets progressed with the expansion of the company’s

of managing large projects and small orders of products immediately available in the warehouses with the same complete service and efficiency.

Short radius bends from IRC

Bending process improvements Tebunus TubeBending, TheNetherlands, is regularly challenged by customers requesting use of the minimum of the required tube material. Two recent projects resulted in the development of improvements in the company’s bending process. It is possible to design very long tube products without welds.

Another customer requested a needle shaped heat exchanger tube for a green energy project. The requirements on the ovality (<8%) and wall thickness reduction (<15%), in combination with the tube material and radius of < 2D, were demanding. To avoid expensive heat treatment after bending, it was important to keep the stress in the material as low as possible. Tebunus designed tooling with which the product could be bent without welds. The tooling was based on

The company developed the capability to bend copper tube products from a coil on its bending machines. No extra material is required for overlength, and less material is wasted. A customer had requested the company to produce copper tube spirals with a diameter of 8mm, and 0.4mm wall thickness, in large volumes. Instead of loading the bending machine manually or via a buffer, up to 1.5km of material is available on coil. For other projects, coil material is possible with a diameter up to 22mm. Tebunus bends 180° with high values on wall thickness reduction and ovality. This development allows the reduction of costs and lead-time of tube products with a total length of more than 6m.

Tebunus Tube Bending BV – The Netherlands sales@tebunus.nl www.tebunus.com

180º bends

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Tube Products International November 2013

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