TPT November 2012

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Tube and pipe mi l ls
86 November 2012
New technology redefines tube
and pipe welding
AUSTRALIAN welding innovator K-TIG
has gone into full production of its
keyhole welding solution, and has taken
the decision to focus predominantly on
the tube and pipe welding market for the
next 12 months.
The Adelaide-based company, whose
K-TIG welding system performs welds
in 10x to 100x the speed of traditional
TIG welding, has completed extensive
product trials in seven countries and is
now shipping its first production units to
customers in Australia and worldwide.
K-TIG has also received the attention
of government, with federal minister
for small business Brendan O’Connor
visiting the company and performing
a weld on a stainless steel pipe which
would have taken a skilled welder six
hours – and completed it in under three
minutes. K-TIG’s first export sales are
to the Middle East and the UK, where
the company’s recently appointed
distributors, Dubai-based PCT and WB
Alloys in England, will focus on the tube
and pipe, oil and gas and other markets.
The new welding technology, originally
developed by the CSIRO before being
acquired by K-TIG, enables thick gauge
materials, including traditionally difficult
metals such as stainless steel and
titanium, to be welded in less than one-
tenth of the time possible with standard
welding processes.
K-TIG general manager, international
development, Neil Le Quesne, said,
“K-TIG’s technology is transformational,
and likely to be highly disruptive within
the welding equipment
market. The lightning speed
of the welding process and,
in many cases, a 95 per cent
reduction in power and gas
consumption dramatically
reduces both the cost and
carbon footprint of industrial
welding.”
“Due to the single-pass,
full-penetration nature
of the process, the weld
quality tends to excite the
head of engineering, the
enormous cost savings get
the attention of the CFOs
while the massive reduction
in energy consumption tends to get
interest from CEOs,” said Mr Le Quesne.
“The opportunities within the tube and
pipe sector are enormous. There are
150 million kilometres of new pipeline
currently in the planning or construction
phase around the world.”
The system is cloud-enabled and
records comprehensive weld data
for audit and control purposes. The
recording and auditing capabilities of
the system are considered vital to the
tube and pipe sector, where traceability
is now becoming a critical issue.
K-TIG founder and R&D manager
Dr Laurie Jarvis led the 20-person
CSIRO team that developed the
underlying technology. “Creating and
stabilising a keyhole in molten metal
using TIG welding was previously not
thought possible,” said Dr Jarvis. Fully
understanding the physics involved and
developing techniques to fully control
the process took Dr Jarvis and his team
more than eight years. “The K-TIG
process excels with materials that are
traditionally very challenging to weld.
Stainless steels, titanium, zirconium,
nickel alloys, cobalt alloys and others are
welded to nuclear industry standards in
a fraction of the time taken by traditional
TIG welding.”
K-TIG – Australia
Email:
Website:
Tube rollform machinery
UNIVERSAL Tube & Rollform offers
customers a complete turnkey
system from the initial design to start-
up. Located under one roof with
Universal Controls Group, a rapidly
growing controls supplier, its unique
relationship enables it to offer a
wide array of cost efficient services:
extensive inventory available of quality
used and reconditioned machinery; line
upgrades and repower kits; custom
engineering services; full import and
export services; cash for your surplus
machinery; new drive systems, new
components and new accessories;
installation and start-up services; home
of the U-TRAK length control systems
for flying cut-offs; and home of the
HavenTrak flying shear tube cut-off.
Its 125,000ft2 warehouse is fully
stocked and ready for a hands-on
inspection of the equipment a customer
needs. It can offer many different types
of tube mills or rollformers to fit any
specific requirements.
Fax or email a drawing of the
shape required to fabricate, and an
experienced team will get to work
assembling a complete line quotation to
produce the part required. Universal can
help increase accuracy and productivity
while keeping investment low.
Visit the Universal website at www.
utubeonline.com to browse photos and
specifications of its current inventory
and see the links on the homepage.
Click on ‘universal controls group’
to see the very latest in mill controls,
die accelerators and length control
systems.
Universal Tube & Rollform is a one-
stop resource for tube and pipe and
rollform machinery.
Universal Tube & Rollform
Equipment Corporation – USA
Email:
Website:
K-TIG welding