TPi March 2017

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March 2017 TUBE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL 49
OCTG, gas & pipel ine products
Seamless tube manufacture at Fine Tubes
and Superior Tube
Seamless tubes deliver the best
performance when the requirements
call for high pressure endurance and
strength-to-weight ratio. UK-based
Fine Tubes and US-based Superior
Tube, both units of AMETEK Specialty
Metal Products, have a long history
of manufacturing seamless tubes for
a wide range of applications in which
performance is critical – from aerospace
to nuclear power, and from medical
equipment to deep water oil and gas
extraction.
Both Superior Tube and Fine Tubes have
the facilities to manufacture precision
tubing in seamless as well as welded
and redrawn forms. As experts in
manufacturing high-performance tubes,
the businesses offer a range tubes made
of high-end alloys that include super
alloys, such as NORSOK-approved 6
Moly, 904L and Super Duplex; nickel
alloys, such as 825 and 625; titanium;
and zirconium. The last two are expected
to be the most significant growth areas
in 2017.
Both companies continually develop
new techniques to create ever stronger,
yet lighter, tubing products. These next-
generation materials are more difficult
to work with than traditional alloys.
However, both companies believe the
benefits outweigh the difficulties. One
example is Titanium TiX, a titanium
grade with a much-improved strength-
to-weight ratio and enhanced formability.
The growing demand for seamless
tubes from Fine Tubes and Superior
Tube comes from across their range of
markets. Seamless tubes accounted
for some 74 per cent of the two
companies’ combined turnover in 2016.
Aerospace and energy each represent
approximately one third of that seamless
business, followed by oil and gas (18
per cent) and medical (11 per cent).
Geographically, the greatest demand
for tubing for both companies comes
from the USA, followed by Europe.
With Superior Tube’s entry into the oil
and gas market, one recent customer
project is a contract win from TEMA India
Ltd to supply heat exchanger tubing for
a new floating production storage and
offloading (FPSO) vessel. The vessel
is among several commissioned by
Brazilian energy giant Petrobras as part
of its project to develop the oil reserves
in the pre-salt fields in the Santos basin
off the Brazilian coast. Superior Tube
provided 37km of seamless alloy 625
tubing for the vessel’s heat exchangers.
Oil and gas customers continually look
for cost and performance improve-
ments, particularly during the current
economic climate. A big agenda
item for both tubing specialists is the
incremental changes needed to support
a commitment to continuous improve-
ment. As an example, Fine Tubes last
year invested to increase the production
of heavier weight seamless coils that
provide customers with longer single
coil lengths and offer the added benefit
of greater integrity resulting from the
lower number of orbital joints in the
production of downhole control lines.
Along with Fine Tubes and Superior
Tube, AMETEK Specialty Metal Products
includes four other businesses: Hamilton
Precision Metals, AMETEK Wallingford,
AMETEK Eighty Four, and Reading
Alloys. Collectively, they represent a
leading force not just in precision tubing
but also in precision strip, wire and foil,
speciality metal powders and clad metal
sheets.
Fine Tubes – UK
Superior Tube Co – USA