Tube Production
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The Tube Manufacturing Process starts with high quality Olin Brass strip. The strip starts in the payoff reel which helps ensure a straight feed into the mill. The strip then passes through a series of forming rolls which convert the flat strip to a tubular configuration. |
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The tubular formed strip then passes through the welding equipment where the high-frequency welding method is utilized. With this process, high frequency current (450 kilohertz) is concentrated at the edges of the strip metal which is being welded. Virtually instantaneous heat creates an essentially “plastic” (almost molten) condition at the strip edges with the rest of the tube remaining relatively cool. Concurrently, the strip edges are brought together with forging pressure provided by squeeze-rolls, thereby producing a high quality forge weld. Downstream from the welding operation, excess metal which was expelled during the forge-welding process is continuously removed from both the inside and outside surfaces with special "scarfing" tools.
The welded tube then passes through finishing rolls to ensure tube straightness and uniformity of diameter, and is then cut to an intermediate length.
Tubes are then precision cut to the customer’s specified length, and wire-brush deburred. The inside of the tubes are blown out with high-pressure air to remove saw chips and metal flakes from the cutting and deburring operations, and the tubes are visually inspected as they are packed for shipment.