Seamless tube plants

Tube and pipe making

Future-oriented plant designs

Wherever you look, seamless steel tubes are an integral part of modern life. Today, the oil and gas industry, the construction and mechanical engineering industries, and automotive manufacturers demand ever better tubes made of higher steel grades, with closer tolerances and new dimensions.

Ever since the Mannesmann brothers' radical invention in 1885, SMS group has continuously improved the seamless tube production process. That has put us one step ahead of current and future requirements of the pipe and tube market. Take for example our PQF^® (Premium Quality Finishing) process and its innovative technology packages. This innovative power proves we offer you competitive solutions for seamless tubes.

Seamless tube plant process

The right solution for all process stages

Piercing, elongating, and finish-rolling - these are the key stages in seamless tube production. SMS group has the right machines for every stage, and covers the whole range of processes.

Seamless tube plant process slider image

Starting Material

Steel billets of various dimensions and grades, continuously cast or rolled

Billet preparation
Billet saws
Furnace technology
Billet centering

Piercing

from the billet to the hollow

Cross-rolling mills (cone type and Barrel type piercing)
Billet descaling
3-roll piercing mill
Hollow inside deoxidation
Cooling and quick-change systems for piercing tools

Seamless plant tube process slider image

Elongating / expanding

from the hollow to the shell

PQF^® / MPM mill
CPE/TPE mill / Push bench technology
Assel mill
Plug mill
Hot pilger mill
Elongator
Rotary Expander

Finish rolling

from the shell to the tube

Reheating furnace (gas fired/induction)
High pressure water descaling unit
Sizing mill
Stretch-reducing mill
FPS adjustable rolling stands
Tube layer saws

Finishing line

From the rolling mill to the dispatch area

Groove dressing machines for PQF^® catridges
Stretch-reducing and sizing mill stands

Products

Seamless tubes of various dimensions

Diameters:
21.3 mm to 720 mm
Wall thicknesses:
2 mm to 120 mm

Technology

PQF^® - PREMIUM QUALITY FINISHING

Advanced mandrel mill technology for premium quality finishing

Whether it's high-alloy steels or particularly thin-walled precision tubes - with our PQF^® (Premium Quality Finishing) technology, you can produce even the highest-grade products efficiently and reliably. You also use less material to generate better output than with conventional solutions. That ensures tool cost plus energy savings due to the low reheating required during the rolling process.

Typical size ranges / deformation steps of PQF^® mills
				Plant dimension	7"	9 ⁵/₈" / 10 ³/₄"	16" / 20"
				Billet Diameter [mm]	210	200 - 280	210 - 360 / 450
				Diameter range Finished tube [mm]	48,3 - 177,8	42,4 - 244,5 (273,1)	177,8 - 406,4 / 508
Wall thickness [mm]	3,2 - 22	3,6 - 25	5,6 - 40
Production capacity [tons / year]	> 200.000	> 300.000	> 400.000

Your benefits from the PQF^® process at a glance

You can roll higher-alloyed steel grades
Temperature distribution in the shell is more uniform after the
elongation rolling process
Reduced "finning" at the shell end for lower crop end losses
Closer wall thickness tolerances
Higher tube quality
Lower manufacturing costs