PREPARATION OF COMPONENTS FOR ORBITAL WELDING OF TITANIUM TUBES WITH TITANIUM CLAD STEEL SIEVE BOTTOM

Abstract

The article presents the method of preparing the tube sheet of a heat exchanger made of B265 Grade 1 titanium-clad steel with B338 grade 2 titanium tubes allowing for the qualification of the TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) orbital welding technology. A test plate was made of A516M Grade 485 unalloyed steel clad with B265 Grade 1 titanium using the explosive method. The 300 x 300 mm plate consisted of a layer of 60 mm thick non alloy steel and 5 mm titanium clad. It had 20 holes drilled in a triangular arrangement, into tubes with a diameter of 34.93 mm made of B338 Grade 2 titanium with a thickness of 0.7 mm were welded. In order to obtain mechanical restraint inside the holes in the test plates, the titanium tubes were rolled out. For rolling, a five-roller was used, equipped with a retaining collar which allows the tube to move freely during rolling. The tests carried out showed that the proposed technology for preparing tube – sieve bottom elements allow for the preparation of a test plate for the qualification of welding technology. The test plate made in accordance with the technological assumptions met all the requirements necessary to qualify the technology for welding tubes with tube plates. Both in the case of non-destructive testing and macrographic testing, there were no problems with compliance with the PN-EN ISO 15614-8:2005 standard.