Development of Technology for Welding Repair of Steel Housings Using a Combination of Ultrasonic Vibrations and Forced Cooling

Abstract

Now, one of the most pressing issues in the development of petroleum engineering is increasing the efficiency of apparatus and machines, as well as reducing material, energy and labor resources. During operation, oil-refining equipment over time destroyed by welded joints due to the impact of power and temperature loads, corrosion, and other factors. The cause of damage in welded joints of oil and gas equipment can be justified by the occurrence in them of structural heterogeneity and residual stresses during and after welding. Today manual arc welding is almost the only applicable in the repair of equipment for oil and gas processing, which require welding operations. The high temperature source of energy and the difference in deformation properties of parts are the cause of the occurrence of substantial residual stresses, which cause a change in shape, a significant decrease in strength, a decrease in the corrosion resistance of the metal, which adversely affects the durability and reliability of the structure. At present, the technology of repair with due to manual arc welding with the concomitant heating of the defective area and subsequent heat treatment is used. A complex of simultaneously proceeding processes accompanies the welding process: thermal effects on the metal in the heat-affected zone, metallurgical processes in the weld pool and crystallization of the metal in the weld pool. The repair technology presented by us, which consists in a combination of ultrasonic shock vibrations and forced cooling during the welding process, allows to improve the mechanical properties of the welded joint, as well as to refuse to carry out heating during welding and subsequent heat treatment.