Comparison of Performance and Technical Indicators of ERW and SML

1. Tube blank quality
ERW steel pipe special steel has high purity. Through de-S, de-P, de-aeration, Ca treatment and other methods, the S and P content can be controlled below 0.005%, the N content can be controlled below 0.008%, the shape of the inclusions can be controlled to be spherical and the number can be greatly reduced. The C content is controlled below 0.1%, which has good welding performance, and the increase in strength is to prevent the growth of austenite grains by adding trace alloy elements such as Nb, V, Ti, etc., while increasing the gap strengthening to improve the steel Toughness and strength. The billet of SML steel pipe is generally made of A3, 20 steel, 16Mh and other materials. The purity of the material is poor, and the C content is high, generally about 0.2%, which is not conducive to girth welding during construction, and the strength is acceptable. But toughness is poor.

ERW steel tube blanks are manufactured by cold-rolling hot-rolled steel strips, while SML steel tube blanks are perforated in round steel in the hot-rolled state. The grain size and microstructure density of SML tube blanks formed by hot rolling are far from those of ERW tube blanks.

2. Geometry
The SML steel pipe is continuously perforated in a hot rolling mill, while the ERW steel pipe is formed by cold-rolling a steel strip. ERW is easier to control in terms of appearance and size. Therefore, the appearance quality defects of ERW steel pipes are fewer and better than SML steel pipes.

Due to the use of computer flying saws, the precision of the high-frequency welded pipe and the fixed-length length are high.

Because the high-frequency welded pipe is made of hot-rolled steel strip with high rolling accuracy, its thickness is easy to control, and it can be produced according to design requirements with thinner wall thickness and higher steel grade. The wall thickness of seamless steel tubes is often limited by perforation technology and production costs, and thin-walled steel pipes are very difficult.