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4 key control points of the pressure vessel fabrication process

3-roll plate bending machine

The pressure vessel is a precision instrument with a complicated manufacturing process and strict manufacturing requirements. It is widely used in industrial production, life practice, scientific research, and other parties, and is easily affected by temperature and pressure in the subsequent use process, thus changing the original It is easy to cause equipment damage, affect its safety performance, and bring great economic losses to people. Therefore, when manufacturing pressure vessels, it is necessary to control the quality of relevant manufacturing processes, strictly monitor each manufacturing stage of pressure vessels, and do a good job of quality control of pressure vessels to ensure that the manufacturing quality of pressure vessels meets the standard requirements of relevant laws and regulations, and comprehensively Improve the manufacturing quality of pressure vessels.

Manufacturing Process Analysis of Pressure Vessels

Safety requirements

In view of the particularity of the use of pressure vessels, the state has put forward relevant requirements for the safe production of pressure vessels:

  1. In the process of manufacturing pressure vessels, it is necessary to design and manufacture pressure vessels in strict accordance with the national safety production standards, so as to effectively improve the quality of pressure vessel manufacturing and prevent the occurrence of safety problems.
  2. Because pressure vessels are mainly suitable for high temperature and vacuum working environments, and are generally used to carry dangerous goods such as explosive and flammable, the safety production behavior of pressure vessel manufacturers must be regulated to ensure that the safety production standards of pressure vessels are effectively implemented.
CNC plate rolling machine
pressure vessel fabrication equipment: plate rolling machine

Material selection

Material selection is the basis for manufacturing pressure vessels. Reasonable selection of materials can effectively improve the manufacturing quality of pressure vessels and improve the safety performance of vessels.

Therefore, when selecting pressure vessel materials, the following three aspects need to be considered:

  1. It is necessary to comprehensively analyze the physical properties and chemical properties of the material, scientifically calculate the strength, hardness, corrosion resistance, and other contents of the material, and confirm that the quality test meets the standards before selecting the corresponding pressure vessel manufacturing materials on the premise of ensuring rational cost management.
  2. After selecting the material, it is necessary to ensure that the properties of the material meet the relevant safety and quality standards, and the use of materials with substandard quality is strictly prohibited.
  3. According to the material properties, select the appropriate manufacturing method, give full play to the performance of the material, and ensure the good manufacturing quality of the pressure vessel.

Welding process

As the main content of the pressure vessel manufacturing process, the welding process is mainly used to connect the various components of the pressure vessel. Therefore, in the welding process of pressure vessels, it is necessary to standardize the manufacturing process of pressure vessels, hire professional technicians to weld pressure vessels, and require technicians to strictly implement the requirements of welding production standards to avoid process errors. In addition, the entire welding production process of the pressure vessel must be monitored in real-time to ensure that the welding quality meets safety requirements.

NDT process

The non-destructive testing process is the final link of the pressure vessel manufacturing process. Its purpose is to detect whether the pressure vessel is damaged or not after it is manufactured, and then judge whether the manufacturing quality of the pressure vessel is qualified. At present, the non-destructive testing process of pressure vessels mainly includes UT testing, RT testing, etc. All of these testing processes can realize comprehensive testing of all performances of pressure vessels.

4 Quality Control Measures

Through the analysis of the above pressure vessel manufacturing process, corresponding quality control measures can be proposed for different manufacturing processes, to standardize the manufacturing and production behavior of pressure vessels, and improve the manufacturing quality of pressure vessels. The specific measures are:

Quality control of material selection

At present, pressure vessels are widely used in all walks of life, and can adapt to various complex and harsh working environments, such as flammable and explosive, fatigue load, high corrosiveness, high toxicity, high pressure, low temperature, or high temperature, and other environments. The complex and diverse harsh environment means that there are many types of pressure vessel materials and it is difficult to choose. Once the material selection is wrong, the manufacturing quality of the pressure vessel will inevitably be reduced.

Therefore, in the manufacturing process of pressure vessels, raw materials must be selected scientifically and rationally. First of all, the relevant design and manufacturing personnel must select the manufacturing materials according to the properties and characteristics of the pressure vessel, strictly control the quality of the materials, and implement the material access mechanism. Each material must be tested for quality to ensure that the quality of the materials is passed before entering the factory. Afterward, suppliers are required to provide relevant quality certificates to ensure that the material quality is safe and reliable. Secondly, it is necessary to do a good job of serial number registration for the incoming materials, and establish a material storage file, so that the staff can fully understand the characteristics of each material and the storage and storage conditions. In addition, in order to prevent the material from rusting, the relevant materials can be treated with anti-corrosion to prolong the service life of the material.

Welding process quality control

In fact, pressure vessels are welded components, and the quality of welding will directly affect the overall manufacturing quality of the pressure vessel. Therefore, effective measures must be taken to control the welding quality. The specific measures include:

Improve the comprehensive quality of technical personnel. Welding technicians are not only the implementers of the pressure vessel welding work but also the operators who ensure the quality of the welding work. Therefore, enterprises should hire welding personnel with professional and technical qualifications, and before taking up their posts, they should carry out education and training on safety production, regularly assess their safety technology level, comprehensively improve the comprehensive quality of welding technicians, and effectively ensure the quality of welding production.
Guarantee the technical level of welding technology. In the welding process, enterprises should introduce modern advanced technical equipment and manufacturing processes as much as possible. At the same time, the welding technicians should regularly check the operation of the welding equipment. Once a potential safety hazard is found, the equipment should be repaired in time, and the maintenance of the equipment should be paid attention to. In addition, welding technicians must have good professional ethics and carry out welding work in strict accordance with process standards to ensure the safety of welding work.
Do a good job of repairing bad welds. In the welding process of pressure vessels, it is inevitable that bad welds will occur. Rework of bad welds can not only ensure the manufacturing quality of pressure vessels but also save the maintenance costs of pressure vessels. Therefore, after the manufacture of the pressure vessel, the quality inspection personnel should inspect the weld seam of the pressure vessel, analyze the cause of the bad weld, and take effective repair measures in time to improve the overall quality of the pressure vessel.

Heat Treatment Process Quality Control

Heat treatment operation is required in the manufacturing process of pressure vessels. During this process, technicians must pay attention to controlling the amplitude and speed of temperature change, improve the heat treatment process operation, reasonably control the process parameters of heat treatment, and ensure that the heat treatment effect can reach the expected target. At the same time, attention should be paid to regular inspection and maintenance of relevant heat treatment equipment and comprehensive control of the quality of the whole process of heat treatment. Secondly, in order to improve the effectiveness of the heat treatment process, high-quality components of the pressure vessel should be used to ensure that the components can withstand certain temperature changes, effectively realize the heat treatment of the components, and ensure the smooth development of the heat treatment operation of the pressure vessel.

NDT process quality control

After the pressure vessel is manufactured, a non-destructive test should be carried out on the vessel within its fixed operating cycle to fully understand the operation of the pressure vessel, the quality and safety of production equipment and materials, and the state of components during the heat treatment process, so as to facilitate the staff Formulate the content of quality and safety management of pressure vessels. Before conducting non-destructive testing, the staff should first clarify the qualification standards for the design requirements of pressure vessels, further determine a reasonable non-destructive testing method, and analyze whether the method is reliable and authentic. In addition, the non-destructive testing method can also be determined according to the relevant drawing design requirements. Improve the scientific nature of non-destructive testing. Secondly, after determining the nondestructive testing method, the staff should formulate the quality control content of the test in advance, grasp the quality control work of the testing project, and at the same time record the nondestructive testing results truthfully, update the operation data of the pressure vessel in time and handle the operation process well. In order to improve the safety of pressure vessels in an all-around way, we can effectively implement the quality control of pressure vessels.

Concluding remarks

The pressure vessel is a kind of special equipment with high safety performance requirements and a complicated manufacturing process. The quality of its manufacturing will directly affect the safety and reliability of the equipment. Therefore, we must take effective measures to control the quality of the pressure vessel manufacturing process. Specifically, we can start from the aspects of material quality control, welding process quality control, heat treatment process quality control, and non-destructive testing process quality control to ensure the safe and reliable operation of pressure vessels. , to ensure its performance. Only in this way can we improve the comprehensive competitiveness of pressure vessel manufacturing enterprises and promote the healthy development of enterprises in a sustainable direction.