The manufacturing technology for forged tubesheets encompasses several key stages-including material control, forging, precision machining, and heat treatment-all of which collectively determine the component's pressure-bearing capacity and operational reliability. Regarding materials, carbon steel, alloy steel, or stainless steel is typically selected; the steel undergoes rigorous testing for chemical composition and internal defects to ensure optimal strength, toughness, and corrosion resistance.
Forged tubesheets are generally produced using open-die or closed-die forging processes. Heated steel billets undergo deformation steps such as upsetting, punching, and hole expansion to form the basic plate-like structure. Strict control of heating temperatures and deformation levels during forging is essential to prevent microstructural non-uniformity or internal cracking while ensuring a favorable metal grain flow, thereby enhancing overall mechanical properties and fatigue resistance.
Precision machining and heat treatment are critical for ensuring the tubesheet's dimensional accuracy and performance. Machining operations-including drilling, boring, end-face machining, and sealing-surface finishing-are performed to guarantee hole-position accuracy and overall coaxiality, meeting the requirements for tube bundle assembly. Heat treatment processes such as normalizing, quenching and tempering, or solution treatment are commonly employed to optimize strength, toughness, and corrosion resistance. For demanding service conditions, non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques-such as ultrasonic or penetrant testing-are also utilized to verify the absence of internal defects, ensuring the forged tubesheet operates safely over the long term in high-pressure, high-temperature environments.