SAIL's Rourkela Unit Rolls out Special Grade Pipes

In its endeavour to enter niche market segments, SAIL owned Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) has crossed another milestone by making 'ASTM A53' grade pipes for the first time since inception in its ERW Pipe Plant (ERWPP) in September 2018. It is worth mentioning here that ASTM (American Society for Testing & Materials) grade is an international standard accepted worldwide.

Till date the ERW (Electric Resistance Welding) Pipe Plant has been a producer of BIS certified IS 3589 & IS 4270-grade pipes and various other API grade pipes. These pipes were mostly catering to the domestic customers as 'BIS' grade pipes are not accepted in other countries or the projects designed by international agencies. Besides, the increasing competition in pipe market, slowing down of projects and reducing the trend of demand made the ERWPP collective to look for avenues to expand the product basket. After detailed study conducted with the help of SAIL, Central Marketing Organisation (CMO), it was decided to take up the highly challenging task of producing ASTM A53 grade pipes.

After a lot of brainstorming and technical modifications, the first time commercial production of ASTM A53 grade pipes was taken up in September'2018 for M/s Bhushan tubes Ltd. A total of 2.2 Km pipes were successfully made with 355.6 X 6.0mm dimensions. It is also noteworthy that these pipes were supplied with the straight cut edge for the first time since inception instead of the beveled cut edge. To achieve this specification, in-house modifications were carried out in the cutting tools of existing bevelling machines.

These pipes have been successfully dispatched to the customers and as a result of this, an immediate order of 366 metres for ASTM A53 grade pipes was received in 355.6 X 9.5 mm dimensions from Puja Enterprises. This order was also completed successfully in the same campaign.