Exxonmobil Research and Engineering Company

Exxonmobil Upstream Research Company

Steven Jeffrey Ford

Douglas Paul Fairchild

Raghavan Ayer

Neeraj Srinivas Thirumalai

Hyun-Woo Jin

Daniel B Lillig

Mario Luis Macia

Nathan Eugene Nissley

Nathan E Nissley

Mario L Macia

Narasimha-Rao Venkata Bangaru

Jayoung Koo

Amit Kumar

Adnan Ozekcin

James Ronald Rigby

Glen A Vaughn

Nicholas E Biery

Mark Biegler

Weld metals and methods for welding ferritic steels are provided. The weld metals have high strength and high ductile tearing resistance and are suitable for use in strain based pipelines. The weld metal contains retained austenite and has a cellular microstructure with cell walls containing lath martensite and cell interiors containing degenerate upper bainite. The weld metals are comprised of between 0.02 and 0.12 wt % carbon, between 7.50 and 14.50 wt % nickel, not greater than about 1.00 wt % manganese, not greater than about 0.30 wt % silicon, not greater than about 150 ppm oxygen, not greater than about 100 ppm sulfur, not greater than about 75 ppm phosphorus, and the balance essentially iron. Other elements may be added to enhance the properties of the weld metal. The weld metals are applied using a power source with current waveform control which produces a smooth, controlled welding arc and weld pool in the absence of COor oxygen in the shielding gas.

High toughness weld metals with superior ductile tearing resistance

Provided are strain hardened high strength nickel based alloy welds that yield improved properties and performance in joining high strength metals. The advantageous weldments include two or more segments of ferrous or non-ferrous components, and fusion welds, friction stir welds, electron beam welds, laser beam welds, or a combination thereof bonding adjacent segments of the components together, wherein the welds comprise a strain hardened nickel based alloy weld metal composition including greater than or equal to 10 wt % Mo based on the total weight of the nickel based alloy weld metal composition. Also provided are methods for forming the welds from the nickel based alloy weld compositions. The strain hardened high strength nickel based alloy welds are useful in the oil, gas and petrochemical industry in applications for natural gas transportation and storage, oil and gas well completion and production, and oil and gas refinery and chemical plants.

High strength nickel alloy welds through strain hardening

Provided are precipitation hardened high strength nickel based alloy welds that yield improved properties and performance in joining high strength metals. The advantageous weldments include two or more segments of ferrous or non-ferrous components, and fusion welds, friction stir welds, electron beam welds, laser beam welds, or a combination thereof bonding adjacent segments of the components together, wherein the welds comprise a precipitation hardened nickel based alloy weld metal composition including greater than or equal to 1.4 wt % of combined aluminum and titanium based on the total weight of the nickel based alloy weld metal composition. Also provided are methods for forming the welds from the nickel based alloy weld compositions, wherein the precipitation hardening occurs in the as-welded condition. The nickel based welds do not require a separate heat treatment step after welding to produce advantageous strength properties.

High strength nickel alloy welds through precipitation hardening

Provided are metal structures and methods of forming such structures for use in oil, gas and/or petrochemical applications that are joined with non-ferrous weld metal compositions or a high alloy weld metal compositions. The welded metal structures include two or more segments of ferrous or non-ferrous components, and fusion welds, friction stir welds or a combination thereof bonding adjacent segments of the components together, wherein the welds comprise a non-ferrous weld metal composition or a high alloy weld metal composition that is substantially different from the metal composition of the two or more components. The resultant welded structures exhibit improvements in fatigue resistance, toughness, strain capacity, strength, stress corrosion cracking resistance, and hydrogen embrittlement resistance compared to traditional iron-based weld compositions. The structures and methods of forming such structures are advantageous in joining metal components in applications for natural gas transportation and storage, oil and gas well completion and production, and oil and gas refinery and chemical plants.

Weld metal compositions for joining steel structures in the oil and gas industry

A method for welding and repairing cracks in metal parts is provided by subjecting the metal parts to be welded to friction stir welding and the cracks to be repaired to friction stir processing under conditions sufficient to provide a weld joint or crack repair having a preselected property or set of properties based upon the intended use of the weldment. The FSW and FSP methods are advantageous in joining and repairing metal structures and components in applications for natural gas transportation and storage, oil and gas well completion and production, and oil and gas refinery and chemical plants.

Application of high integrity welding and repair of metal components in oil and gas exploration, production and refining

Provided are butt welds and methods of making such butt welds using a combination of fusion root welding and friction stir welding to yield welds with decreased propensity for dropout during friction stir welding without the need for a back-up support plate. In one form of the present disclosure, the butt weld includes: two or more abutting structural steel components beveled on faying surfaces on one side of the components to form a suitably shaped fusion root weld groove and unbeveled on faying surfaces on the opposite side of the components and interconnected with a first fusion root weld on the beveled side of the components and a second friction stir weld on the unbeveled side of the components, wherein the first fusion root weld has a width ranging from 7 mm to 30 mm, a penetration depth ranging from 2 mm to 20 mm, and an overfill ranging from 2 mm to 5 mm, and wherein the stir zone of the second friction stir weld penetrates the first fusion root weld. The butt welds and methods of making find application in joining linepipe for oil and gas production.

Butt weld and method of making using fusion and friction stir welding

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Missouri City, TX, United States of America

Steven Jeffrey Ford