United States Steel Corporation declared that its subsidiary company, U. S. Steel Tubular Products engaged in the manufacture of tubular products, has signed an exclusive accord with Surface Enhancement Technologies (SET), a division of Lambda Technologies Group.
The accord will enable U. S. Steel Tubular Products to remain as an exclusive tubular products producer to have the right to use SET’s Low Plasticity Burnishing (LPB) technology. The patented burnishing technology can be applied over a range of tubular products to optimize their performance and improve the period of service life.
The LPB technology prolongs the life of a component by producing a deep and consistent coating over its surface. LPB, dissimilar to other types of surface treatments, causes low quantity of cold work, thus making the shield layer mechanically and thermally resistant to changes. The Computer Numeric Controlled (CNC) robots or machines utilized for the process can be integrated with the production facilities quickly and easily, without the need to change the design or material of the component.
The LPB can be applied over an assorted types of alloys such as aluminum, titanium, steel and nickel-based alloys. The technology is currently utilized in medical, nuclear and aerospace industries.
The LPB will allow performance designers at U. S. Steel Tubular Products to create a layer of high residual compression over any particular area of a tubular product. Currently, the product development group of U. S. Steel Tubular and officials from Lambda are engaged in examining the capability of the LPB process to reduce the sulfide stress cracking in P110 grades.