Acta Metall. Sin.(Engl. Lett.) Vol.21 No.

2 pp85-93 April 2008

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF LONGITUDINAL SUBMERGED

ARC WELDED STEEL PIPES USED FOR GAS PIPELINE OF
OFFSHORE OIL
Z.Z. Yang , W. Tian, Q.R. Ma, Y.L. Li, J.K. Li, J.Z. Gao and H.B. Zhang
Tubular Goods Research Center of CNPC, Xi0 an 710065, China
Y.H. Yang
Xi0 an Aerotechnical College, Xi0 an 710077, China
Manuscript received 17 May 2007; in revised form 31 August 2007

Since the development of offshore oil and gas, increased submarine oil and gas
pipelines were installed. All the early steel pipes of submarine pipelines depended
on importing because of the strict requirements of comprehensive properties, such as,
anti-corrosion, resistance to pressure and so on. To research and develop domes-
tic steel pipes used for the submarine pipeline, the Longitudinal-seam Submerged Arc
Welded (LSAW) pipes were made of steel plates cut from leveled hot rolled coils by
both the JCOE and UOE (the forming process in which the plate like the letter J,
C, O or U shape, then expansion) forming processes. Furthermore, the me-
chanical properties of the pipe base metal and weld metal were tested, and the results
were in accordance with the corresponding pipe specification API SPEC 5L or DNV-
OS-F101, which showed that domestic LSAW pipes could be used for submarine oil
and gas pipelines.
KEY WORDS Mechanical properties; Offshore oil and gas; Longitudinal-seam
submerged arc welded pipe (LSAW); Pipeline; JCOE forming
process; UOE forming process

1. Introduction

As the growth demand of oil and gas for both industry development and citizen life has
gone up, the present storage of oil and gas is far from providing for that. Although the
storage of oil and gas on the continent was reduced and the cost of oil and gas extraction
was also increased gradually, exploiting of offshore oil and gas was a better way to replace
the extraction on the continent. Meanwhile it was urgent to develop the submarine pipeline
system to keep up with the exploitation. Because of the severe environment of submarines,
the steel pipes used for the pipeline should be provided with better comprehensive proper-
ties, such as, anti-corrosion, resistance to high pressure, and so on. This is the reason why
all the early steel pipes used for the submarine pipeline were imported.
To research and develop steel pipes used for the submarine pipeline, the longitudinal-
seam submerged arc welded (LSAW) pipes were made by using both the JCOE and UOE

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 29 88726396.
E-mail address: daxiaoyang7755@163.com (Z.Z. Yang)
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forming processes. Furthermore their corresponding properties were tested and evaluated,
by which it could be concluded whether these pipes were qualified for being used on the
submarine pipeline.

2. Experimental

2.1 Materials and their properties

The raw materials were hot-finished steel rolls, steel grade was X65 as shown in API
SPEC 5L[1] , equal to the Specified Minimum Yield Stress (SMYS) 450 in DNV-OS-F101[2] ,
The specified size of the rolls was that they should have a thickness of 14.3 mm and a
width of 1550 mm. The chemical composition and mechanical properties of the materials
are shown in Table 1 and Table 2, respectively.
Table 1 Chemical composition of raw materials

Element C Mn Si P S Mo Ni Cr Cu
SPCa (102 ) 15 165 45 2 1 50 50 50 50
PAb (102 ) 4 147 19 0.6 0.2 9 1 3 1
Element V Nb Ti Alc Nc B Id Ceeq Pfcm
SPCa (102 ) 9 5 6 6 1 0.05 12 40 23
PAb (102 ) 0.2 4 1.2 1.4 0.6 0.01 5 31 13
Note: a) SPC: DNV-OS-F101 specification showed the maximum weight (%);
b) PA: product analysis;
c) Al: N 2:1, tested value was 2.3;
d) I=Nb+V+Ti;
e) Ceq =C+ Mn
6 +
Cr+Mo+V
5 + Cu+Ni
15
Si Mn+Cu+Cr
f) Pcm =C+ 30 + 20 + Ni Mo V
60 + 15 + 10 +5B

Table 2 Mechanical properties of raw materials

Type Transverse Longitudinal

Item YSb UTSc ERd Re YSb UTSc ERd Re
Min.-SPCa 450 535 18 / 450 510 18 /
Max.-SPC 570 758 / 0.92 570 758 / 0.94
Result 525 580 28 0.91 495 550 28 0.9
Note: a) SPC: DNV-OS-F101; b) YS: yield stress (MPa); c) UTS: ulti-
mate tensile stress (MPa); d) ER: elongation rate; e) R: ratio of
YS/UTS

Welding wire was JW-9 type (similar to H08MnMoTiB), wire diameter was 4.0 mm.
The composition (wt pct) is C 0.09, Si 0.28, Mn 1.57, P 0.013, S 0.001, Cu 0.010, Ti 0.12,
Mo 0.36, B 0.005. Welding flux was SJ101G type, with a grain size range from 0.28 to
2.0 mm. The composition (wt pct) of welding flux is SiO2 +TiO2 24.5, CaO+MgO 26.7,
Al2 O3 +MnO 29.4, CaF2 19.5, S 0.026, P 0.026.

2.2 Pipe manufacture procedure

First the steel plates were cut from unrolled and leveled hot rolled coils, and then
they were conveyed to the pipe mill where they were made into pipes by the JCOE form-
ing process or UOE forming process according to DNV-OS-F101[2] . The specified outside
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diameter of the tested pipes was 508 mm, the

specified wall thickness was 14.3 mm, and the
length ranged from 1100012500 mm.
The sketch of the JCOE and UOE forming
process is shown in Fig.1a and b, respectively.
During the JCOE forming process, the plate
was formed into a J-shape with the help of a
pressed module, step by step, at a fixed in- Fig.1 Sketch of pipe forming process:
terval of widths. It was carried out in a simi- (a) JCOE, (b) UOE.
lar manner for the C-shape until the O-shape
was completed, and then it was subjected to cold expand after being tack welded, submerged-
arc welded inside and submerged-arc welded outside. During the UOE forming process,
the plate was formed into U-shape by using only one step of the pressed module, as well as
the O-shape, and then cold expansion was performed after being welded during the JCOE
process.
The welding method was automatically submerged arc welding (SAW). There were
totally two passes during the welding process, first, the inner pass, and then the outside
pass. Each of them finished with three or four wires. For details of the welding process see
Table 3.

Table 3 Welding process

Size Weld pass Wire No. Polarity Current Voltage Weld speed
A V m/min
508 mm14.3 mm Inner pass 1 DCRP 700800 3035 1.41.6
2 AC 600700 3540
3 AC 550650 3845
Outside pass 1 DCRP 9501000 3035 1.51.8
2 AC 750850 3540
3 AC 500600 3845
Note: DCRP: direct current reversed polarity; AC: alternating current

After all the pipe was manufactured by either the JCOE process or UOE process,
following the hydrostatic test, none destructive examination (NDE), visual inspection,
and dimensional test. Therefore the longitudinal submerged arc welded pipes were made
separately.

2.3 Experiment procedure and method

The following experiments were carried out to determine the pipe mechanical properties,
such as, tensile tests, bend tests, Charpy V-notch impact tests, Drop weight tear tests
(DWTT), fracture toughness tests CTOD and so on. All the tests mentioned earlier would
be introduced and discussed in detail except for the bend test, because its test result could
not be quantified (It was reported that all the bended specimens were acceptable according
to criterion). All mechanical test specimens were sampled after cold expansion.
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The tensile test procedure conformed to

the requirements of ASTM A 370[3] . The
test samples were cut from the pipe in the
given position and direction as shown in
Fig.2. And the test specimens had to in-
clude the longitudinal base metal (BM) strip
specimen, transverse base metal strip spec-
imen, and transverse weld (W) strip spec-
imen, as shown in Fig.3. All tensile tests,
except transverse weld tests, included yield
stress (YS), ultimate tensile stress (UTS),
elongation rate and ratio of yield stress to
ultimate tensile stress (YS/UTS) should be
performed, with the specimens at room tem-
perature. The strain rate was in accordance
Fig.2 Sample position and direction of LSAW
with the requirements of ASTM A 370. The pipe.
test method conformed to ASTM E 8[4] . The
yield stress was the tensile stress required to
produce a total elongation of 0.5% with a
gauge length of 50.8 mm (2 in) as determined
by the extensometer.
The Charpy V-notch (CVN) impact tests
were carried out in accordance with the
requirements of App B of DNV-OS-F101
and GB/T 229[5] . The test pieces were
prepared without any prior flattening of
the test material. Standard specimens
10 mm10 mm55 mm were used. Each
set consisted of three specimens taken from
the same test coupon. The test temper-
ature was 10 C. The specimens included
base metal taken from location T90, as
shown in Fig.3, and another four sets of
weld metal, FL (fused line, sampling 50%
of HAZ), FL+2 mm, and FL+5 mm taken
from weldment. Charpy V-notch Energy and Fig.3 Tensile test specimens: (a) Lon-
shear area (SA) were determined. gitudinal strip specimenbase metal;
The drop weight tear test (DWTT) was (b) Transverse strip specimenbase
carried out in accordance with API RP 5L metal; (c) Transverse strip specimen
weld.
3[6] . Two specimens from each set were taken
from location T90 as shown in Fig.3. Full
thickness, with a pressed 5 mm V-notch was adopted. The shear area (SA) was tested at
temperature 0 C.
A CTOD test was carried out in accordance with BS 7448[7] . For testing specimens
with notch location in the base metal, weld metal and HAZ, at least three specimens had
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to be valid.
Hardness testing was performed in accordance with ISO 6507-1[8] and the Vickers
method HV10 was used. Indentations were made along the traverses from one base metal
side to the other, each 1.5 mm0.5 mm below the surface, on either side of the weld. In the
base metal, the indentations were at 1 mm intervals, and the indentations were at 0.5 mm
intervals both in the weld metal and HAZ.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1 Tensile properties

There were 338 pipes manufactured using the JCOE process, in which 329 pipes con-
formed to DNV-OS-F101, and 417 pipes manufactured by UOE process, in which 408 pipes
passed with the DNV-OS-F101.
As for the JCOE pipes, 39 sets of tensile specimens cut from different line pipes were
tested and 18 sets for UOE pipes. All the test results were in accordance with DNV-OS-
F101, the maximum (Max), minimum (Min), and average (Av) of the test results for each
forming process are shown in Table 4.

Table 4 Test results of tensile properties

Type Transverse BM Longitudinal BM Weld
Item YSb UTSc ERd Re YSb UTSc ERd Re UTS
Min.-SPCa 450 535 18 / 450 535 18 / 535
Max.-SPC 570 758 / 0.92 570 758 / 0.94 758
JCOE-Max 540 610 29 0.91 560 605 28 0.94 630
JCOE-Min 475 555 25 0.83 495 550 24 0.89 570
JCOE-Av 509 581 27 0.88 526 574 26 0.92 610
UOE-Max 560 640 28 0.91 595 635 28 0.94 660
UOE-Min 465 590 24 0.76 520 585 23 0.85 625
UOE-Av 518 617 26 0.84 554 609 25 0.91 643

Note: a) SPC: DNV-OS-F101; b) YS: Yield stress (MPa); c) UTS: Ultimate tensile stress
(MPa); d) ER: Elongation rate; e) R: Ratio of YS to UTS

The average tensile properties column graph of pipe base metal, yield stress, ultimate
stress, elongation rate and ratio of YS/UTS, are shown in Fig.4ad, respectively.
Irrespective of whether it was for a JCOE process or a UOE process, the average Yield
stress in the longitudinal was about 20 MPa and more than that in the transverse, whereas,
the ultimate tensile stress in the longitudinal was less by nearly 8 MPa than that in the
transverse, as shown in Fig.4a and b.
For the elongation rate of pipe body made by both the forming process in the transverse
direction was, on an average, one percent higher than that in the longitudinal direction, as
shown in Fig.4c; As for the JCOE process ratio of YS to UTS in the longitudinal, it was
0.04 higher than that in the transverse, and 0.07 for the UOE process, as shown in Fig.4d.
On the contrary, the yield stress in the transverse of the pipe made by the UOE process
was, on an average, about 10 MPa more than that made by the JCOE process, and the
Yield stress in the longitudinal of the UOE pipes was about 20 MPa more than that of the
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Fig.4 Average tensile properties column graph between JCOE and UOE: (a) Yield stress;
(b) Ultimate tensile stress; (c) Elongation rate; (d) Ratio of YS/UTS.

JCOE pipes; Meanwhile, whether it was in the transverse or the longitudinal direction, the
average ultimate tensile stress of the UOE pipes was nearly 30 MPa more than that of the
JCOE pipes. As for the Elongation rate, either in the transverse or longitudinal direction
of the JCOE pipes, it was one percent higher than that in the UOE pipes, on an average.
Moreover, whether it be in transverse or longitudinal direction, the average ratio of YS to
UTS of the UOE pipes was also smaller than that of the JCOE pipe, especially the average
ratio of the UOE pipes in transverse direction was less by 0.04 than that of JCOE pipes.
The ultimate tensile stress of the transverse weld specimens of both processes was higher
than that of the base metal, which conformed to the specification, and average UTS of the
weld of the UOE pipes was about 30 MPa than that of JCOE pipes.

3.2 Charpy impact properties

As for the Charpy V-notch Impact test, 19 group specimens of JCOE pipes were tested,
each group included five sets, weld (W), FL (fused line), FL+2 mm, FL+5 mm, and base
metal (BM), and all the tested results conformed to the SPC, no matter whether it was
the individual or average absorbed energy, as well as seven groups of UOE pipe specimens.
For JCOE pipes, the minimum impact energy of an individual weld was 80 J and the
minimum set average of a weld was 100 J. Meanwhile, the minimum shear area of the
individual weld and its set average were 35% and 45%, respectively; the minimum impact
energy and shear area of individual HAZ were 240 J and 70%, herein HAZ (heat affected
zone) included FL, FL+2 mm, and FL+5 mm; the minimum impact energy and shear
area of individual base metal was 260 J and 90%. The average impact energy of seven
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group specimens of UOE pipes is shown in Fig.5, the average impact energy of weld was
more than 120 J. The impact energy was increased by the distance to the weld center and
was nearly 300 J on the base metal. According to these results, both the JCOE pipes
and the UOE pipes had a better Charpy V-notch impact toughness, in accordance with
the DNV-OS-F101, which shows that these pipes were capable of being used in submarine
pipelines. Besides, to figure out the toughness transition tendency of base metal at a lower
temperature, the fragility and toughness transition (FATT) curve was plotted according
to the Charpy V-notch (CVN) energy and the shear area (SA) was tested at the following
temperatures 20 C, 0 C, 10 C, 30 C, 50 C, and 70 C. Similarly in the strain aged
FATT curve, the CVN samples were aged for 1 h at 250 C.
Both the plotted FATT curve and strain aged curve of the JCOE pipes base metal are
shown in Fig.6. Both the FATT curves of either the CVN energy or shear area, either
strain aged or not descended as the temperature was lowered. And obviously the stain
aged FATT curve of CVN energy was around 25 J less than that of without strain age, on
an average; besides, the shear area either of strain aged or not was above 80% even at the
lowest temperature of 70 C, which showed that these kinds of LSAW pipes had better
toughness at low temperature.

320 350
CVN energy / J

280
300
CVN energy / J

240

250
200
100
SA / %

160 Without SA

90 Without SA

Strain aging

120 Strain aging

80
Weld FL FL+2mm FL+5mm BM 20 0 -20 -40 -60 -80
o
Location of V-notch Temperature / C

Fig.5 Average impact energy of UOE pipes. Fig.6 Fragility and toughness transition
(FATT) curve.

3.3 DWTT properties

For the JCOE pipes, there were 19 group specimens, for which drop weight tear test was
conducted at 0 C, the minimum individual shear area was 95%, and so was the set average,
which met the SPC at a minimum individual 75% and average 85%, respectively. Moreover,
for the UOE pipes, totally seven group specimens were tested and all the individual shear
areas were 100%.
Besides, the fragility and toughness transition curve was plotted by DWTT shear area
at the following temperatures: 20 C, 0 C, 10 C, 30 C, 50 C, and 70 C. Each set
consisted of two specimens taken from the same test coupon. As shown in Fig.7, tested
on JCOE pipes, the DWTT shear area kept higher value, more than 95%, until the tem-
perature lowered sharply to 30 C, but declined to 57% at 50 C and 34% at 70 C.
According to the line fit exponential decay shown in Fig.7, the fragility and toughness
transition temperature (FATT50 ), at which the shear area was just 50%, was nearly 60 C,
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so the pipes had enough toughness even at

low temperature and resistance to dynamic
100 tear, that is to say, they had an excellent
Test line

_____ Fit line property to stop the initiation and extension

of the crack.
SA / %

80

3.4 CTOD properties

DWTT

60

As for the CTOD test, seven lots of

40
specimens of UOE pipes were tested. Each
group included four sets transverse base
metal (BM-T), longitudinal base metal (BM-
20 0 -20 -40 -60 -80
o
Temperature / C

L), weld metal (WM), and HAZ. And each

Fig.7 DWTT transition curve. set consisted of at least three valid speci-
mens.
As shown in Table 5, all the test results were more than 0.2, which was the minimum
CTOD value according to DNV-OS- F101. And on an average the longitudinal base metal
had the highest value, 0.392, followed by transverse base metal, 0.375, then weld metal,
0.281, and finally HAZ, 0.26.

3.5 Microhardness
As for the microhardness test of the welded joint, 141 joints of JCOE pipes were tested.
Each joint included indentation on the base metal (BM), weld metal (WM), and HAZ. The
hardness test results are shown in Table 6, all conformed to DNV-OS-F101 (250 HV10).

Table 5 Tested CTOD value Table 6 Hardness of welded joints (HV10)

Location BM-T BM-L WM HAZ Location BM HAZ WM
Max 0.391 0.399 0.321 0.289 Max 223 243 249
Min 0.331 0.380 0.239 0.230 Min 183 175 196
Av 0.375 0.392 0.281 0.260 Av 203 200 222
Note: DNV-OS-F101 required minimum Note: DNV-OS-F101 required maximum
CTOD value was 0.20 250 HV10

4. Conclusions

(1) The mechanical property of the longitudinal-seam submerged arc welded (LSAW)
pipes, which were made of steel plate cut from the hot rolled coils by both JCOE and UOE
forming processes, conformed to the DNV-OS-F101, which showed that these pipes could
be used for the submarine oil or gas transporting pipeline.
(2) The average yield stress of pipe body in the longitudinal base metal was about
20 MPa more than that in the transverse either by the JCOE process or the UOE process.
(3) The average yield stress of base metal in the transverse and longitudinal direction
of the UOE pipes was about 10 MPa and 20 MPa more than that of the JCOE pipes,
respectively; And the average ultimate tensile stress of the UOE pipes was nearly 30 MPa
more than that of the JCOE pipes either in the transverse or longitudinal direction.
(4) Besides, both the weld metal and base metal of the LSAW pipes owned better low
temperature toughness.
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AcknowledgementsThe authors thank to Panyu/Huizhou Gas Development Project of CNOOC for fund-
ing the projects, and are also grateful for the close cooperation of Baoshan Iron &
Steel Corporation LTD, Julong Steel Pipe Co. Ltd and Panyu Chu Kang Steel Pipe
Co. Ltd.
REFERENCES

[1] Specification for Line Pipe (API SPEC 5L), API Standard, Oct, 2004.
[2] Submarine Pipeline System (DNV-OS-F101), DNV Offshore Standard, 2000.
[3] Methods and Definitions for Mechanical Testing of Steel Products (ASTM A 370), ASTM Standard,
2002.
[4] Test Methods for Tension Testing of Metallic Materials (ASTM E 8), ASTM Standard, Oct 2001.
[5] Metallic Materials-Charpy Notch Impact Test (GB/T 229), China Standards,1994.
[6] Recommended Practice for Conducting Drop-Weight Tear Tests on Line Pipe (API RP 5L3), API
Standard, 2004.
[7] Fracture Mechanics Toughness Tests (BS7448), British Standard, 1991.
[8] Metallic Materials Vickers Hardness Test Method (ISO6507-1), ISO Standards, 1997.
[9] Conversion of Elongation Values-Carbon and Low Alloy Steels (GB/T 17600.1), China Standard, 1998.
[10] Guide on Methods for Assessing the Acceptability of Flaws in Fusion Welded Structures (BS7910),
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