The surface quenching and tempering heat treatment of
straight seam welded steel pipe is usually carried out by induction heating or flame heating. The main technical parameters are surface hardness, local hardness, and effective hardened layer depth. Vickers hardness tester can be used for hardness testing, and Rockwell or superficial Rockwell hardness tester can also be used. When the surface heat treatment hardened layer is thick, the Rockwell hardness tester can also be used. When the thickness of the heat-treated hardened layer is 0.4-0.8mm, the HRA scale can be used, and when the thickness of the hardened layer exceeds 0.8mm, the HRC scale can be used.
If the parts require high local hardness, local quenching heat treatment can be carried out using induction heating. Such longitudinal welded pipes usually need to mark the location of local quenching heat treatment and local hardness value on the drawing. Hardness testing of longitudinally welded pipes shall be carried out in the area. The hardness testing instrument can use a Rockwell hardness tester to test the HRC hardness value. If the heat-treated hardened layer is shallow, a surface Rockwell hardness tester can be used to test the HRN hardness value.
The three hardness values of Vickers, Rockwell and Superficial Rockwell can be easily converted to each other and converted into hardness values required by standards, drawings, or users. The corresponding conversion tables are given in the international standard ISO, the American standard ASTM and the Chinese standard GB/T.
