Experimental Study of Microstructures in Bias Weld of Coiled Tubing Steel Strip With Multi-Frequency Eddy Current Testing

Abstract

Coiled tubing technology is widely used in drilling and repairing operations, and the quality of bias weld directly determines the fatigue life of the coiled tubing. The microstructures consistency between the bias weld and the base metal determines that whether the fatigue resistance of the weld reaches the level of the base metal. In this paper, multi-frequency eddy current testing technique is used to detect the reactance of the bias weld zone and the base material zone within coiled tubing steel strip, which can be used to determine the microstructure consistency between the base metal area and the weld area, and in turn to improve the welding technology and heat treatment process. In this work, CT100 and CT90 materials with the bias weld for coiled tubing were used as the test samples, and the on-line real-time non-destructive testing technology was used to judge whether welding technology and heat treatment technology have been improved. The basis for determination is whether the mechanical properties and fatigue properties of the welding site reach the base material level. The weld zone and base metal zone can be identified by analyzing the characteristic cloud map of the detection signal, and then the quality of partial weld can be evaluated according to the difference of microstructure between them, which is of guiding significance for quality control and improvement of coiled tubing production process.

Keywords

• Bias weld
• coiled tubing
• impedance
• microstructures
• multi-frequency eddy current