How to ensure the airtightness of serpentine tube products during the manufacturing process?
Release Time : 2025-11-10
Due to their unique curved structure and wide range of applications, serpentine tube products require extremely high sealing performance. Ensuring the sealing performance of serpentine tube products during manufacturing is a systematic project involving multiple stages and key process control points.
Raw material selection is the primary step in ensuring the sealing performance of serpentine tube products. High-quality raw materials are the foundation for manufacturing high-quality serpentine tubes. The steel pipes used to manufacture serpentine tubes must meet design requirements and undergo rigorous inspection processes, including visual inspection, dimensional measurement, chemical composition analysis, and mechanical property testing. Only materials that pass inspection can enter the production process, thus ensuring the sealing performance of serpentine tube products from the source.
During the tube forming process, the control of the bending process is crucial. The bending radius and bending angle of the serpentine tube need to be precisely controlled to avoid defects such as cracks, wrinkles, or excessive ovality during bending. Modern manufacturing processes often use advanced CNC tube bending machines for bending, ensuring that each bent section meets design requirements through precise mold design and program control. Simultaneously, during the bending process, the pipe body needs appropriate support and protection to prevent deformation or damage due to uneven stress.
Welding is another key factor affecting the sealing performance of serpentine tube products. Serpentine tubes are typically formed by welding multiple pipe sections and connectors together. Improper operation or unreasonable welding parameter settings during welding can lead to welding defects such as cracks, porosity, and slag inclusions, which severely affect the strength and sealing performance of the welded joint. Therefore, appropriate welding methods and materials must be used, and welding parameters such as welding current, voltage, and welding speed must be strictly controlled. Furthermore, professional training for welders is necessary to improve their skills and quality awareness, ensuring stable and reliable welded joint quality.
Besides the welding process, welded joint inspection is also crucial for ensuring the sealing performance of serpentine tube products. After welding, the welded joint must undergo rigorous quality inspection, including visual inspection and non-destructive testing. Visual inspection primarily checks the surface of the welded joints for obvious defects such as cracks and porosity. Non-destructive testing employs advanced methods such as X-ray and ultrasonic testing to meticulously inspect the interior of the welded joints, ensuring no hidden defects. Only welded joints that pass inspection can proceed to the next process.
During the manufacturing process of serpentine tube products, necessary calibration and ball-passing tests are also required. The calibration process aims to eliminate problems such as bending deformation and excessive ovality that occur during manufacturing, ensuring that the tube's geometry and shape meet design requirements. The ball-passing test involves inserting a steel ball of a specific diameter into the tube to check for blockages or narrow sections, thus ensuring the tube's flowability and sealing.
Finally, after the serpentine tube products are manufactured, a rigorous hydrostatic test is conducted. The hydrostatic test is the final means of verifying the sealing performance of serpentine tube products. Water at a certain pressure is filled into the tube and maintained for a period of time, observing for any leakage. Only serpentine tube products that pass the hydrostatic test can be released for use.