Trial to Determine the Suitability of the New Heat Treat Facility at Corry Forge Company for Processing Blowout Preventer Bodies

The purpose of this study was to determine suitability of Corry Forge Company’s(CFC) new furnaces and quench tank for heat treatment of blowout preventer(BOP) bodies used in the oil well industry.  A 19.5T single bore BOP body which had failed to meet customer requirements due to hardness inconsistency after heat treatment at other heat treat facilities was obtained by CFC and heat treated in the new system.  Fluid flow analysis was used to determine the positioning of the part in the quench tank for quenching and surface thermocouples were used on the part during austenitization to verify temperature uniformity of the piece.  After heat treatment was performed brinell hardness testing revealed hardness consistency in the part had improved significantly.  It is the conclusion of this study that the new heat treatment facility at CFC will  increase the ability of Ellwood Group Inc. to meet customer requirements on future BOP bodies.