【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Engineering Equipment】From 1907 to 2024: Successful development of low-temperature welding materials for domestic nine-nickel steel

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Safety first. Prevention is key. Let’s give a thumbs up and encouragement to the achievements made in China’s chemical technology and equipment sector. ********************** [Ten Years of Great Development in Chemical Equipment] This is a continuously updated summary thread; everyone is welcome to join the discussion: https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html (Source: Haichuan Chemical Forum) ***************** On June 28, 2024, the project titled “Engineering development and application of domestically produced welding materials for high-nickel steel used in cryogenic storage tanks” successfully passed a phase-wise evaluation in Guangzhou, conducted by the Engineering Department of Sinopec Group. This marks the successful development of domestically produced welding materials suitable for use with 9% nickel steel in cryogenic applications. 　　Low-temperature welding materials for 9-nickel steel are considered high-end welding materials in the petrochemical industry, and imports have been relied on for a long time. To promote the full domestic production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage tanks, Guangzhou Engineering, in collaboration with SEI, the 10th Construction Company, the 4th Construction Company, Harbin Weier Welding Co., Ltd., Atlantic Welding Materials Co., Ltd., and Hefei General Machinery Research Institute Co., Ltd., conducted extensive research at the end of 2022 on domestically produced welding materials for use with 9% nickel steel in large-scale LNG storage tanks. A series of tests were carried out using two brands of domestic welding electrodes, submerged arc welding wires and corresponding fluxes, as well as TIG welding wires for automatic longitudinal seam welding. These materials were also experimentally applied during the construction of the outer shell plates of a 20,000-cubic-meter ethylene storage tank at the Gulei project in Fujian. 　　The results of comparative tests show that the use of domestically produced nine-nickel steel welding materials can not only effectively shorten the procurement and construction periods by 2 to 3 months, but also reduce costs by 15%–20% compared to imported welding materials. Based on a 220,000 cubic meter LNG storage tank, each unit can save approximately 2 million yuan, demonstrating significant economic benefits. 　　The evaluation panel, composed of experts including Chen Xuedong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, unanimously agreed that the newly developed welding electrodes for 9-nickel steel, submerged arc welding wires/fillers, and TIG welding wires for automatic longitudinal welding have a reasonable design and stable performance. Their technical specifications are on par with those of similar imported products, and some of these specifications are even better than those of foreign products; therefore, they can be widely used in the construction of LNG cryogenic storage tanks.