| Abstract Scope |
Through the past seven years, different 3D-printed metal parts have been designed, parametrized, deposited, post-processed and installed in the Oil and Gas (O&G) facilities in Brazil, which includes refineries, platforms and oil rigs. Within the scope the Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) and GMA (Gas Metal Arc) process, the main materials, which has been employed, are C-Mn steels (ER70S-3, ER70S-6 and G4Si1 wires), low-alloy steels (ER80S-G, ER80S-B2, ER90S-B3 and ER110S-1 wires), stainless steels (ER308LSi, ER316LSi, ER2209 and ER2594 wires) and cooper alloys (ERCuSi-A and ERCuSn-C wires). The main goal is to provide a general insight of this applied technology, its achievements and setbacks. The overall motivation of the use of WAAM is due to the bulky parts, which have been demanded by the O&G facilities. In Brazilian scenario, the national standard N-133 (2023) brings the equivalence between the conventionally fabricated material (casting, forging, etc) and the welding wire, which shorts the path to material selection. In terms of DfAM (Design for Additive Manufacturing), because O&G industry is normally a conservative sector, few modifications in the original design were carried out, under the discussion with the Engineering team of the O&G facility. A total of thirteen (13) parts were selected to be presented as the technological cases: 3” reduction sleeve, ¾” reduction sleeve, pipe clamping device, offshore tooling, compressor nut, 4” flange, 10” flange, sea box clamping device, coupling pipe, valve handle, impeller, electrical terminal and slide bushing. The scenario of the Additive Manufacturing technology applied to metal parts in O&G sector seems promising based on the national demand for new parts, especially large and off-the-self ones. |