What does it mean to extend the life of drill pipe by 30%?

A brand-new steel greatly prolongs the service life of the drill pipe of the innovative +Range drilling rig, which greatly benefits the users.

Sandvik was founded in the period of great development of metallurgical industry. In 1862, Göran FredrikGöransson and his experienced engineers and employees successfully realized the mass production of steel by using Bessemer steelmaking process for the first time. Because of its high quality, Swedish steel soon became a hot commodity. Rock drilling tools were the first tools to actually apply this kind of steel, and sandvik began to supply this kind of products in the 1970s. Today, sandvik proudly inherits this time-tested tradition, which gives the company the manufacturing ability to independently produce special steel for rock drilling rigs.

The company has never stopped its R&D activities, as evidenced by the large number of patents obtained by sandvik for material technology innovation. Metallurgical technology continues to play an important role in modern rock drilling tools. This brand-new steel is used in the drill pipe of sandvik's new +Range top hammer drilling rig.

This new series of drill pipe products has been developed to meet the growing market requirements. This product is based on a wide range of R&D projects, specifically to solve practical problems that customers encounter in their daily operations. The product manager of top hammer drilling tools in sandvik open-pit mining said: "We studied the worn drill pipes collected, and then analyzed the weaknesses in the Swedish R&D laboratory and improved them."

Drill pipes have to bear huge external forces, including 3,000 to 4,000g gravity acceleration generated by each impact, and each drill pipe will undergo thousands of repeated impacts during its life cycle. In contrast, the maximum gravity acceleration of modern fighters is generally set within 10g. A new type of high-performance rock drilling rig can withstand several hundred degrees of high temperature caused by high pressure and friction at various joints connecting drill pipes. When sandvik's research and test data began to appear, the results quickly became clear-compared with the previous steel, the new brand steel has stronger wear resistance. Because of this, the service life of the new drill pipe has been extended by more than 30%, and even more in some applications. The extension rate of service life is not only theoretical calculation, but based on facts.

We have conducted extensive tests in different mining sites in many countries where our customers are located, such as South Africa, Germany and Australia. The results show that the service life of drill pipe is significantly prolonged in the whole rock environment, which is impressive. The service life of larger T51 and GT60 drill pipes has been extended by 30%.

Longer service life can start a positive domino effect and bring practical benefits to customers. Extending the service life of drill pipe by 30% can substantially reduce the drilling cost per meter. The replacement times of drill pipes are reduced, so it is not necessary to take a new drill pipe by car, thus saving time and directly improving production efficiency. Another major advantage is improved security. The reduction of drill pipe replacement times can reduce the injury risk of rig operators and mechanical personnel. The reduction of drill pipe replacement frequency means that the number of drill pipes recovered is reduced, thus saving raw materials and energy. The decrease of material transportation also reduces fuel consumption and emissions, and also reduces the transportation cost to and from the mine and the recovery of drill pipes.