Focus on Best Practice and Customized Product ... - Tenaris

3 Sharing Knowledge Crucial to the Automotive Sector
5 Qualification Keeps Pace with Growth in Airbag Market
6 Working under Pressure
7 The Toronto Office: Strengthening a Firm Customer Base
8 A Machinability Rating Indicator for Tubes for Mechanical Applications
10 Taking Part in Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games
6/o6
8th Issue
<strong>Focus</strong> on Best Practice
and Customized
Product Development

Know-how in product development
and processes shared at a
global level along with a direct
relationship with the client are
at the heart of the relationship
with automotive customers.
2 Tenaris News

Sharing Knowledge Crucial
to the Automotive Sector
After a stalled 2005, slight growth in the European auto market was seen in the
second half of the year, above all in Italy, France, Spain and Germany and a stable
US market with a significant change in market share among the Big 3 and the
Japanese auto makers.
Demand is ever more oriented towards supplying tubes
according to complex client specifications and supplying
semi-finished products, like tubes cut-to-length or with
additional special operations, all the way to the request
for complete components.
With high request for pipes in the oil&gas market, the seamless
tube business in the industrial sector finds itself facing capacity
constraints, and is therefore looking for ever greater efficiency
and globalization of offers for added-value products. We spoke
to Ricardo Perugini, responsible for special product business in
the European market. Prior to looking after this market Perugini
was, in 1998, the commercial manager for the automotive market
in Nafta, and subsequently headed the new automotive component
center in Veracruz, Mexico.
Tenaris News 3

“The cycle to setup and homologate tubes for manufacture of, for
example, constant-velocity joints for heavy vehicles and drive
shafts – Perugini explains – is rather long and complex.
Furthermore, the automotive manufacturers are going through a
phase of profound reorganization in which, in the quest for maximum
efficiency, they have established centralized hubs for design
and component purchasing and have relocated production units
in the markets with the greatest potential for development.
In this sense Tenaris has followed the same development model,
strengthening its presence in Eastern Europe and now in China,
establishing a global R&D function coordinated centrally, setting
up the technical and quality requisites of the product, through to
supplying a package of services that facilitate integration into
their supply chain.
In fact, it’s in the airbag market where we’re starting to see the
most centralized development models, which we are moving to
emulate. The global presence of Tenaris is a strong point in as
much as it allows dialogue with the client, guaranteeing the same
technical and commercial levels in all the principal markets,
focusing particularly on Europe, Nafta and Mercosur.”
4 TenarisNews
It’s in the airbag
market where we’re
starting to see the
most centralized
development models.
In a constant effort to achieve efficiency and cost
reduction, we share experience in product and
process development.
Sharing know-how
“In a constant effort to achieve internal efficiency and cost reductions
– Perugini adds – we transfer experience gained in development
of a product and process to the plants involved in producing
the same product.”
For example, the know-how acquired in ring gear products initially
gained in the AlgomaTubes plant, was subsequently enlarged to
include the Tamsa plant and now there are plans to transfer part
of the production to the Italian facility. In particular, in the latter
plant, various qualification trials were concluded involving four
new steel types and about ten different part numbers.
The quenched and tempered airbag product has also followed a
similar path: initial development at Siderca was then expanded to
the Tamsa mill, and now the component center at Costa Volpino,
already the principal reference point for the European market, is
working on qualification of beveled tubes in the high-resistance
Tenaris UHSS-145 grade to meet the increase in demand and
design characteristics in the US and European markets for curtain
airbag inflators and passenger hybrid inflators.

Qualification Keeps Pace
with Growth in Airbag Market
Trial planning and interfunctional teamwork - Product, Quality, Logistics
and Product Development - were crucial.
Following qualification of the
TenarisDalmine Costa Volpino colddrawing
plant for tubes for Q&T
airbag vessels in late 2004, the Dalmine
steelworks and small diameter tube
hot-rolling plant have also gained PPAP
(Production Part Approval Process)
qualification.
In line with the approach of knowledge
sharing within the industrial system, hollows
previously coming just from the
Siderca facility, Argentina, to Italy for
Q&T to be then shipped to the component
center in Veracruz, Mexico, to form
the air bag inflator, are now also being
produced at the Dalmine mill.
Eduardo Altschuler, responsible for product
development for the automotive sector
in Europe, explains why qualification
of all Tenaris facilities in Italy was necessary:
“The airbag market is growing very
rapidly in terms of annual volumes -
more cars are being made, there are more
airbags per car and Tenaris’s market share
is increasing - so in order to keep pace we
need to qualify different mills.
Production started at TenarisDalmine in
2005, with hollows coming out of the
Siderca mill and the Veracruz Component
Center producing about 800,000 airbag
inflators annually.
As a result, we’ve been able to increase
production to keep pace with the market:
the Costa Volpino facility, for instance,
has increased its orders for air bag inflators
four times in the last two years. In
order to optimize logistics for this product
it was critical to qualify the route with
Dalmine steel.”
In addition to supplying Veracruz, the
same product is now being supplied to
an airbag manufacturer in Europe,
although in relatively small quantities.
This step does, however, indicate the
efforts Tenaris is making to develop the
European market to achieve a similar
presence to the one gained in Nafta.
Additionally, projects are underway with
all the main European airbag producers.
The qualification process
“It was a very interesting project
because it involved several manufactur -
ing facilities. – Altschuler continues -
The steel shop had to manufacture a
particular steel for the first time, a SAE
1510-modified steel type for airbags.
Then the small diameter tube
hot-rolling mill manufactured the mother
tubes, the hollows, for Costa Volpino,
which demanded, among other critical
characteristics, a very good surface quality.”
In fact the principal focus for this
qualification centered on the small diameter
tube hot-rolling plant.
Trial planning and interfunctional teamwork
between Production, Quality,
Logistics, and Product departments were
some of the keys to gaining PPAP
approval.
Renato Demarchi worked as Project
Leader, helping to identify and keep
critical process parameters under control:
“We had to make sure we were complying
with the tough non-destructive test
requirements for this product, implementing
very strict controls throughout,
both on the hot rolled hollows and on
the cold drawing.” Demarchi’s activity
was crucial, ensuring that Costa Volpino
received a hollow ready for cold drawing
that met all the critical requisites in terms
of surface quality.
The steel shop had to manufacture a
particular steel for the first time,
a SAE 15-10-modified for airbags.
Tenaris News 5

Working under Pressure
Chesterfield Special Cylinders Ltd and Tenaris join forces to supply air
pressure vessels to the offshore industry.
Tenaris has recently been awarded
significant orders for semi-finished
cylinders by Chesterfield Special
Cylinders Ltd, the UK based specialist
high-pressure cylinder manufacturer.
Originally formed in 1897, Chesterfield
has acquired over a century of knowhow
applied to its design and
manufacture of high-pressure seamless
steel gas cylinders and related services.
Chesterfield Special Cylinders is the
world’s largest supplier of APV’s (air
pressure vessels) for floating offshore
platforms and it is for this product line
with cylinders up to 310 bar working
pressure that the two companies have
recently teamed up.
The tubes destined for the offshore oildrilling
sector will find an application in
drilling system motion compensators.
Surface drill string motion compensators
fitted to offshore rigs enable the drill
string to be raised or lowered as the rig
moves up and down, thereby maintaining
6 Tenaris News
a near constant weight on the bit. This is
achieved by compressed fluid being fed
from reservoir cylinders to cylinders
which then operate pistons. As the fluid
pressure acts on the pistons a proportion
of the weight of the drill string is lifted,
supporting as much of the string’s weight
as necessary to maintain the desired
weight on the bit. These surface motion
compensators play a significant role in
modern offshore marine drilling, allowing
the weight on the bit to be varied when
drilling through various types of
formations, for example. Additional
benefits include increasing service life and
penetration, and saving time that would
otherwise need to be spent carrying out
repairs or changing damaged bits.
The tubes will be forged and heat-treated
at the Dalmine mill before being shipped
to Chesterfield Special Cylinders’
Sheffield site for machining, hydrostatic
and ultrasonic testing, final inspection,
painting and fitting up into assemblies.
This production route takes advantage of
the most efficient processes in each
Production route for the drilling system
motion compensator tubes takes
advantage of Tenaris’s capabilities
in forging and heat treating and
Chesterfield’s in finishing.
company, i.e. Tenaris in forging and
heat treating and Chesterfield in
finishing.
Current and medium term prospects for
this product are extremely buoyant due
to the investment being channelled into
oil exploration and production by the
major oil companies in their attempts to
satisfy the world’s increasing demand
for oil related products.
With this in mind, Tenaris and
Chesterfield are working closely
together to ensure continuity of supply
to satisfy Chesterfield’s exacting
customers operating in this field.
Chesterfield chose to work with Tenaris
on the basis of their quality of product,
service, delivery performance on recent
related contracts and price, and look
forward to an ongoing and successful
relationship in this and other market
sectors.

The Toronto Office: Strengthening
a Firm Customer Base
While the introduction of new framework agreements looks set to
improve established business, the Toronto sales office sets its sights on a
broader range of seamless tube opportunities.
George Nogalo, Automotive Sales Manager
for Canada.
Set up in August 2003, the Toronto Bay
Street office has been able to strengthen
its working relationship with automotive
customers based in Canada and nearby
US states. George Nogalo, Automotive
Regional Sales Manager for the area,
gives a snapshot of current automotive
business and some pointers on the direction
the office is taking in order to diversify
its seamless product offering in the
region.
Improving automotive business
Nogalo highlights the relationship with
two established customers in particular
to illustrate the activities of the Toronto
office: Dana Corporation’s Commercial
Vehicle Systems plant in Barrie, Ontario,
with its sister plant in Lugoff, South
Carolina, USA and IMT, with operations
located two hours west of Toronto. Both
customers buy cut-to-length, Q&T
tubes for axle applications coming out of
the AlgomaTubes plant in Sault Ste
Marie. Both Dana and IMT supply to a
global customer base and both have
recently concluded framework agreements,
which, by defining pricing, product,
delivery, forecasting and releasing
terms, are making already existing business
better.
Nogalo explains the thinking behind
these framework agreements: “We’ve
really knit together an agreement which
will benefit the relationship, clarifying
terms and conditions to avoid misunderstandings.”
The agreement includes an
annual forecast to help ensure steel is
always in the supply chain and then a 24week
rolling forecast, with early weeks
firm and future weeks for planning,
allowing for some flexibility. “The problem
with the commercial vehicle sector is
it really is ‘feast or famine’ – Nogalo
continues – and these spikes put a lot of
heavy demands on our ability to supply,
hence the forecasts are necessary to
avoid outages.”
Both Dana and IMT order seamless
tubing to SAE 1527 Q&T specification
for its axle manufacture. Tenaris supplies
not only the tube but also handles
the cutting operations. The advantages
for them include proximity and the ‘one
stop’ JIT service, meaning a better supply
chain and greater cost effectiveness.
Consequently the customer no longer
needs to hold an inventory and can also
deal directly with the AlgomaTubes mill
when it comes to quality issues.
Identifying fresh opportunities
The Bay Street office is exploring openings
for both strategic and non-strategic
seamless tube applications in the
Canadian market, involving other production
facilities within Tenaris.
For example, whereas the billets for axle
tubes may come from the TenarisSiderca
plant in Argentina (a 5,500 mile journey
- hence the value of good forecasting),
including tubular products coming out
of the Arcore mill in Italy and the
Romanian plant, TenarisSilcotub, would
mean a more diverse range, in terms of
both size and the possibility to offer
cold drawn and hot finished products.
“We’re now focusing on products outside
of axles, which would include ring
gears, and also suitable applications for
tubes from Arcore or Silcotub, like spacer
tubing for truck steering columns. –
Nogalo concludes – We want to learn
what seamless tube opportunities exist
in the Canadian market, building on
what we have and trying to add to it.”
Tenaris News 7

A Machinability Rating Indicator for
Tubes for Mechanical Applications
Machinability, or useful tool life, is an important economic factor in
machine tool operations.
Tool life, surface finishing, chip removal
and cutting forces are the principal factors
to take into consideration when
asking how machinable a material is.
<strong>Focus</strong>ing specifically on tool life, determined
by wear of the cutting edge, a
Machinability Control Factor (MCF)
has been developed by Emanuele
Paravicini Bagliani, Product Engineer.
It can be employed in order to quantify
the advantages of modifying the production
cycle, all the way from steel
making to heat-treating the tubular
product.
Factors affecting machinability
Usually in regards to material machinability,
engineers adopt the Taylor equation
which describes the link between tool life
(L) and cutting speed (U): U · L α = C,
α and C being two parameters which are
experimentally determined. In order to do
that, Taylor tests were conducted at several
laboratories: I.V.F. (Institutet for
8 Tenaris News
Verkstadstenkniks Forskning, Sweden),
C.S.M. (Centro Sviluppo Materiali, Rome,
Italy), CNR – ISTEC (Turin, Italy).
Several steels with different microstructures
and chemical composition were considered.
In practice the optimal cutting speed
is a balance between minimizing working
time, idle time to change the insert and its
relative cost.
To evaluate the impact of machinability on
production costs it is necessary to forecast
the life of the insert in set cutting scenarios.
Machinability as defined by the life of
the insert depends on the microstructure,
Knowing the chemical characteristics,
microinclusions
and microstructure of the
steel enabled the MCF to be
built.
Tenaris has Developed a
Machinability Control Factor to
Forecast the Machinability of Steel.
chemical composition, presence and distribution
of secondary phase particles
and mechanical properties of the steel
being machined.
Development of the MCF index
To build an accurate forecasting model
detailed microstructural and microinclusional
measurements would have to
be taken to build a correlation between
production procedures and machinability.
On the other hand, a simple indicator
(MCF) using measurements easy to
obtain can be used to forecast material
machinability with sufficient accuracy
based on the following parameters:

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MCF AND U10
U10 (m/min)
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
100
FIGURE 1
150 200 250 300 350
MCF
400 450 500 550
.
.
.
Hardness
Carbon content
Sulfur content
Ca/Al ratio
With these four parameters, it’s possible
to evaluate the microstructure and the
presence of carbides as well as the types
of inclusions.
Tests were carried out on seamless tubes
for mechanical applications in a range
of dimensions in carbon and micro
alloyed steel, completely killed and with
a minimum guaranteed aluminum content,
tested ‘as rolled’, normalized and
quenched and tempered.
In developing an index the cutting speed
was set as corresponding to a cutting
edge life of 10-minutes (U10). The conditions
adopted are summarized in the
table below. The objectives of the tests
carried out were to determine:
The material parameters (C, α) that link
tool life (L) with cutting speed (U), as
described in the Taylor equation mentioned
earlier.
A machinability index, also said the cutting
speed which corresponded to a tool
life of 10 minutes (U10).
Obtaining the chemical characteristics,
microinclusions and microstructure of
MAIN FEATURES
Reference standard UNI ISO 3685:1981
End of life criteria Maximum flank wear: VB=0.30 mm
Maximum crater wear KT=0.18 mm
Cutting operation dry turning
Cutting insert Coromant CNMG 120408-PM 4015
Rake angle k=75°
Cutting Depth 2.5 mm
Feed 0.4 mm/rev
100° corner, clearance angle: -6°
the steel enabled the MCF to be built.
The relationship between the MCF and
a cutting speed equal to a tool life of 10
minutes (U10) is illustrated in figure 1.
As it can be observed the MCF represents
a good machinability index.
Conclusions
With simple, easy to obtain measurements
it is possible to gain good tool life
prediction for the cutting conditions used
in the test and quantify the effects of the
factors analyzed here. Carbon content
and hardness can hardly be used to control
machinability because they are generally
fixed by customer specifications, but
understanding their effects can be important
when planning the production cycle
for a component, adding for example a
heat treatment to change the hardness.
On the other hand, sulfur content and the
Ca/Al ratio can contribute to up to a 60-
70 m/min improvement in the (U10) value
for a common steel for mechanical applications
like 20MV6, which means
improving the machinability index by as
much as 10-15%.
Based on experimental results conducted
to answer the need for a product with
superior characteristics in hydraulic cylinder,
roller, bushing, connector and gear
applications, Tenaris has developed special
seamless tubes with high machinability
(HL) and close tolerances for mechanical
applications: TAM ® plus.
Tenaris News 9

Taking Part in Turin 2006
Winter Olympic Games
Tenaris provided structural tubes to support the internal structure
of the roof of the Turin “Oval”, one of the competition facilities of
the XX Winter Olympic Games hosted last February in Italy.
Tenaris provided about 900 tons of S355 J2H normalized
carbon steel pipes in circular hollow sections to
Costruzioni Cimolai, the Italian company in charge of the
construction of the steel parts of the Turin “Oval” building,
the indoor sports stadium that hosted the speed skating
competitions during the last Winter Olympic Games.
The building was designed by Hok Sport of London and
the Zoppini Studio of Milan, two architectural studios
specializing in sports buildings. The former followed the
adaptation of the Millennium Dome, Greenwich, London,
from civil building into a sports centre and the stadiums of
Sydney and Wembley; the latter designed the Olympic
swimming pool in Rijeka, Croatia, the Ryad stadium and
the Sciorba sports centre in Genoa.
The “Oval” is composed of a main hall with a covered area
of about 25,000 m 2 where the 400 m oval ice skating track
is located; entrances with related services on the east side,
service areas on the west side, and two large façades next
to the south and north sides. The “Oval” can accommodate
over 8,000 spectators and, after the Olympic event, it
10 Tenaris News
Even though the covered area of the stadium
has a remarkable extension and is subject to
high loads, the impact of the roof structure
is extremely light.
The same S355 J2H steel was employed in
the tubes for the roof of the Olympic Stadium
“Spyros Louis” which hosted the last 2004
Olympic Games (photo on the right).
became part of the largest exhibition structure in Turin
located in the old Fiat factory of Lingotto.
“Our pipes were used for the construction of the structure
with bow-string truss for the roof ”, explained Alessandro
Giacobbe, TenarisDalmine Product Manager for structural
pipes, “The Oval project included a suspended roof structure
with no intermediate supports to create a single open
space: a massive yet light structure. In fact, even though
the covered area of the stadium has a remarkable extension
(136x216 m) and is subject to high loads, the impact
of the roof structure is extremely light”.
“In accordance with the construction company’s requests
we customized our offer providing tubes in different
lengths, ranging from 7,100 to 12,800 mm, and diameters,
from 6 to 24 inches”, concluded Giacobbe, “from the time
we received the order, we put it into production and delivered
all the pipes in just two months, allowing our client to
comply with the tight construction schedule given by the
organizing committee of the Olympic Games.”

Photo courtesy of Costruzioni Cimolai

www.tenaris.com
ARGENTINA
Buenos Aires
Adrian Fila
afila@tenaris.com
(54) 3489 435332 tel
(54) 3489 435366 fax
BOLIVIA
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Richard Mariaca
rmariaca@tenaris.com
(591) 3 312 0603 tel
(591) 3 312 0602 fax
BRAZIL
Sao Paulo
Germano Fehr
gfehr@confab.com.br
(55) 12 244 9400 tel
(55) 12 244 9003 fax
CANADA
Toronto
George Nogalo
gnogalo@tenaris.com
(416) 216 4617 tel
(416) 214 2043 fax
CASPIAN SEA
Aktau
Derek Smith
dsmith@tenaris.com
(994) 12 921411 tel
(994) 12 971023 fax
CHINA
Beijing
David Crooks
dcrooks@tenaris.com
(86) 10 6437 6744 tel
(86) 10 6437 6746 fax
COLOMBIA
Bogotá
Gaston Mengelle
gmengelle@tenaris.com
(57) 1 636 2920 tel
(57) 1 623 4780 fax
ECUADOR
Quito
Marcelo Gonzalez Pondal
mgonzalezpondal@tenaris.com
(593) 2 298 6240 tel
(593) 2 298 6250 fax
FRANCE
Paris
Gregoire Flipo
gflipo@tenaris.com
(33) 1 4757 1212 tel
(33) 1 4757 1081 fax
GERMANY
München
Marc Rennings
mrennings@tenaris.com
(49) 0 89 5908 2111 tel
(39) 035 378 097 fax
ITALY
Dalmine
Caterina Epis
ceois@tenaris.com
(39) 035 560 3505 tel
(39) 035 560 2454 fax
JAPAN
Kawasaki
Marcelo Ramos
mramos@tenaris.com
(81) 44 328 3400 tel
(81) 44 328 3456 fax
KOREA
Seoul
Leandro Ramos
lramos@tenaris.com
(82) 2 798 3385 tel
(82) 2 798 3392 fax
MEXICO
Veracruz
Ricardo Baez
rbaez@tenaris.com
(52) 229 989 1911 tel
(52) 229 989 404 fax
NETHERLANDS
Rotterdam
Frans Reijkersz
freijkersz@dalmine.it
(31) 651 359 914 tel
(39) 035 378 095 fax
NIGERIA
Port Harcourt
Jorge Mayer
jmayer@tenaris.com
(234) 84 610299 tel
(234) 84 611859 fax
NORWAY
Stavanger
Arnt Oxaas
aoxaas@tenaris.com
(47) 51 44 3440 tel
(47) 51 44 3441 fax
ROMANIA
Zalau
Laurentiu Paval
laurentiu.paval@silcotub.ro
(40) 745 107 093 tel
(40) 260 610 743 fax
RUSSIA
Moscow
Alex Kondrashov
akondrashov@tenaris.com
(7) 095 502 1630 tel
(7) 095 937 6781 fax
SINGAPORE
Singapore
Sia Soon Tee
stsia@tenaris.com
(65) 6395 9000 tel
(65) 6 222 4090 fax
UAE
Dubai
Ricardo Capria
rcapria@tenaris.com
(971) 4 2725 394 tel
(971) 4 2725 392 fax
UK
Coseley
Carlo Alberto De Stefanis
cdestefanis@tenaris.com
(44) 1902 665288
(44) 1902 665263
USA
Houston
Fabio Gomez
fgomez@tenaris.com
(1) 713 767 4484 tel
(1) 713 336 7610 fax
VENEZUELA
Caracas
Jorge Samitier
jsamitier@tenaris.com
(58) 212 902 3969 tel
(58) 212 902 3937 fax