Year
2012
Abstract
Flow forming, an advanced version of metal spinning, is becoming a popular technique for the fabrication of containers for the storage and transportation of radioactive materials. The authors published two recent articles to address issues with this technique. The first article [1] gave a brief overview of the operation, benefits, and possible problems. The second article [2] discussed the need for annealing the finished product. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC) has been requiring the pressure-retaining material be fully annealed. All BPVC material specifications for forgings contain prescribed heat treatments. If necessary, these treatments are assumed to be used to anneal the material. Based on this assumption, the present article proposed a procedure to use the flow forming technique and comply with the BPVC. The procedure consists of the following steps: (1) Choose an annealed BPVC pressure-retaining material; (2) Flow form the material into the finished product; (3) Anneal the product; (4) Test and examine the annealed product and material to ensure the product and material meet all BPVC standards.