1. Raw Material Selection & Inspection - Select qualified carbon steel (A105), stainless steel (304/316) forgings or steel plates meeting pipeline industry standards.
- Conduct chemical composition analysis and mechanical property testing; reject materials with internal cracks, inclusions or unqualified hardness.
2. Blanking & Cutting
- Cut forgings/steel plates into fixed-size blanks by sawing machine or CNC flame cutting according to blind flange specification.
- Control blank weight and thickness tolerance to ensure subsequent processing allowance.
3. Forging & Shaping (for forged type)
- Heat blanks to optimal forging temperature; form via hydraulic press forging to ensure dense internal structure.
- Trim forging flash and ensure flange basic shape meets drawing outline; air-cool or heat-treat as required.
4. Precision Machining
- Rough Machining: Turn outer circle, sealing face and bolt hole positions on lathe/milling machine to remove excess allowance.
- Finish Machining: Precision machine sealing face (flatness/roughness up to standard); drill and tap bolt holes evenly by CNC drilling machine.
- Process sealing groove (if needed) matching gasket type to ensure sealing performance.
5. Heat Treatment (if required)
- Perform normalizing, quenching and tempering on carbon steel blind flanges to improve toughness and strength.
- Conduct solution treatment on stainless steel types to enhance corrosion resistance; eliminate machining internal stress.
6. Surface Treatment
- Anti-rust treatment: Carbon steel flanges adopt galvanizing, painting or anti-rust oil coating; stainless steel flanges use passivation.
- Clean sealing face thoroughly to remove oil stains and machining residues, avoiding sealing failure.
7. Final Inspection & Testing
- Dimensional inspection: Check outer diameter, thickness, bolt hole spacing via caliper, micrometer and coordinate measuring machine.
- Sealing test: Conduct pressure
test on sealing face to ensure no leakage; inspect surface for scratches, pits or deformation.
- Marking inspection: Verify material grade, specification, standard number (ASTM/GB) marked on flange surface.
8. Packaging & Storage
- Wrap qualified blind flanges with anti-rust paper; pack in wooden cases by specification to prevent collision damage.
- Label batch number, inspection date and material info; store in dry, ventilated warehouse to avoid rust and moisture.