Fairfield Tubular Operations

Approximately 750,000 tons of seamless tubular products capacity annually.


Address

5700 Valley Road
Fairfield, AL 35064

Located near Birmingham, Alabama, the U. S. Steel Fairfield Tubular Operations custom creates seamless steel casing with an outside diameter range of 4-1/2” to 9-7/8” and seamless steel line and standard pipe with an outside diameter range 4-1/2" to 8-5/8" to meet our customers’ specifications.

 

An exacting process that leaves nothing to chance

The creation of U. S. Steel seamless steel pipe begins with solid steel rounds, or billets, cut to a specified length. They are then sent through a walking-beam reheat furnace, where temperatures reach nearly 2,300 °F. The pieces are then sent to the rotary piercing mill where the rounds are cross-rolled between two barrel-shaped rolls at high speed and are transformed within seconds into tube shells.

At this point, the seamless steel tubes enter the Fairfield facility’s seven-stand mandrel mill, where they are stretched and rolled into a controlled dimension shell. We carefully monitor the reduction process using a state-of-the-art hot-wall measuring system. The seamless pipe is then reheated for the final forming in a 24-stand Hot Stretch Reduction Mill (SRM) where ODs are formed to our customer’s exacting specifications and wall thickness is again verified.

 
Finishing and testing seamless pipe

All pipe manufactured at the Fairfield mill is transferred to a storage area before being delivered to one of three primary workstations: heat treatment, finishing or special pipe processing.

Seamless pipe at this point may undergo quenching and tempering to alter its microstructure to improve strength or other properties. Quenching and tempering controls hardness, reduces brittleness and brings the steel to the desired yield and tensile strengths. It is then sent to the Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) unit.

Seamless pipe that is not quenched and tempered passes through a straightener and then to the NDT unit.

Once passing through the NDT, all Fairfield seamless pipe undergoes an Electromagnetic Inspection (EMI) that detects longitudinal and transverse flaws as the tubing moves through a set of coils.

Threading and shipping

If threading of the seamless pipe is required, the finished pipe is routed to one of six of the Fairfield operation’s high-speed threaders. After more inspections are completed, the finished pipe is weighed, measured, and stenciled with a unique U. S. Steel ID, coated and then loaded onto rail cars for shipment to our customers.

Fairfield Tubular Production

Lengths Range 3 Casing
Fairfield Tubular Grades H40, J55, K55, L80,L80 HC, L80 HP, N80Q, N80 HC, N80 HP, N80 Type 1, C90, R95, T95, C110, P110 (to SR 16), P110, P110 HC, P110 HP, Q125, Q125 HC, Q125 HP
Pipe manufactured to these grades will be marked with the API monogram
Proprietary Grades USS GT 805, USS C90, USS C95, USS C100, USS RYS110, USS C110, USS 140, USS V150

For pipe sizes and grades not found in the sections above, please contact U. S. Steel Tubular Products at 877-893-9461 with your inquiry.