Steel pipe having high formability and method for production thereof

Abstract

The invention provides a steel pipe being superior in workability, particularly in bending workability, in which an r-value in the axial direction of the pipe in a portion where melting or transformation of a steel material has occurred during seam welding is as high as comparable to that in a portion where melting or transformation of the steel material has not occurred, and a method of producing the steel pipe. In the high-workability steel pipe, an r-value in the longitudinal direction is not less than 1.2, more preferably not less than 1.6, over an entire area in the circumferential direction, including a seamed portion. The steel pipe is produced by a method comprising the step of performing diameter-reducing rolling on a steel pipe in a temperature range of from 600° C. to Ac3 with a reduction in diameter of not less than 30%, preferably after heating the steel pipe to temperatures of not lower than Ac1, the steel pipe being produced by seam-welding strip steel, or a method further comprising the step of performing heat treatment of holding the rolled steel pipe in a temperature range of from 600° C. to 900° C. for a time of 1 second or longer during cooling subsequent to the diameter-reducing rolling or by reheating the rolled steel pipe after the cooling.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.