Fearnley Procter NS-1™ Certification Tuffband® NC and Duraband® NC Certifications

Duraband® NC is Fearnley Procter NS-1™ certified for initial first time application and re-application to tool joints. Tuffband® NC is certified for initial application on new drill pipe and undergoing certification for re-application.

What are these certifications? In 2000, Fearnley Procter Group1 purchased Shell SQAIR rights from Shell UK2 and published certifications under the NS- 1™ designation. To be qualified for NS-1™ Certification, Initial Application, the Duraband® procedure had to be approved by a committee of experts. A number of tool joints were welded using this manual, and exhaustive testing was conducted on them to ensure integrity, bonding and consistent hardness. In addition to this testing, Duraband® is required to be casing wear tested, in this case by Mohr Engineering3, Houston, TX.

NS-1™ re-application certification is handled a little differently. The Duraband® re-application procedures are examined. Tool joints with worn hardbanding products on them are then welded according to the re-application procedures and appropriate sections are taken from the tool joint and tested for bonding, hardbanding integrity, hardness consistency and heat affected zone integrity.

Why is NS-1™ important? For the most part, hardbanding is a self regulated procedure, unless third party inspectors are employed during the process. In that respect, it is extremely important to have an outside party examine, evaluate, and regulate hardbanding products. Postle qualifies each and every applicator. Applicators are visited on a frequent basis for compliance to Postle Industries’ manual and procedures. Non-compliant applicators are reviewed and handled accordingly.