Stainless Steel Pipes

​Stainless steel pipes are manufactured according to ASTM A312 standard. The material is available in grade SS316/316L and made in standard length of 6 meters long. Dual grade SS316/316L stainless steel pipes are known to deliver exceptional performance and are generally developed for meeting the market demands. 

SS316 stainless steel has more carbon that SS316L. Nickel and molybdenum are the main chemical ingredients which are used in manufacturing process of stainless steel SS316 pipes. With adding molybdenum in the producing process, it effectively improves alloy corrosion resistance, specifically in the environment that is highly exposed to crevice corrosion in chloride based environments.
Size
  • 1/8” to 4”
Material Specifications 
  • TP316 / 316L
Dimension Specifications
  • ASTM A312
  • ASME SA312
Finishing 
  • Annealed and Pickled 
Stainless Steel PIPEs Catalogue
Stainless Steel Pipes.pdf
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What are Stainless Steel Pipes Specifications

1. What are stainless steel pipes used for?

Piping is used in various industries as below: 
  • Water supply systems 
  • Aerospace and engineering 
  • Power plant 
  • Fabrication industry 
  • Paper & pulp industry 
  • Structural pipe 
  • Oil and gas pipeline 
  • Chemical industry 
  • Heating and plumbing
Annealed & Pickled Stainless Steel Pipe
Annealed & Pickled Stainless Steel Pipe
2. What is dual grade stainless steel?
​
The austenitic structure helps the pipes to get excellent toughness even if it reaches cryogenic temperature. This is the main reason why stainless steel material is a common choice for piping applications. It has excellent forming and welding characteristics which allows different flexibility during installation.
Chemical Element
SS316
SS316L
Carbon (C), %
0.08
0.035
Manganese (Mn) , %
2.00
2.00
Silicon (Si), %
1.00
1.00
Phosphorus (P), %
0.045
0.045
Sulphur (S), %
0.030
0.030
Chromium (Cr), %
16.0 - 18.0
16.0 - 18.0
Nickel (Ni), %
11.0 - 14.0
10.0 - 14.0
Molybdenum (Mo), %
2.0 - 3.0
2.0 - 3.0
Table 1: Chemical element of ASTM A312 dual spec SS316/316L pipe
3. What is difference between tubes and pipes?

Tubes and pipes are difficult to identify occasionally and some people use the name of tube and pipe interchangeably. However, there are significant differences between tubes and pipes. Tubes are measured in outer diameter and wall thickness. The tube is produced with close tolerance range and requires precise outer diameter and wall thickness to identify its working pressure. 
​
While pipes are specified by nominal pipe size and schedule wall thickness. It has two different nominal pipe size measurement standard which is American National Standard Institute (ANSI) and Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS). Both pipes and tubes have their respective measurement chart to determine its outer diameter size.  
Description
Pipe
Tube
Size chart
  • Nominal pipe size (NPS)
  • Nominal diameter (DN)
  • Outer Diameter

Wall thickness
  • Schedule reading
  • Inches or milimeters size
Production range 
  • Extensive (Up to 80”)
  • A narrower range (up to 5”)
Production precision
  • Medium
  • High
Production process
  • Highly automated 
  • Efficient processes
  • Lengthy process
  • Laborious ​
Production time
  • Short
  • Longer
Market material cost
  • Low
  • High
Table 2: Different criteria for pipe and tube
​4. What is the wall thickness of a Schedule 40 stainless steel pipe?
Stainless Steel Pipe
Stainless Steel Pipe "SCH" Thickness
Schedule (SCH) is the term used to measure the pipe thickness. The outer diameter (OD) of a pipe and the schedule thickness can both be determined by referring to the pipe table chart where all the readings is available. Regular schedule such as SCH10, 40, 80, 160, XXS are normally used when measuring the wall thickness of stainless steel pipes. The most common use thickness is SCH40 while SCHXXS, double extra strong is the thickest wall thickness available for each size.
The schedule thickness will affect the inner diameter (ID) of a pipe. The inner diameter measures when the outer dimeter minus two times the schedule in wall thickness.  The piping working pressure can be determined by the schedule wall thickness. ​
5. How do you join a stainless steel pipe?
​
There are several types of pipe connection and the pipe end connection can be customized according to the installation method. There are 3 different types of pipe end connection: plain end, threaded end and bevel end connection.
Connection Types
Features
Plain End
  • Finishing products by manufacturer, generally apply for small diameters size.
Threaded End
  • Tapered groove with threaded option like NPT, it helps to reduce possibility of leakage. 
Bevel End
  • Standard angle of 30° on pipe end, apply in butt welding (weld-on) end connection. 
Table 3: 3 Types of pipe end connection
To ensure pipe joining quality, the pipe tolerance have to be taken into consideration. The pipe made according to ASTM A312 has outer diameter and wall thickness tolerance as follows: ​
Pipe Outer Diameter
Outer Diameter Tolerance 
Wall Thickness Tolerance
1/8”NB – 1 1/2”NB 
+0.40mm, -0.8mm
+/- 12.50%
2”NB – 4”NB 
+/-0.8mm
+/- 12.50%
5”NB – 8”NB
+1.6mm, -0.8mm
​+/- 12.50%
Table 4: ASTM A312 pipe manufacture tolerance
Stainless Steel PIPEs Catalogue
Stainless Steel Pipes.pdf
File Size: 176 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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