Stainless steel Seamless tubes are vital in various applications. Seamless coils tubes have an intrinsic role in manufacturing, from hydraulic lines to solar dishes. Here are a few facts in pointers that you must know about seamless tubing:
- How seamless tube is made:
Extrusion is of the popular methods of manufacturing seamless tubes. In this process, metal or other material is induced through a die to create desired shapes. This process starts with a piece of conditioned steel of a selected grade. Next, the tubes are extruded from a solid steel billet, and then they are redrawn by using a die. Finally, these seamless tubes are heat-treated in a vacuum furnace and processed, cleaned, and re-processed until they are reduced to the ideal size. Interestingly, the seamless coil tubing can be reduced so far that the inner diameter can adapt to the diameter of the strand of human hair.
- Applications of coiled tubing:
Seamless stainless steel coil tubing is known to reduce the risk of impurities, increase corrosion resistance, and reduce installation costs in many applications, making it the most preferred choice for extreme hot or cold environments.
- Seamless tubes in the Oil & Gas industry have occupied an important position as their application includes control lines, sub-sea safety valves, and chemical injection.
- The Chemical Process and Instrumentation industry also have popular seamless tubing applications like fluid & gas transfer, flow measurement & sensing, and steam & heat trace bundles. Precision tubing or small diameter tubing is a trusted component for gas chromatography (GC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) equipment. The manufacturers of these types of equipment now require smaller samples that can be processed at higher speeds. Seamless stainless steel capillary tubing is employed to plumb many high-precision systems.
- In recent days, seamless coil tubing applications include hydrogen transfer for material handling applications and compressed natural gas transfer for vehicle refueling. In these applications, seamless tubes save time and labor because multiple fittings are not required further. Notably, Seamless coil tubing also can be found in other industries like Shipbuilding, Aerospace & Defense, Medical equipment industry, and Alternative Energy.
- Differences between welded, welded & drawn, and seamless tubing:
Choosing between welded, welded-and-drawn, and seamless tubes for your application or project is quite difficult. Seamless tubing qualifies with high corrosion resistance as it is 100% seam-free, without any longitudinal and orbital welds. However, since the tubes with longitudinal welds have a prominent drawback, they cannot withstand critical applications.
A flat strip is roll-formed to make a welded tube, and the ends are joined together, forming a longitudinal seam. The process can be executed with laser alignment or tig welding. However, the welded portion of the tube is dimensionally inconsistent with the strip and causes stress concentration in those areas. This can increase complications, particularly for tubes with high internal pressure. Furthermore, these crevices on both sides of the weld seam are more prone to corrosion and metallurgical contamination during heat treatment. This leads to corrosion because the residue gets trapped in the welded areas. These crevices also can cause cracks, which may propagate and cause a rupture in the welded tubes.
Some manufacturers use different methods to minimize the dimensional variation and integrate the weld seam. These methods include roll, sink, or float and plug is drawn process. These tubes are known by many names like welded-and-drawn, seam-free, and seam-integrated tubes. In addition, redrawing the welded tubing with a die and plug and subsequently annealing the tube helps homogenize the weld. However, the process of homogenizing the weld is much more costly as those operations need to be repeated several times.
On the contrary, the Seamless tubing has zero welds having higher tolerance, stronger corrosion resistance, and durability. Additionally, the SMLS tubes can perfectly adapt to the required shape and dimensions. These qualities indeed can reduce the cost of maintenance of the equipment, reducing the overall cost in the long run.
- Different forms and lengths of seamless tubes:
Did you know the most seamless coil in the world can stretch 6,926 feet? This is approximately 5.5 times higher than the Empire State Building in New York. Seamless tubing is available in various high-performance, corrosion-resistant alloys, and their sizes are ideal for aircraft, military, semiconductor, medical, and general instrumentation applications. Depending on your project or industry-specific needs and applications, it is available in coil or straight form. It is said that good quality can reduce costs in the long run. Supporting the fact, here’s a tip! Go for the products manufactured by the leading seamless steel tube manufacturers of our country. That can ensure the end quality and specification of the product and reduce the cost of importing products.
