Seamless Steel

Posted by max dsouza on July 16th, 2021

Seamless Steel

A seamless steel pipe is made of a single piece of metal, and it does not have a jointed steel pipe on the surface. As its name suggests, seamless steel pipe does not have a seam (crease) or a welded joint.

Seamless steel pipes are characterized by a perfect finishing that is flawless and desirable, resulting in higher demand. They are manufactured in circular, rectangular, or square shapes, and the pipes are tubular (hollow) since most of them carry flowing substances such as gases, liquid, slurries, and powders.

Seamless steel is strong and durable because it does not weld, neither does it have joints; this implies that the pipe has a uniform structure that ensures even distribution of strength.

Applications

Seamless steel pipes use specific applications because of their unique properties such as uniform strength distribution, non-welded joints, and their ability to withstand high temperatures, pressure capacity, high quality, better weight limit, and many more.

How is a Seamless Steel Pipe Made?

Seamless steel pipe manufacture is from a round and robust piece of steel known as a billet. The billet has to be heated first, then stretched and finally pushed or rolled over a frame or form until the pipe is hollow.

Seamless steel pipes (ASTM and API 5L) adopt their shape by passing through a perforated tube.

A hot rolled seamless steel pipe manufacture is from forging billet, perforating, rolling, and shaping. The tubing is manufactured through an industrial extrusion process and is used to manufacture thick-walled seamless steel pipes and large diameter pipes.

On the other hand, cold drawn seamless steel pipes use the cold-drawn technology, which is suitable for pipes that are of small diameter and thin-walled since they have a lower material strength. It is also useful when the goal is to manufacture a stunning pipe with a smooth internal surface. During the extrusion process, the seamless steel pipes can only roll using a low alloy structure, carbon structural steel, or an alloy structure.

Some seamless steel pipes often harden during the manufacturing process; in such cases, the manufacturer will not use heat treatment methods.