Is Seamless Steel Pipe Beneficial For Commercial Use

Posted by George Herry on September 13th, 2019

Seamless steel pipe and seamless tubes are often used interchangeably when said, but they are manufactured in different ways and also serve different purposes. As the name seamless suggests, the tubes and pipes do not have seams or welded joints unlike welded pipes. Hence, they have more endurance, and are less prone to corrode or rupture from the joints.

The manufacturers carry out minor changes at the time of manufacturing to bring in accuracy and high precision in size, thickness and coating as per customer’s order. The hollow pipes are passed through die and mandrel to decrease the outer diameter and increase the diameter of the walls inside. Seamless steel pipes and tubes are commonly used in ship construction, oil and gas, mining, power plants and boilers, railways, highways, nuclear stations, pharmaceuticals, automobile construction and more.  

There are some great advantages of seamless pipes for commercial use. These are:

High endurance to pressure

One of the biggest benefits of seamless pipes is their added capability to endure pressure. Unlike welded joints that are prone to breakage, there are no weak points in seamless tubing because it doesn’t have any seam and the pressure is spread uniformly across the whole circumference of the pipe.

It also gets easier to calculate the pressure without considering weld quality. Seamless steel pipe can be more expensive than welded pipe sometimes, but are still preferred over welded materials. It is because of their ability to endure extreme pressure. It is seeker and lighter, great for design flexibility. 

Smoother finish and rounder circumference

Seamless pipes are made by continuous extrusion of alloys, which means its round cross section is a common trait to be looked for, helpful when installing additional fittings or installing pipes. Welded pipes go through added heat and stress around the seams due to which they are not as round and get smoother finish as seamless tubes and pipes.  

Strength Under extreme environments

It can withstand extreme hot or extreme cold temperature, thus making its application broader in industries such as chemical plants and pharmaceutical factories. It also offers greater strength capacity under loading. Thus, they are widely used for construction of highways, roofing and architectural cladding. They are less prone to leakage or corrosion which makes them suitable for oil and gas industries. Welded pipes tend to leak or corrode from the joints; hence, replacing them with seamless steel pipe, especially the coated ones are definitely a better choice for commercial purposes.