Understanding Steel Tubing and Its Types

Steel tubes are very important items that play key role in the structures of modern buildings and other such establishments. They are practically used in almost every structural application in the modern day and age. Most steel tubes nowadays are stainless in order to reduce wear and tear. The tubes are closed-shaped structures that maybe round, rectangular or square in shape. Many a times the tubes may even have a custom shape in order to fit the requirement of a specific application.

An inch of a round tube has an outside diameter of an inch as well, whereas an inch of a round pipe has an inside diameter of an inch. Many wonder what the reason for this could be. Basically, when it comes to the building of structures, the tubes’ external parts are more important, and the pipe’s internal parts dictate the flow of liquids and fluids.

Steel tubing consists mainly of two types; welded and seamless. While welded steel tubes begin as flat strips, seamless tubes start in melting furnaces. Let’s understand the two of them in depth:

Welded: The Welded form of steel tubing is generally made from hot or cold-rolled steel. The hot or cold-rolled steel is poured in the coils’ tubing manufacturers. Removing the unwanted scale and improving finish can be done if required by processing the coil. In the next stage, the coil passes through grooved rollers until the shape of the tube is formed. The free edges need to be appropriately shaped for the purpose of welding. The welding residue left over by the external and internal parts is removed. This process is done once the tube’s edges are butt welded. To end the process, the tube is passed through two rollers of semicircular shape. This final piece of the puzzle helps the welded tubes in attaining the required dimensions.

Seamless: A seamless pipe manufacturer starts the manufacture of a cold drawn seamless tubes and other tubes which the help of an electric arc furnace. The steel can be cast repeatedly or cast later in an ingot. The seamless pipe manufacturer then rolls the steel in a billet. This goes on to become a tube later on, as two external rollers are used to draw the rolled steel over certain piercing tools. The rough cold drawn seamless tubes are first formed after this stage, after which the seamless pipe manufacturer puts the cold drawn seamless tubes into elongators. Inside the elongators, an internal mandrel and three rollers manage to give the tubes the final wall thickness and outside diameter.