The manufacturing of stainless steel pipe fittings begins in the steel mill, where slabs or billets are cast. Large-diameter and thick-walled pipes are made of hot-rolled plates, and strip welded pipes are mainly produced from cold-rolled or hot-rolled slit prefabricated materials. Depending on whether the stainless steel tube is hot-formed or cold-formed, the results will vary. Tubes made of cold-formed stainless steel will have a smooth finish and strong mechanical properties, and will have tighter tolerances compared to hot-formed coiled tubing.
According to the different dimensions, wall thickness and use, the manufacturing methods of stainless steel pipe fittings are also different. Bar welding and welding of thick-walled pipes are the main manufacturing methods for stainless steel pipes.
Welded stainless steel pipes are usually manufactured according to the production route shown below. The material is uncoiled, enters the strip accumulator, and then can continuously produce pipes.
Thick-walled stainless steel pipe fittings are generally processed with a thickness of 6mm or more, and pipes with a large outer diameter, generally greater than 500-600mm, are made of plates or sheets one by one. Depending on the thickness, forming is done in a roll brake or hydraulic press. Welding is usually carried out in specially designed welding machines using PAW and (series) submerged arc welding (SAW) or their combination in I, Y or X-shaped joints.
There are various manufacturing processes for seamless pipes, and the output has increased rapidly in a relatively short period of time. Despite the application of other welding processes, the continuous development and further improvement of seamless technology has caused welded pipes to be almost completely squeezed out of the market.
The previous drawing bonding process mainly used the sequence of first drawing and then rolling. The English of the stainless steel industrial pipe is directly produced by the pipe drawing machine process, and then the cold-rolled industrial pipe is produced through the rolling mill process. But the overall is relatively high, which is unacceptable for general customers, and it is also difficult for enterprises to apply. After the stainless steel tube blank passes through the rolling mill process, the stainless steel industrial tube drawn by the pipeline has a uniform wall thickness and a beautiful appearance, and at the same time, the production cycle is greatly shortened.
Pipe welding and forming depend on the grade and application specifications. This is a very suitable process for small diameter pipe manufacturing. The steel plate enters the welding machine, where it is crimped and welded. When the steel plate enters the machine, the stainless steel pipe is processed into coils. These coils are then welded at the seam to form a tube.
In production facilities in processing industries such as chemical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and dairy products, process pipelines connect reactor vessels (such as pressure vessels), mixing tanks, and storage tanks. The term process piping generally refers to a piping system that transports fluids under pressure or vacuum. It is a complex arrangement of pipelines, valves, support clamps, other related parts and control instruments.
