Wednesday, March 9, 2011

About Pipes - Part 2

ASME and ASTM have defined the dimensional standards and material standards respectively for all pipes used in process plants. These bodies publish various codes/standards so that engineers can select pipes suitable for their application based on these internationally accepeted standards.

Carbon Steel Pipe is the most common type of pipe and is mostly specified according to ASTM 106. Within the ASTM A106, carbon steel pipe is available in Grades A,B and C based on increasing tensile strength.

Galvanized Carbon Steel Pipe is mostly specified as per ASTM A53

Stainless Steel Pipe upto 200mm Nominal Bore is mostly specified as per ASTM A312. Within ASTM A312, eighteen different grades of stainless steel pipe are specified with grade 304L as the most commonly used grade in industry. Stainless Steel pipes above 200 Nominal Bore are specified as per ASTM A358

*In India its very difficult to obtain seamless pipes above 350 NB from any of the vendors

* ASTM - American Society for Testing and Materials
*ASME - American Society of Mechanical Engineers