Manufacturers of plumbing systems understand the advantages of seamless pipe and also know the advantages of manufacturing them in the United States. The trade deficit is one of the problems that American Manufacturers must contend with, but the solutions provided by companies such as Van Hook, Allied Consulting, Coronet, Bell & Ross, Grayline, J.K.R. Martin, Peachtree, Corning, Holman, Keene, ick, Pickering, and TIA represent a great value to our nation. It is hard to imagine any company from Europe that would do business in the U.S. without an understanding of the American customer. The seamless pipe is a very familiar product with many consumers.
In plumbing the seamless pipe is a type of mechanical device that moves from one position to another very quickly under high pressure. When the pipe is first formed it may be smooth and flat, but over time as it moves into place the material that it contains will gather at different angles and types of bumps and protrusions that can compromise its performance. There are several different types of bumps and protrusions in a seamless pipe. These include:
Cast-iron seamless pipes: These pipes are manufactured with rolled edges and are often called “cast-iron” pipes. They are generally black in color and constructed using cast iron, brass, copper, or bronze. These pipes are known for their exceptional performance, but they are also well known for their tendency to get grooved and distorted. This condition may continue over time and can cause the flow of liquid through the pipe to become unbalanced. This is a minor inconvenience that is easily corrected. Over time, due to the compression of the metal alloy, the surface area of the pipes can get reduced, which can decrease their lifetime.
Seamless welding: A seamless pipe is created by joining two pieces of pipe, which are bent to form a seam. This allows a pipe to have both a straight and a curved seam, which theoretically weaken the pipe. Welded seams do require more maintenance than other forms of welding, but they are considered much safer. Furthermore, they allow for a much greater degree of flexibility because they do not require a welded seam. Additionally, these pipes are much easier to repair should a seam break than forged pipes.
MIG (metal in line) welding: One of the most commonly used methods of welding pipes is MIG (metal in line) welding. This is a relatively new technology, but it has remarkably high productivity. These types of welds generally have a much higher degree of control than do solid lines. In addition to permitting a greater degree of bending, they can also create smaller, stronger seams, which can improve their life span.
Seamless Pipe Inspection: While MIG welding allows for a high degree of control over the joints, there are still some aspects of these processes that need to be tested. In particular, the ability to determine if the seam is a true seam or merely a bended or “wedged” section of the pipe, is necessary. Inspectors must test the welds to see if they are straight, but they must also test the durability of the welds by performing high stress testing on the pipe joints. When these tests are performed, inspectors are able to determine if the pipe has suffered from stress corrosion cracking, or warping due to temperature changes. All of these tests must be performed before a seamless pipe can be sold for installation.
The testing of seams in seamless steel pipe begins with a visual inspection. Inspectors will look at both the inside of the pipe and the outside, looking for any evidence of internal cracking or distortion. If the inspection shows signs of these problems, the inspector will perform a local calculation of the stresses on the pipe by considering the area of the pipe and the diameter of the pipe. From this calculation, the stresses can be derived. From the applied stresses, a mechanical description of the pipe is generated, detailing the different mechanical properties of the pipe, including the taper, the wall thickness, the internal and external roundness, the interior and exterior tempering, and the chemical makeup of the material used to construct the pipe.
There are several methods for generating a mechanical description of seamless tube. The first method is to assume a simple harmonic mean, assuming that the inner and outer diameters of the pipe have the same value. The second method uses the centroid method, where the inner diameter is taken as the center of a circle and the distance between the centers is plotted. The third, most widely used method is to assume the constant unidirectional tension of the material, which can be done by plotting the cross-section. The fourth and final method, which is widely used in the manufacturing industry, involves computing the moment of displacement of the pipe by the force of friction acting on it.
Seamless steel pipes can be constructed through a number of common manufacturing methods. These manufacturing methods include welding, ligation, riveting, pitch winding, wrapping, punching, freezing, pressing, pouring, and die-casting. Steel pipes are available in a wide range of varieties in terms of their construction. Some examples include hollow tubes, seamless pipes, reinforced steel tubes, cold rolled steel tubes, galvanized steel tubes, steel tube, seamless tubing, fiberglass pipes, polyethylene pipes, brass pipe, flexible brass pipe, cold rolled steel tubes, and concrete pipe. Steel pipes are also used in petroleum and chemical processing and other industries.