Welded vs. Seamless steel pipe

welded vs. seamless steel pipe

ERW and seamless steel piping exist as alternatives today largely due to historical perceptions.

Generally, welded pipe was considered inherently weaker because it included a weld seam. Seamless pipe lacked this perceived structural flaw and was considered safer. While it's true that welded pipe does include a seam that makes it theoretically weaker, manufacturing techniques and quality assurance regimens each have improved to the extent that welded pipe will perform as desired when its tolerances aren't exceeded. While the apparent advantage is clear, a critique of seamless piping is that the rolling and stretching process produces an inconsistent wall thickness compared to the more precise thickness of steel sheets destined for welding.

The industry standards that govern the manufacture and specification of ERW and seamless steel pipe still reflect those perceptions. For example, seamless piping is required for many high-pressure, high-temperature applications in the oil & gas, power generation and pharmaceutical industries. Welded piping (which is generally cheaper to produce and is more widely available) is specified across all industries as long as the temperature, pressure and other service variables do not exceed parameters noted in the applicable standard.

In structural applications, there's no difference in performance between ERW and seamless steel pipe. While the two can be specified interchangeably, it wouldn't make sense to specify for seamless when cheaper welded pipe works equally well.

Products sold by the GNEE Steel company include: Stainless steel Pipe, Stainless Steel Plate, Stainless Steel Coil, Stainless Steel Pipe Fitting, Stainless Steel Pipe Fitting, Stainless Steel Foil, etc, Can meet the different needs of customers.