Stainless Steel Seamless Pipe and Welded Pipe: What’s the Difference?

Stainless steel seamless pipe and welded pipe, as indispensable building materials in modern engineering, each have their unique advantages. However, what exactly are the differences between them? This is not only a question that confuses many beginners, but also a topic that many professionals often discuss. Today, we will delve into the differences between these two types of pipes and reveal their differences from multiple perspectives.

What’s the Difference between Stainless Steel Seamless Pipe and Welded Pipe?

Stainless steel seamless pipe and welded pipe both belong to stainless steel pipes, but there are differences between them. The differences between stainless steel seamless pipes and welded pipes are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

1. Appearance comparison：

Seamless steel pipes are made by drawing, without welding seams.

2. Process comparison：

(1) Seamless stainless steel pipes, also known as stainless steel seamless pipes, are made by piercing steel ingots or solid billets into rough pipes, then hot rolling, cold rolling, or cold drawing to form the finished product. Stainless steel seamless pipes are hollow-section, long pipes without joints around the perimeter. The thicker the wall thickness of the product, the more economical and practical it is; the thinner the wall thickness, the higher the processing cost. The product’s process determines its limited performance. In general, the accuracy of seamless steel pipes is relatively low, because the wall thickness is uneven, the inner and outer surfaces have low brightness, high cost for sizing, and black spots on the inner and outer surfaces that are difficult to remove. Additionally, its inspection and shaping require offline processing. Therefore, stainless steel seamless pipes have advantages in high-pressure, high-strength, and mechanical structure materials.

(2) Welded stainless steel pipes are made from stainless steel sheets. With the rapid development of high-quality strip rolling production and the improvement of welding detection technology, its production process has become much simpler, production efficiency has also improved, and weld quality has continuously improved. There are increasing varieties and specifications of welded steel pipes, and seamless steel pipes are being replaced in more and more areas, especially in heat exchanger standby pipes, decorative pipes, low-to-medium pressure fluid pipelines, etc. It should be noted that the strength of welded steel pipes is generally lower than that of seamless steel pipes.

3. Application comparison：

Seamless pipes are mainly used for industrial applications. Decorative pipes have a wide range of applications, mainly in the field of decorative welding. However, as the stainless steel pipe technology for decoration becomes better and better, some thick-walled decorative pipes will replace some seamless steel pipes.

4. Specification comparison：

The raw material steel strip for welded stainless steel pipes is processed by rolling with pressure, resulting in relatively uniform thickness. The finished product specifications for welded pipes have a range of thicknesses from thin to thick pipes. However, the thickness of seamless stainless steel pipes is often uneven and they are mostly thicker pipes. However, the price of seamless steel pipes is higher than that of welded stainless steel pipes.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading our article and we hope it can help you to have a better understanding of the difference between stainless steel seamless pipe and welded pipe. If you want to learn more about stainless steel seamless pipe and welded pipe, we would advise you to visit Sino Stainless Steel for more information.

As a leading supplier of stainless steel products across the world, Sino Stainless Steel provides customers with high-quality stainless steel seamless pipe and welded pipe, stainless steel strips, stainless steel coils, stainless steel plates, stainless steel sheets, and stainless steel bars at a very competitive price.