Pipes form an integral part of systems that require transportation of various media across refineries or industrial process plants. The capacity of the component and the media they transport will depend on the material they are made from. Some of the common materials manufacturers use include PVC, stainless steel, alloy steel, carbon steel, nickel alloys, titanium alloys, copper nickel, monel, Inconel, Hastelloy, etc. The use of said materials is judicious, which means the cost factor is also taken into account while producing them. Basically, there are two kinds of pipe construction. First is the seamless kind, which contains no seam, and the circumference of the pipe will have no joints. So the surface of these pipes will be smoother and more even. The second type of construction is a welded type. Unlike the seamless kind, the welded type will have a seam that joins the pipe, which results in the formation of a seamline on its surface.
In short, the main difference between the construction of these two pipes is the inclusion of a seamline in a welded construction. Yet, there are some other parameters that separate both constructions including the pressure capacity and the price point. In terms of the pressure bearing property, the use of a seamless pipe enables higher pressure bearing ability. On average, the pressure borne by a seamless variety pipe is almost 20% higher than a conventionally welded one. This property makes it useful for a vendor to use a seamless type for a high pressure application. Although the use of a welded pipe is suited to high stress applications, its weld seam makes it vulnerable to failure, especially if the heat affected weld zone is prone to intergranular corrosion. If the pipe has been corroded by the sensitized grain boundary, the chances of a pipe bursting at the seamline are very high. This is an undesired effect, particularly in industries that transport across toxic material or bio-hazard media or even flammable compounds. In such instances, the vendor may choose to use a seamless pipe because they aren’t predisposed to intergranular corrosion and so, the chances of pipe burst occurring are drastically reduced.