Welded steel pipe or seamless steel pipe

Welded steel pipe and seamless steel pipe are the two major categories of steel pipe in the current steel pipe market. Both of them are very popular among users and widely used in a variety of applications today. Which one do you prefer in your project: welded steel pipe or seamless steel pipe? As it is well known, everything has two sides. Each type of steel pipe also has their merits and drawbacks. What really matters to you is to select the proper type of products for your project as per the specific requirements of the practical applications. On the other hand, it is also important for end users to take a cost budget into consideration in advance.

Generally speaking, there is a distinct difference in the steel pipe prices between these two types of pipe due to different manufacturing methods in a mill. In the current steel pipe market, seamless steel pipe generally has higher price than welded steel pipe due to the higher manufacturing costs in production line. Seamless pipe is extruded and drawn from a billet while welded pipe is produced from a strip that is roll formed and welded to produce a tube. And welded pipes are usually more readily available than seamless. The longer lead time required for seamless pipes can not only make timing problematic, but it also allows more time for the price of the materials to fluctuate.

In some particular applications, seamless steel pipes are widely used for steel conduits in wire systems to provide very good protection to enclosed conductors from impact, moisture, and chemical vapors. Today, steel conduit is used in virtually every application where electrical conduit and wiring is present: commercial, retail and residential buildings, manufacturing and other industrial facilities, health-care, educational and other institutions, and a wide variety of indoor, outdoor, and underground applications, even where corrosive and hazardous conditions exist.

Obviously, the main perceived advantage of seamless pipes is that they don’t have a weld seam. Traditionally, the seam of welded pipes has been viewed as a weak spot, vulnerable to failure and corrosion. For many years, this fear was probably justified. In the recent years, steel pipe manufacturers in China have made great improvements in the manufacturing process for welded steel pipes and other welded pipes have boosted the strength and performance of the weld seam to levels indistinguishable from that of the rest of the pipe. On the other hand, Welded steel pipes are typically more cost effective than their seamless equivalents. Welded pipes are usually more readily available than seamless pipes. The longer lead time required for seamless pipes can not only make timing problematic, but it also allows more time for the price of the materials to fluctuate. The wall thickness of welded pipes is generally more consistent than that of seamless pipes. In construction, welded steel pipe are widely used for structural steel pipes in some large projects today.