Welding Quality Measures for 304 Stainless Steel Seamless Tubes

The adoption of welding methods, pre-welding preparation, structural design, welding techniques, post-weld inspection, and other control measures are essential to further improve the welding quality of stainless steel seamless tubes. The storage and processing areas for workpieces must meet specified requirements. To ensure the surface layer of 304 Stainless Steel seamless tubes remains undamaged and uncontaminated, it is crucial to enhance their protection during every manufacturing process. Key aspects include:

Welding Quality Measures for Stainless Steel Seamless Tubes

The processing and manufacturing of 304 Stainless Steel seamless tubes should be carried out on dedicated production lines (using wooden boards) to prevent direct contact with carbon steel processing platforms or hard ground. Special storage racks should be used, which must be made of wood or carbon steel supports with coated surfaces or padded with rubber sheets to isolate them from carbon steel and other metals.

During storage, the storage location should facilitate hoisting and be relatively isolated from other material storage areas. Protective measures should be in place to prevent contamination by liquids, avoid collisions with other components, and protect against contamination and damage from ferrous metals. When hoisting 304 Stainless Steel seamless tubes, dedicated lifting tools such as lifting belts or specialized clamps must be used. The use of wire ropes is strictly prohibited to prevent surface scratches. Additionally, impacts and collisions during lifting and placement should be avoided to prevent scratches.

If surface scratches, arc marks, or surface contamination occur during transportation, storage, or production, they must be removed. This can be done by grinding with an angle grinder, followed by polishing with a polishing disc or metallographic sandpaper. Due to the small diameter of hydraulic tubing, the operational difficulty is relatively high, and the requirements for both appearance quality and internal structure are stringent. These tubes must withstand high working pressures, so the primary operational method used is argon arc welding.

Weld Joint Design

To ensure the welding quality of 304 Stainless Steel seamless tubes, butt joints are designed for single-side welding with double-side formation, using a backing method with argon gas protection for the reverse side. For connections between pipes and waterproof sleeves, pipes and flanges (high-neck flanges), and non-connected standpipe welds, fillet joints are adopted.