Difference between carbon steel pipe and stainless steel pipe

Stainless steel and carbon steel are one body, both steel. Steel that contains only carbon elements is called carbon steel, while stainless steel is a steel with a high alloy content added to prevent rust.

1. Different production process

Carbon steel pipes are made by forming capillaries from perforated steel ingots or solid rounds, which are then hot rolled, cold rolled or cold drawn.

Stainless steel pipes can be divided into equal-section pipes and variable-section pipes according to the shape of the vertical section. Variable section tubes include tapered tubes, stepped tubes, periodic section tubes, etc.

2. Different in nature

1) Carbon steel pipe: Capillary tube is formed by perforating steel ingot or solid round steel, and then hot-rolled, cold-rolled or cold-drawn.

2) Stainless steel tube: It is a kind of hollow long round steel.

3. Anti-corrosion and wear resistance

Stainless steel refers to alloys that are resistant to weakly corrosive media (such as air, steam and water) and chemically corrosive media (such as acids, alkalis and salts). This action is mainly due to the addition of chromium, the element of stainless steel. When the content of chromium element exceeds 12%, an oxide film is formed on the surface of stainless steel, which is commonly known as a passivation film.

Carbon steel refers to an iron-carbon alloy with a carbon content of less than 2.11%, also known as carbon steel. It’s much harder than stainless steel, but it’s heavier and less malleable, and it’s often “too hard to fold” and tends to rust.

4. Different application

The raw material of carbon steel pipe is a round tube blank. The round tube blanks are cut by a cutter to form blanks with a length of about 1 meter, which are then sent to a furnace where they are heated by a conveyor belt. The billet is fed into a furnace where it is heated at about 1200 degrees Celsius.

Stainless steel pipe is a kind of hollow long round steel, which is widely used in petroleum, chemical, medical, food, light industry, mechanical instruments and other industrial pipelines and mechanical structural components.

5. Different characteristics

1) Carbon steel pipes: Carbon steel pipes are divided into hot-rolled and cold-rolled (drawn) steel pipes. Hot-rolled carbon steel pipes are divided into ordinary steel pipes, medium and low pressure boiler steel pipes, high pressure boiler steel pipes, alloy steel pipes, stainless steel pipes, petroleum cracking pipes, geological steel pipes and other steel pipes.

2) Stainless steel pipe: Brinell hardness is the most widely used standard for stainless steel pipes. The indentation diameter is often used to indicate the hardness of the material, which is intuitive and convenient. However, it does not apply to steel pipes made from harder or thinner steels.