If the pipe designation does not include ‘s’, is it only usable for carbon steel pipes, or can it also be used for stainless steel pipes?
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As the title suggests, I saw that a project used SCH160 stainless steel pipes, which puzzled me a bit
The pipe designation (such as SCH160) refers to the wall thickness and pressure rating of the pipe, and is not limited to the type of material. Therefore, it is applicable not only to carbon steel pipes but also to stainless steel pipes. .
It can be used. There are no thick-walled tubes with the letter S; only those without S are available. The manufacturer can also produce them
You can check B36.10 and B36.19. You are referring to the older standards. It shouldn’t be like this after new standards emerge.
If S and the absence of S can be substituted for each other, then why are there two standards in the American standard? And the pressure series have different ranges?
Those with S are for use only with stainless steel, while those without S can be used with both stainless steel and carbon steel. Generally, stainless steel with an S is preferred; only if it is not available or not cost-effective is stainless steel without an S chosen, or even just the wall thickness is specified directly. The latest version of ASME B36.19 already includes SCH160S, but many people are still unaware of this ； Or if the encoding isn’t available, it isn’t used.
You’re right; I also checked the latest version from 2022 to find out that it was added later on. The original standard didn’t even include 160S.
Then why create a gauge number with an ‘s’ in it all at once?
I see. I had limited exposure to pipe designation codes before, and I thought that those without an ‘s’ could only be used for carbon steel. It seems that others also held this view in the discussions about pipe designations. After checking the original specifications, it was stated there that only steel pipes were referred to, with no mention of carbon steel pipes; whereas those with an ‘s’ are indeed designated as stainless steel pipes. Until I encountered multiple projects where SCH160 was used for stainless steel
In the American standard system, it is generally preferable to choose a model with a specific designation; other options are only chosen when it is considered too wasteful to do so.