TPi April 2010

Smal l diameter, high precision tubes

It might be objected that our heading is a redundancy, since a small-diameter tube that is not also high-precision is difficult to imagine. If one should be produced, and somehow escape the scrap pile, another difficulty arises: finding a use for it. All the output of a state-of-the-art tubing plant is held to extraordinarily high standards as to chemical composition, heat treatment, corrosion resistance, tensile strength, mechanical properties, surface smoothness, and much more. Even so, a sense persists that, the narrower the tube, the greater the requirement for zero-tolerance manufacturing. Purchasing agents in several crucial global industries — medical, fibre optic, food, aeronautical — would not necessarily disagree. At the very least, in the matter of precision they would be inclined to designate small-diameter tubes first among equals.

Photo: Handle SA – France