Tube vs Pipe

There is a essential difference between the two.

1. A pipe is a vessel - a tube is structural
2. A pipe is measured ID - a tube is measured OD
A hollow cylinder has 3 important dimensions which are
The outside diameter !od"
The inside diameter !id"
The wall thic#ness !wt"
These three are related by a very simple e$uation
od % id & 2 ' wt
One can completely specify a piece of pipe(tube by supplyin) any two of these
numbers.
Tubin) is more used in structures so the od is the important
number. *tren)th depends on the wall thic#ness. *o tubin) is specified by
the od and the wt. +ery lo)ical and simple to measure.
,ipes are normally used to transport )ases or fluids so it is important to #now the capacity of the pipe.
-ere is the internal cross-sectional area !defined by the id" important. It.s therefore not
surprisin) that pipes are specified by the inside diameter!id". It is common to identify pipes in inches
by usin) /,* or 0/ominal ,ipe *i1e0. The metric e$uivalent is called D/ or 0diameter nominal0. The
metric desi)nations conform to International *tandards Or)ani1ation !I*O" usa)e and apply to all
plumbin)2 natural )as2 heatin) oil2 and miscellaneous pipin) used in buildin)s. A plumber always #nows
that the id on the pipe label is only a 'nominal' id. As an e3ample2 a !nominal" 1(4 wrou)ht steel pipe
will typically have a 'measured' id of 5.267 !schedule 85" or 5.219 !schedule 45". !:ore below about
those schedule numbers."
The #ey in the difference is the application where both tube and pipe are used for. ;or instance2 a
!nominal" 1(4 schedule 85 pipe will have a wall thic#ness of
5.564 !id%5.267" while a 1(4 schedule 45 pipe will have a wall thic#ness of
5.579 !id%5.219".
And these schedule numbers do not reflect a constant wall thic#ness. ;or
instance2 a !nominal" 1(8 schedule 85 pipe has a wt % 5.544 while the same
pipe in schedule 45 has wt % 5.117
<enerally spea#in)2 a tube will have a consistent OD and its ID will chan)e