Tube fittings is a product that is used to provide a leak free connection between

tubes for a seamless flow of liquids and gases. Tube fittings are manufactured to
meet even the most volatile and rigorous specifications required by industries and
are most commonly used in the oil and gas, pulp & paper, petro-chemical/chemical
processing, research laboratories, aerospace and defense, chemical processing,
power generation, cryogenic and semiconductor, shipbuilding and heavy industrial
industries.
Tube fittings are available in a number of sizes and configurations. They range from
sizes 1/16 to 2 with a number of choices in connections and end patterns. A tube
fitting manufacturer would normally measure a tube fitting by inside diameter (ID),
outer diameter (OD), wall thickness and material hardness. Tube fittings are made
up of 4 vital parts, namely: A body, a front ferrule, a back ferrule, and a nut. There
are also a number of types of tube fittings and connections available (you can check
them out at www.instinox.com)
In this article I am going to talk about the different grades of tube fittings available.
Firstly it is very important to know the difference between a tube fitting and a
pipe fitting. Although they are similar in most ways, they do have a few
differences:

A tube's outer diameter will often measure exactly 1.5 inches if it is rated with
a 1.5" Outer Diameter. Tube fittings are commonly associated with structural applications
where the defining sizing specification is outside diameter (OD).
With pipe fittings, the actual dimensions are usually not the nominal (specified)
dimensions. Pipes are more often specifically vessels for fluid transport, where the
defining specification for sizing is inside diameter (ID).

Now that we have established what exactly tube fittings and pipe fittings are, lets
us have a look at the different grades of tube fittings available:
There are a number of grades distributed by Instinox tube fitting suppliers out there,
but in this article and the articles to come we will talk about 9 of the most widely
used different grades of tube fittings that are available in the market today.
1. STAINLESS STEEL TUBE FITTINGS:
Stainless steel is a highly corrosion resistant material. As a material Stainless
steel contains a minimum of 10.5% chromium, this makes the tube fittings
ideal for applications that require high levels of resistance to corrosion.
2. INCONEL TUBE FITTINGS:
Inconel tube fittings have excellent resistance to various acids, such as
sulfuric, phosphoric, nitric, and hydrochloric acids. Inconel tube fittings are
also almost completely free from chloride induced stress corrosion cracking
and with a few additions they should be in the coming years.
3. TITANIUM TUBE FITTINGS:
Titanium is said to be the metal of the future because it has a wide range of
multi-purpose benefits. Titanium tube fittings have extensive tensile strength
and creep resistance in ambient temperatures. The titanium in the tube
fittings give them a very high class image. Titanium tube fittings are 45%
lighter than the usual steel tube fittings.

4. BRASS TUBE FITTINGS:

As a material the main component in Brass is copper. The copper present in
Brass tube fittings can range from about 55% to 90%. Brass tube fittings also
consist of zinc in which the quantity varies anywhere between 5% - 45%. The
higher the percentage of zinc present, the harder and stronger tube fittings
will be.
5. MONEL TUBE FITTINGS:
Monel is an alloy that is a combination of nickel and copper. It also contains
small proportions of iron and manganese as well as a few other compounds.
The specialty of Monel tube fittings is that they are particularly resistant to
seawater as well as steam at high temperatures.
6. 254 SMO TUBE FITTINGS:
In certain applications, grade 254 SMO has been accomplished as a costeffective substitute for high nickel and titanium alloys. It is recognized to
have excellent workability as well. When compared to 316L and 317L
austenitic stainless steels 254 SMO stainless steels have exceptionally high
strength and superior resistance to abrasion, erosion and cavitation erosion.
7. DUPLEX STAINLESS STEEL TUBE FITTINGS:
Duplex stainless steels are basically a mixture of approximately equal parts of
ferrite and austenite. Duplex stainless steel tube fittings have a pristine
resistance to stress corrosion cracking. Duplex stainless steels have
significantly better toughness and ductility than ferritic grades, but on the flip
side they do not reach the high values of austenitic grades.
8. SUPER DUPLEX STAINLESS STEEL TUBE FITTINGS:
Super duplex is a grade that was developed over 70 years ago to be used in
the sulfite paper industry. This grade came to be known as super duplex
because of its mixed microstructure of about equal parts of ferrite and
austenite. Super duplex fittings are manufactured to especially fight extreme
corrosion problems which occur due to exposition to chloride bearing cooling
waters and other aggressive chemical process fluids.
9. HASTELLOY TUBE FITTINGS:
HASTELLOY tube fittings are world renowned as one of the very few tube
fittings that are almost impervious to the corrosive effects of wet chlorine
gas, hypochlorite and chlorine dioxide. There are quite a few variations of
HASTELLOY but HASTELLOY C276 is the most efficient and is therefore the
most used. HASTELLOY C276 has a comparatively high nickel and
molybdenum content which in turn provides good corrosion resistance in
reducing environments.
These are a number of the grades of Instinox fitting Swagelok type which are
available at http;//www.instinox.com/ as of today.
My objective was to keep this article as condensed and informative as possible, so
if you have any further questions or queries about anything pipe or tube related or
about any content on this page, please feel free to leave your comments below.