Main grades of American standard high-pressure boiler tubes

High-pressure boiler tubes refer to heating surface tubes, economizers, superheaters, reheaters, petrochemical industry tubes, etc. with working pressures generally above 9.8Mpa and working temperatures between 450°C and 650°C.

High-pressure boiler tubes are mainly used to manufacture superheaters, reheaters, water walls, economizers, etc. for supercritical or ultra-supercritical boilers. Steel pipes are required to have high strength, high reactive corrosion resistance, and good structural stability.

Material of high pressure boiler tube:

Pipes for high-pressure boilers are commonly made of high-quality carbon structural steel, alloy structural steel and stainless heat-resistant steel seamless steel pipes.

Standards for high pressure boiler tubes:
ASME SA210 - American Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code
ASME SA213 - American Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code
DIN17175 - Federal German Industrial Standard
GB3087-2008 - Chinese national standard
GB5310-2008 - Chinese national standard

The main grades or steel grades of American standard high-pressure boiler tubes:
Commonly used grades are: ASME SA-179M, SA-192M, SA-209M T1a, SA-210M Gr.C, SA-210M Gr.A1, SA-213M T11, SA-213M T12, SA-213M T22, SA-213M T23, SA-213M T91

Implementation standards:
SA-179/SA-179M Seamless cold drawn low carbon steel pipes for heat exchangers and condensers
SA-192/SA-192M Seamless carbon steel boiler tubes for high pressure
SA-209/SA-209M Seamless carbon molybdenum alloy steel pipes for boilers and superheaters
SA-210/SA-210M seamless medium carbon steel pipes for boilers and superheaters
SA-213/SA-213M Seamless ferritic and austenitic alloy steel pipes for boilers, superheaters and heat exchangers

Product features of high pressure boiler tubes:
High-pressure boiler tubes are often exposed to high temperature and high pressure conditions when used. Under the action of high-temperature flue gas and water vapor, the tubes will oxidize and corrode. Therefore, high-pressure boiler steel pipes have high strength, high reactive corrosion resistance, and good structural stability.

Boiler tube specifications:
Outer diameter: ∮15.88~720mm, wall thickness: 2.6~60mm

Since boiler tubes work under high temperature and high pressure conditions for a long time, the material will creep, the plasticity and toughness will decrease, the original structure will change, and corrosion will occur.

Steel pipes used as boilers should have:

(1) Sufficient good strength;
(2) Sufficient plastic deformation ability;
(3) Minimal aging tendency and thermal brittleness;
(4) High soothing reaction, resistance to coal ash, natural gas corrosion at high temperatures, steam and stress corrosion resistance;
(5) Good organizational stability and good process performance.

The steel types of high-pressure boiler tubes include carbon steel and pearlitic, ferritic and austenitic stainless heat-resistant steels. In order to improve the thermal efficiency of thermal power units and reduce fuel consumption, countries around the world are focusing on developing large-capacity, high-parameter (high temperature, high pressure) thermal power units (above 1000MW). The steam pressure increases to 31.5~34.3MPa, and the superheated steam temperature reaches 595~650℃, developing towards a very high pressure critical pressure, which puts higher requirements on high-pressure boiler tubes. For this reason, new steel grades have been developed to meet the needs of high-parameter power station boilers.

Read more: How to choose the right boiler tube material?