Case Histories
An exciting offtake in the South African market over the past 10 years has been the use of Vallinox 430 stainless steel tube in the sugar industry. (Sole agents R. Jackson & Co. Natal (Pty) Ltd.) This cheaper ferritic quality is now used almost exclusively and the major application areas are tubing for juice heaters, juice evaporators and pan condensers.
Another development area has been in the domestic water tubing field with the Durban Corporation having specified their re-tubing project in accordance with B.S. Specification 4127. This has resulted in a large tonnage offtake over the past few years.
Welded stainless steel tube and pipe has been manufactured in South Africa since 1965.
Tubemakers of South Africa Ltd produce welded tube in the following grades of Stainless steel: AISI types 304, 304L, 316, 316L, 409 and 430 in sizes ranging from 12,7 mm OD to 63,5 mm OD and in wall thicknesses from 0,9 mm to 2.64 mm,
Sandvik (Pty) Ltd also produce welded stainless steel tube in AISI 304, 304L, 316 and 316L stainless steels. Sizes: 19 mm-156 mm OD and wall thicknesses ranging from 1 mm-3,25 mm.
TOSA’s welded austenitic stainless steel tubing standard production is in accordance with ASTM A268 and A269.
Local stainless steel fabricators are able to manufacture larger diameter stainless steel pipes of almost any size and appropriate wall thickness. Interesting examples are the thick wall spool pieces recently fabricated by Hall Longmore & Co. (Pty) Ltd for the Sasol Project. Also, in the Koeberg Project where stainless steel tubes have been used extensively in heat exchangers applications.
The growth of the tube market in South Africa is coupled with the activities of the two local producers who even today cannot cope with local demand which has increased 60% in the past 5 years.
Import figures are given below (in tonnes):
1974 2792
1975 2587
1976 1712
1977 2281
1978 2360
1979 1713 (9 months only)
With the expansion of the primary producer Southern Cross Steel into the manufacture of light gauge stainless steel, local welded tube producers will have an added advantage of minimizing lead times on raw materials which will greatly facilitate their forward planning.