ASME Compliance

In the pharmaceutical sector one often comes across the requirement to deliver tubes to meet ASME. In most cases what is meant here is simply the tube dimen- sions with regard to diameter and wall thickness. In this event ASME is identical with the ODT dimensions. However, ASME BPE also defines a minimum and maximum content for elemental sulphur, which in fact must lie between 0.005 % and 0.017 %. According to ASME regulations this requirement applies, however, just to tube ends that are still to be automatically welded, and not to those that are already welded. The definition of a certain range for the sulphur content makes total sense, since parts with strongly diﬀering sulphur content would deﬂect the arc during welding and as a result would lower the quality of the weld seam. Otherwise, the value prescribed in the German Key to Steel or the value defined in AISI for 316L of 0.030 % sulphur content applies.

Technologies Details

Comment: ASME BPE specifies not only the sulphur content of the work piece, but also the contents of other materials contained in the steel such as nickel, molybdenum, etc. These, however, essentially correspond to the values in the German Key to Steel, which applies in Europe.