SAW weld for ASTM A333 Gr. 6 (deviation from standard)

[Ehsan301]

Hi. I have a question regarding the welding of A333 materials.
In our "Piping Material Specification (PMS)" the welding type for welded A333 Gr. 6 pipe was specified as SAW but according to ASTM A333 no filler material shall be used for the welding of this material:

"4.1 Manufacture—Except as provided in paragraph 4.2, the pipe shall be made by the seamless or welding process with the addition of no filler metal in the welding operation. Grade 4 shall be made by the seamless process.

4.2 Grade 11 pipe may be produced by welding with or without the addition of filler metal. The following requirements shall apply for Grade 11 welded with the addition of filler metal."

Now, the vendor claims to have provided the same pipe as specified in PMS (SAW A333 Gr. 6). However, it is not inspected yet so I am not sure what the material really is.
I want to know in case the welding is really SAW, will it cause problems to the material and should we reject the material?

I also do not understand why the standard prohibits the use of filler for welding of this material.

Thanks

 

[goutam_freelance]

There could be a discrepancy in PMS as filler material can not be used for Gr. 6 material. SAW will involve addition of filler material.

Since A333 is intended to be used for low temperature piping, the impact strength is important. SAW pipe with higher heat input and rougher surfaces may reduce the impact strength.

 

[Ehsan301]

Thank you.
So as the pipe is used in low temperature service, I think that we have to reject the material.

 

[LittleInch]

But if your spec said SAW then the supplier will just say he followed YOUR spec. Find out why your spec said SAW before you have a big commercial problem.

You need to talk to a metallurgist urgently.

 

[SJones]

Most end users opt for A671 when they want seam welded low temperature pipe, leaving A333 as seamless. It might be a good idea to review the capabilities of whoever put the “PMS” together.

 

[r6155]

In the order you must specify what you want: seamless or welded.

Regards

 

[Ehsan301]

But if your spec said SAW then the supplier will just say he followed YOUR spec. Find out why your spec said SAW before you have a big commercial problem.

You need to talk to a metallurgist urgently.

Tracing back the error, in our pipe specification it was mentioned that only SAW welded pipe is acceptable and ERW is not accepted. It seems that someone at some point referring to pipe specification made a change to PMS although in the basic PMS the welding of A333 was specified as ERW.

I still believe that the material at site shall be according to the standard as our vendors mostly provide the material from China and from the market. So there should not be any deviation with the standard.

In our TCL we had an item that vendor should inform us in case of any deviation with standard and our specifications but I don't think refer to that clause in this situation.

 

[SJones]

I also do not understand why the standard prohibits the use of filler for welding of this material.

Perhaps because of the required final heat treatment condition. Weld zones may not respond consistently to the required heat treatments.

 

[GD2]

I agree with Steve Jones. Remove SAW from the PMS. It's superfluous/ambiguous. Keeping material specification/Standard ASTM A333 alone is good enough to keep the material complying to the Standard.