Metal erosion is no friend to your heat exchangers

As specialists when it comes to altering tubes, it should not surprise you too much that we practice a plethora of first class techniques to present you with suitable products. Using the likes of tube swaging, in addition to other methods, we alter your tubing in such ways that it is able to carry out its intended function. Whatever your requirements, our team will do everything in their power to ensure that they’re met.

It’s normally the case that heat exchangers offer users long life spans without much need for maintenance. This is generally because they lack mobile components. However, certain kinds of exchanger faults do exist. Mechanical errors are some of said faults, with these too taking several forms. Metal erosion for example is where there’s an abundance of fluid velocity on either the tube or shell side of the apparatus. It leads to detrimental erosion as the metal begins to wear off the tubing, exposing it to more attacks.

The majority of the erosion issues take place within the tubing, with the entrances and U-Bend tubes being most vulnerable. Tube entrances undergo excessive metal losses once the high-velocity fluid originating from the nozzle separates into smaller streams after entering the exchanger. Intemperate turbulence, with absurdly high localised velocities, is the outcome of this separation.

The total recommended velocity in the nozzle and tubing is something that comes down to a number of factors. Tube material is one of them, and the likes of steel and copper-nickel endure velocities better than base copper. Copper tends to be restricted to 7.5 fps, whereas the others can manage 10 and 11 fps.

At Multiform Tubes, we work with a variety of tubing types, including stainless steel, copper, titanium, aluminium, and brass. Not every material is appropriate for specific situations, but not to worry, as we are very knowledgeable on which ones we can and can’t use. We also understand how to adapt our processes, including tube swaging, to cater for the different characteristics of substances.

If you would like to discuss your specifications with us, please contact our people.