OVERVIEW

Piping material engineering touches on many topics, and I have included glossaries on several subjects to assist the reader with terminology in several areas when reading this and other technical books:

• Steel.

• Welding.

• Refinery.

• Piping.

• Elastomers and polymers.

• Abbreviations for nonmetals.

1 STEEL GLOSSARY

Piping engineers must have a basic knowledge of the various methods of manufacturing steel products to enable them to specify and evaluate piping components for process plants. It is important, however, to remember that this is a specialist area, and for complex decision making, the additional experience of a metallurgist must be sought.

The following terms are commonly used in the production of steel and the manufacturing of various products, such as pipe, bar, wire, castings, and forgings. It will be useful guide when referring to specific steel material specifications.

Accelerated cooling.

The cooling of a plate with water immediately following the final rolling operation. Generally the plate is water cooled from about 14008F to approximately 11008F.

Acid brittleness.

Brittleness resulting from the pickling of steel in acid.

Activation.

The changing of a passive surface of a metal to a chemically active state. In contrast with passivation.

Age hardening.

Slow, gradual changes that take place in properties of steels after the final treatment. These changes bring about a condition of increased hardness, elastic limit, and tensile strength with, as a consequence, a loss in ductility.

Air cooling.

The cooling of the heated metal in the open air.

AISI (American Iron and Steel Institute).

A North...