Superior Design and Results through Material Science
PT&P has a unique perspective on the opportunity for its customers to customize to better meet business and operating objectives. As the only major Global Player to manufacture Pipe Supports, Expansion Joints, and run an ASME stamped facility, PT&P has superior manufacturing skills to accommodate a wide variety of materials, such as Nickel-based Super Alloys, that are beyond the capability of other Pipe Support manufacturers. In addition, PT&P is one of the very few Pipe Support manufacturers to have started as a Pipe Stress Engineering company. As a result, we can also easily utilize FEA and Stress Analysis to fully design new solutions to optimize against design requires and even load test the solution in our production facility. The table below gives a summary of just some of the materials that PT&P works with and cost/capability of these materials.
| A36 | 1 | 36 ksi | Low | Low | High | Low | 650 - 750F |
| Painted A36 | 1.5 – 4.0 | 36 ksi | Low | Low | High | Low | 650 - 750F |
| A36 Galvanized | 1.5 – 2.0 | 36 ksi | Med | Low | High | Low | 450F |
| Domex 100XF | 2.5 – 4.0 | 100 – 110 ksi | Low | Low | Med | Med | 650 – 750F |
| A387 Gr 11 or 22 | 2.5 – 3.0 | Low | Low | High | Low | 1200F | |
| A387 Gr 91 | 10 – 15 | Low | Low | High | Low | 1300F | |
| A514 | 3 – 5 | 100 – 110 ksi | Low | Low | Very Low | High | |
| SS304 no MTR | 2 – 3 | 31 ksi | Med | Med | High | Med | 1250F |
| SS304 | 4 – 6 | 31 ksi | Med | Low/Med | High | Med | 1250F |
| SS316 | 7 – 12 | 42 ksi | Med | Med | Med | Med | 1400F |
| SS321 | Med | Med | Med | Med | 1400F | ||
| Hastelloy C276 | 30 – 50 | 90 – 115 ksi | Very High | High | Med | High | 800F |
| Inconel 625 | 30 – 50 | 60 – 110 ksi | Very High | High | Med | High | 1600F |
| Monel 400 | 30 – 50 | 30 – 75 ksi | Very High | High | Med | High | 800F |
| INCOLOY® 825 | 30 – 50 | 49.0 ksi | Very High | High | Med | High | 1000F |
| Micarta | June 10, 2019 | 65 ksi | Very High | High | Low/Med | Med | 275F |
| Acetal | 5 – 10 | 11 ksi | Very High | High | High | Low | 181F |
| Ultem | 20 – 40 | 17 ksi | Very High | High | High | Low | 340F |
| PEEK | 50 - 100 | 16 ksi | Very High | High | High | Low | 480F |
| Marinite | May 15, 2019 | 1 ksi | Very High | High | 1000F | ||
| Permali | May 10, 2019 | 30 ksi | Very High | High | 212F |
NOTE: Carbon Steel in Black, Stainless Steels in Brown, Super Alloys in Green, Other Materials in Blue
An example of advances in steel in which PT&P customers are not leveraging advances in high strength steel engineering and production. Historically, high strength steel used manufacturing techniques such as quenching and tempering which led to higher yield strength at the cost of ductility and weldability. This caused costs to manufacture with materials such as A514 to be far higher than A36. Steel suppliers have responded by implementing more advanced manufacturing techniques and maintain much tighter control of molecular structures in order to achieve higher yield strength without a major loss of ductility and workability. One of the major drivers of this has been the AHSS (Automotive High Strength Steel) 3.0 initiative. For structural steel, this can be seen in products such as Domex 100XF which offer yield strength as much as 3 times greater than A36 while still maintaining good workability and weldability.
The following are examples of design objectives that can be improved via material optimization:
| Low Cost + Corrosion Resistance | A36 Galvanized | SS304 no MTR | SS304 w/o MTR is a small upgrade vs Galvanized |
| Large Load + Light Weight + Low Cost | A36 | Domex 100XF | Domex 100XF offers 3x Yield Strength for 3x Price (vs A36) so weight savings can be cost effective |
| Max Corrosion Resistance | SS304 | Hastelloy or Other Super Alloy | Customers do not always realize that PT&P can customize utilizing Super Alloys as most Pipe Support manufacturers lack this capability |
| Large Load and Cryogenic Temperature | Foam/Permali | Micarta G10 | PT&P is the only Pipe Support Manufacturer with Deep Manufacturing Expertise in Micarta |
The following are potential use cases for customization:
| Off-Shore Platforms | Reduced Size and Weight | High Strength Steel |
| Furnace Penthouse | Reduced Size | High Strength Steel/Custom Design |
| Difficult to Access Locations | Corrosion Resistance and Low Cost | SS304 with no MTR |