From stainless steel to titanium and superalloys, K-Tube engineers precision tubing designed for strength, corrosion resistance, and performance across every application.
The alloy behind your tubing isn’t just a material choice — it’s a critical engineering decision.
Every product you design has a job to do — and the right tubing material makes that possible. Whether your system needs to withstand corrosion, carry fluids at extreme temperatures, or perform safely inside the body, we’ll guide you to the optimal combination of alloy and process to achieve it.
Design for Performance, Not Just Specification
K-Tube engineers work directly with you to understand how your tubing must perform, then match those requirements with the right material, temper, and manufacturing method.
Performance Categories
Corrosion Resistance
When your tubing must perform in harsh or reactive environments.
Corrosion can shorten product life and compromise performance. K-Tube’s corrosion-resistant alloys provide long-term durability in chemical, medical, and high-performance engineering environments.
Corrosion-resistant tubing materials include:
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316L stainless steel
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Hastelloy® C-276
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Titanium (Grades 1–4)
Titanium’s exceptional resistance to oxidation and aggressive media also makes it a strong candidate for lightweight aerospace and next-generation fluid handling systems.
Our Brite Drawn ID and PTFE Plug Drawn ID processes create extremely smooth internal surfaces (RMS < 20 microinches) that help reduce pitting, crevice corrosion, and contamination. For applications requiring enhanced cleanliness, our organic solvent cleaning removes more than 95% of lubricant residues and supports bioburden and cytotoxicity requirements.
Applications include: Medical devices, fluid transfer systems, sanitary heat exchangers, biopsy and fill needles, aerospace fluid systems, and advanced chemical processing components.
High-Temperature Strength
Alloys designed for stability and performance under extreme heat.
When your system needs to perform at high temperatures, stability is critical. K-Tube uses high-temperature alloys that retain mechanical strength and resist oxidation or scaling under intense heat and vibration.
High-temperature tubing materials include:
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Inconel® 625
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Inconel® 718
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321 stainless steel
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Nickel-based superalloys
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Titanium Grade 9 (Ti-3Al-2.5V)
Our laser-welded microtubing and tight-tolerance dimensional control processes ensure uniform wall thickness and repeatability from lot to lot. For lightweight designs, titanium Grade 9 (Ti-3Al-2.5V) offers high strength at roughly half the weight of stainless steel, making it ideal for aerospace systems where every gram matters.
Applications include: Jet engine heat exchangers, cryogenic systems, exhaust components, and aerospace cooling assemblies.
Biocompatibility
Materials trusted to perform safely inside the human body.
When tubing interacts with the body, precision and purity matter. K-Tube manufactures medical-grade tubing from biocompatible metals and alloys that meet strict biocompatibility and cleanliness standards.
Biocompatible tubing materials include:
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316L stainless steel
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304L stainless steel
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MP35N
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Elgiloy®
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Titanium alloys
Our virtually seamless welds and precision cleaning processes ensure tubing used in implants, catheters, and surgical instruments is safe, consistent, and ready for regulatory validation. Surface finishes can be customized for smoothness, lubricity, or compatibility with your sterilization method.
Applications include: Catheters, implants, surgical robotics, guidewires, and fluid-contact devices.
Strength and Formability
Tunable tubing for flexibility, resilience, and precision forming.
Every application requires a specific balance of stiffness and flexibility. K-Tube engineers achieve this through temper and strength adjustment control, refining the material’s structure to reach the right balance of bendability and durability.
High-strength, formable tubing materials include:
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17-7 PH® stainless steel
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1RK91 (Nanoflex®)
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Co-Cr alloys, including:
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Elgiloy®
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MP35N
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These materials can deliver tensile strengths up to 50% higher than standard 304 stainless steel. Whether you need tubing that bends easily during assembly or holds firm under load, we tailor each design to perform as required.
Applications include: Biopsy tools, surgical shafts, drive cables, flexible endoscopic instruments, and vascular delivery systems.
Dimensional Stability
Consistent performance when accuracy and repeatability matter most.
Precision depends on control, and K-Tube’s manufacturing processes maintain it from start to finish. Our coil-to-coil processing, tight-tolerance drawing, and eddy-current inspection hold wall variation to less than 0.0002 inches across long runs.
Dimensional-stability tubing materials include:
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Invar® 36
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Titanium
For components that must stay stable through temperature swings or vibration, these materials deliver excellent thermal stability. Our K-Form Sunk Tubing process enables thin-wall designs without compromising strength or dimensional accuracy.
Applications include: Optical and analytical instruments, measurement devices, cryogenic heat exchangers, and precision medical subassemblies.
Not Sure Which Alloy Fits Your Design?
Our free material guide breaks down key properties and options to help you make informed engineering decisions.
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Austenitic Stainless Steels | 304/304L, 316/316L, 321, 347 |
| Precipitation Hardened Stainless Steels | 17-7 PH, 1RK91 |
| Ferritic Stainless Steels | 430, 434 |
| Martensitic Stainless Steels | 410, 420 |
| Co-Cr Alloys | Elgiloy, L605, MP35N, MP35NLT |
| High Temperature Alloys | Hastelloy C-276, H2205, Inconel 625, Inconel 718, Haynes 282 |
| Glass Sealing Alloys | Invar 36, Kovar, Alloy 52 |
| Titanium | CP Grade 1-4, Grade 9 |
Tubing Alloys Frequently Asked Questions
When selecting an alloy, consider mechanical properties (strength, ductility, workability), corrosion resistance, biocompatibility, weldability, and cost. You should also match the alloy’s characteristics to the intended application—for example, whether it will be used inside the body, in high-temperature environments, or in corrosive chemical processing systems.
302 and 304 are both austenitic stainless steels with excellent strength and formability. 304 has lower carbon than 302, which improves corrosion resistance and reduces carbide precipitation during welding. 304L has an even lower carbon content and slightly higher nickel, giving it superior weldability and resistance to sensitization. In short: 302 is harder, 304 is more corrosion-resistant, and 304L is best for welded applications.
316L contains molybdenum, which significantly improves resistance to chlorides, salts, and harsh chemicals. It maintains high corrosion resistance after welding, making it ideal for in vivo medical applications, surgical instruments, and marine environments where durability is critical.
Superalloys (like Inconel® 625 and Hastelloy® C-276) are high-performance materials designed to maintain strength and resist corrosion at elevated temperatures or in severe chemical environments. They are often used in aerospace systems, nuclear reactors, and chemical processing equipment, where standard stainless steels may degrade or deform over time.
Titanium is valued for its exceptional strength-to-weight ratio, biocompatibility, and corrosion resistance, especially in harsh environments. K-Tube’s laser welding technology enables fabrication of titanium tubing at micro scales, which most conventional TIG welding methods cannot achieve. This makes titanium an excellent choice for aerospace heat exchangers, cryogenic cooling systems, propulsion components, medical implants, and interventional devices.
Laser welding gives engineers the freedom to work with a broader range of alloys, including those that are difficult or impossible to TIG weld at small diameters (like titanium). It allows precise, clean seams and even enables the joining of dissimilar materials, opening up design options that traditional methods can’t support.
K-Tube supplies precision tubing to: Medical – for catheters, hypotubes, surgical instruments, and implants Aerospace & Space – for heat exchangers, probes, and lightweight systems Industrial & Chemical – for corrosive fluid transport and high-pressure systems Optical & Electronics – where low thermal expansion (e.g., Invar® 36) is critical
Ready to turn performance requirements into a finished design?
Work with K-Tube engineers to find the right materials, fine-tune your design,
and get tubing that performs the way you need it to.