Go on a journey through K-Tube’s production process and discover the difference fifty years of cutting-edge, precision, in-house manufacturing expertise makes.
The Stainless Steel Tubing Manufacturing Process
K-Tube’s state-of-the-art production techniques and extensive expertise in medical and industrial tubing applications ensures industry-leading quality, short lead times on stock and custom orders, and precise conformance to your most demanding specifications.
1. Tube Drawing Process
Forming & Laser Welding
Precision roll forming mills create uniform product. The strip is welded into coils in a continuous process.
Plugging
Fine-tunes wall thickness to hold tighter tolerances and preserve ID surface finish.
Optional
Common in high OD to wall ratio tubing.
Recommended when targeting specific wall thickness.
Sinking
Reduces tubing diameter through a series of dies.
Heat Treating/Annealing
Tailors custom material properties of your alloy selection and relieves stress. Optional
Common in low OD to wall ratio tubing.
Recommended when targeting specific temper.
Centerless Grinding
Reduces wall thickness to extremely tight OD tolerances for high wall/OD ratio designs.Optional
Required for high OD to wall ratio tubing (>20 to 1).
Straightening
Removes the coil cast from coil-to-coil processing using a rotary straightener.
Flushing
Removes debris and processing aids from the interior of your tubing.
Optional
Commonly used for small ID (<.020″) long length tubing when conventional cleaning methods are less effective.
Required when plug drawn and pre-anneal to remove processing aids.
2. Secondary Processes
Cuts your tubing to length in a range of styles to suit your application’s specifications.
Burr Free and
Open
Electrolytic and laser cutting keeps tube ends 100% open and cut to length.
Factory
End/Unfinished
Shear and chop cutting leave crimped ends for later removal with no additional cleaning.
Machine Feed/
Easy Feed
Score break cuts provide edges that make your pipe easy to feed into your equipment.
Cleaning
Ultrasonic cleaning for electrolytic cuts, acid cleaning for laser cuts.
3. Finishing Processes
Inspection
Assesses product quality with thorough metallurgical analysis and quality control measures.
Packaging
Accommodates your application with diverse packaging options. Latex-free handling available.
Shipping
Delivers your packaged tubing on-time with efficient supply chain management.
Custom Tubing Available
In addition to a wide range of standard stock tubing, K-Tube provides customized tubing with a variety of options for specialty alloys and proprietary technical solutions.
Our stainless steel tubing manufacturing process, combined with early-stage R&D collaboration and supply chain mastery, delivers fast turnarounds on prototyping and production for tubing that matches your every product specification.