Sharp Edges

Sharp edges provide cost savings, safety and aesthetics

Do you know the significance of the hollow section`s edges?

• With a large corner radius you have a wide gap. To fill this gap in case of parallel welding joints you need lot of filler metal. This needs time and is a cost factor.
• The radius has a strong influence on a steel construction’s connecting surface. A small radius increases the size of the plane surface and the corresponding static values.
• The aesthetics of many steel constructions with parallel connections are marred by wide butt joints.

Hot formed Structural Hollow Sections provide relief. Their typical corner radius of ≤ 2 x wall thickness is one third less than the value permitted by the standard. Much tighter tolerances are possible up to an extra sharp corner radius ≤ 1 x wall thickness – a decisive advantage of seamless hot rolling production.

Guaranteed corner radius for maximum production reliability

In order to protect your production from surprises, Vallourec guarantees the maximum corner radius on request. This has been applied successfully in practice for many years – even for small lot sizes. 

Tailored to your application, we guarantee sharp edes from:

• typically:
  Ra ≤ 2,0 x wall thickness
• sharp:
  Ra ≤ 1,7 x wall thickness a
  Ra ≤ 1,5 x wall thickness
• extra sharp:
  Ra ≤ 1,0 x wall thickness

Sharp edges provide:

• time and cost savings
• high stability and therefore higher safety
• high aesthetics for visible elements
• production reliability