INDUSTRY
Polished stainless tube and hygienic fittings for food and pharmaceutical processing
Polished tube, hygienic finishes, controlled surface roughness, DIN 11850 or SMS depending on your equipment. On these installations, size and surface finish matter as much as the grade — and a series that doesn't match the existing plant cannot be salvaged during assembly.
DIN 11850 · ISO 2037 · SMS Ra specified at order Standard: 5 working days
What you come to us for
Almost always compatibility before performance. A section to be replaced on an existing line, where the question is not "which grade" but "which series": a DIN 11850 series 1 tube and an SMS tube of similar nominal bore do not connect. Getting the series wrong is the most expensive mistake in this industry, because it only becomes apparent at the welding stage.
Then surface finish. An internal roughness that has to satisfy a cleanability specification, and that has to be specified at order stage — it cannot be recovered by polishing on site.
What we supply
Tube in 316L and 1.4435 in the common hygienic series, polished, with internal roughness specified at order stage. Associated fittings and ancillaries. EN 10204 3.1 material certificates.
Mechanical polishing and electropolishing are both available depending on the source. The target internal roughness is specified at order stage and appears on the source's certificate — the only way to make it an enforceable requirement rather than an intention.
We do not carry out polishing ourselves: it is done by the mill or the partner stockist, depending on the source. Which means the finish is settled at enquiry stage, and that changing the finish mid-order changes the source and therefore the lead time.
Grades in this industry
| Grade | EN | Indicative PREN |
|---|---|---|
| 316L | 1.4404 | 24–26 ¹ |
| 1.4435 | 1.4435 | 26–28 ¹ |
| 316Ti | 1.4571 | 24–26 ¹ |
| 2205 | 1.4462 | 34–36 ¹ |
¹ usual value from the technical literature, not drawn from a product standard.
The grades listed are the most common in this industry, not a closed list. Every piping grade belongs to one of our nine families; if yours doesn't appear here, it is not outside our scope.
Applicable standards
Dimensional series: DIN 11850, ISO 2037, SMS 3008. Welded tube for the food industry: EN 10357, ASTM A270. Grades: EN 10088-1 for designation, EN 10217-7 for welded tube.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between DIN 11850 and SMS?
- They are two different dimensional series, from different industrial traditions — German and Swedish. A DN 50 in DIN 11850 and its SMS counterpart share neither outside diameter nor wall thickness. The series follows the installed equipment, never a rough equivalence.
- Is 1.4435 really different from 316L?
- Yes. 1.4435 is a 316L with higher molybdenum and nickel content and a tighter range than 1.4404. Some pharmaceutical specifications call for it explicitly, particularly on delta ferrite content. If your specification names 1.4435, a 1.4404 is not a substitute.
- Can you guarantee a specific internal roughness?
- Roughness is specified at order stage and appears on the source's certificate. State the target value at enquiry stage: it determines the finish, therefore the source, therefore the lead time.
- Do you supply fittings and ancillaries, or only tube?
- Both. Tube, fittings and ancillaries in the common hygienic series — in the same order and with the same certificates, which avoids batch-to-batch discrepancies on a single line.
Tell us what you need: grade, size, quantity, deadline. Same-day response on a simple enquiry, within 2 to 3 working days on a complex one.
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