What are Various Types of Flanges Used in Piping ...

Author: Geym

Jan. 06, 2025

Construction & Real Estate

What are Various Types of Flanges Used in Piping ...

The main use of flange is to connect pumps, pipes, valves, and other equipment to make a pipework system. Usually, flanges are threaded or welded, and you can connect two flanges by bolting them with gaskets and providing a seal that gives easy access to the piping system.

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These flanges are available in many types like socket weld flanges, blind flanges, weld neck flanges, slip-on flanges, etc.

Here are various types of flanges used in piping systems that depend on other factors.

Types of flanges

Here are a few most important types of flanges available for piping applications:

Slip-on flanges

The slip-on flange is a ring (with or without a hub) placed over the pipe's end. The flange face extends from the end of the pipe by a sufficient distance to apply a welded bead to the inner diameter. As the name suggests, these flanges slip over a pipe and are known as slip-on flanges.

Weld neck flanges

Weld neck flange is also known as a high-neck flange or tapered hub flange. The weld neck flange has a neck that can properly transfer the pipe tension. It also helps to reduce the pressure gathered at the bottom of the flange. It is compatible with pipelines that operate at low or high temperatures and withstand high pressure.

Socket weld flanges

The socket weld flanges are connected on the outside just by a fillet weld. It is often not advisable for critical services. These are useful for the small-bore lines in your system. The static strength is equivalent to slip-on flanges, but the fatigue strength is 50 percent higher than double-welded slip-on flanges. Often used as an alternative to weld necks when space is a constraint.

Blind flanges

The production of blind flanges happens without a bore and is utilized to blank off the ends of pressure vessel openings, valves, and pipes. If you look from the point of view of bolt loading and internal pressure, the most overstressed flange types are blind flanges which are quite bigger.

Lap joint flanges

Lap joint flanges are useful with stub ends when the pipe is made of expensive material. E.g., a carbon steel flange can be added to the stainless steel pipe system as the flanges do not come into contact with the substance in the pipe.

Threaded flanges

Threaded flanges look identical to slip-on flanges, but the key difference is that the threaded flange is bored out to match the inside diameter of the particular pipe. The threaded flange is a type of flange that has taper pipe threads in its bore conforming to ASME B1.20.1 and is helpful in piping systems.

Materials useful to manufacture flanges

Pipe flanges can be manufactured from many different materials that depend on the piping material and requirements of the application. Selection depends on the factors such as economy, flow pressure, operating temperature, and environmental corrosion. Some of the most common materials include the following:

Carbon steel

It is steel alloyed usually with carbon. The high strength and hardness increase with carbon content, lower melting point, and ductility. This is the most common material grade.

Alloy steel

It is steel alloyed with one or more elements that change or enhance the properties of steel. Common alloys include chromium, molybdenum, nickel, vanadium, and manganese.

Stainless steel

It is steel alloyed with chromium in amounts above 10%. Chromium enables stainless steel to have a much higher corrosion resistance than carbon steel which rusts readily from air and moisture exposure.

Cast irons

Iron when it is alloyed with silicon, carbon, and several other alloys makes cast iron. Silicon forces carbon out of the iron and forms a black graphite layer on the exterior of the metal. Cast irons have good machinability, castability, and fluidity.

Aluminum

It is a low-density, ductile, and malleable metal with medium strength. It has better corrosion resistance compared to any other typical alloy and carbon steel. It is most useful during flange construction that requires low weight and strength.

Brass

It is an alloy of zinc and copper and often comes with additional elements such as tin or lead. It is characterized by good conductivity, cold ductility, high-temperature ductility, and good strength.

PVC

(Note we do not offer polymer grade materials but have written on them for your benefit below)

Polyvinyl chloride or PVC is a thermoplastic polymer that is easy to assemble, durable, and inexpensive. It is resistant to both biological and chemical corrosion. The addition of plasticizers makes it more flexible and soft.

Performance Features

Performance features are the flange properties that may be dependent on many other factors but are essential to consider. The properties include the following:

Durability

It is the toughness or strength of a pipe flange under pressure or stress. Durability is dependent on the flange compatibility and the flange design with the pipes and the material strength.

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Easy of assembly

It is a qualitative measure of the efficiency of the disassembly and assembly process. For applications with flange used as a fix or temporary attachment, the ease of setting up and taking down is crucial.

Weight

It is the heaviness or mass of the flange. It is dependent on the material density and size. Industrial buyers must consider the strength of the pipe or pipe support while dealing with high or large-density flanges.

Conclusion

You can make out from the above different types of flanges, manufacturing, and performance features. You can choose the right steel flange manufactured from different materials like stainless steel, low alloy steel, carbon steel, duplex steel, or many more.

Choosing the right flange with the right material and knowing the elements that it faces during the application that uses the piping method is critical. We hope that this blog will help you identify the key things before purchasing flanges. To learn more about flange basics, visit https://www.texasflange.com/flange-basics/

What are the Main Types of Flanges?

We usually consider two main families of flanges, the standard flanges and the special ones.

What is a steel flange?

'A flange is a forged or cast ring of steel designed to connect mechanically sections of pipe or join pipe to a pressure vessel, pump, valve or any other piece of equipment.'

Usually flanges are welded or threaded and two flanges are joined to each other by bolting together them with gaskets to provide a seal. It provides an easy access to the piping system in case of cleaning, modification and inspections.

You can read about the basics of steel flange in our article What is a steel flange?

Standard Flanges

The basic types of flanges are:
  ' Slip-on
  ' Blind
  ' Lap-Joint
  ' Socket Weld
  ' Threaded
  ' Weld-Neck 
  ' Orifice

Slip-On Flange

The flange is slipped over the pipe and is settled by welding at both top and base side of the flange. They are used to provide sufficient strength to the connection and prevent leakage. This flange is favored over weld neck flanges as less accuracy is required when cutting pipe to length, the cost to produce is lower but there is nearly the same outcome.

Blind Flanges

This is a flange without a bore. Also called a blanking flange, it is used to fix or seal an end of a piping framework or shut off a piping system or vessel opening. Inspection of vessels or piping system is easier and it is simpler to access it. A blind flange can be supplied with or without hub depending on the requirements.

Lap-Joint Flanges

This is again similar to a slip-on flange, but it has a radius at the intersection of the bore and the flange face to accommodate a lap stub end. The face on the stub end forms the gasket face on the flange. This type of flange is used in applications where section of piping systems need to be dismantle quickly and easily for inspection or replacement.

Socket Weld Flanges

This is similar to a slip-on flange in outline, but the bore is counter-bored to accept pipe. The diameter of the remaining bore is the same as the inside diameter of the pipe. The flange is attached to the pipe by a fillet weld around the hub of the flange. An optional interval weld may be applied in high stress applications. It's biggest use is in high pressure systems such as hydraulic and steam lines.

Threaded Flanges

This is similar to a slip-on flange in outline, but the bore is threaded, thus enabling assembly without welding. This obviously limits its application to relatively low pressure piping systems. The flange may be welded around the joint after assembly, but this is not considered a satisfactory method of increasing its applications.

Weld-Neck Flanges

As ist name, this is a flange attached by welding neck of flange to a pipe. It is expensive because of its long neck, but more suitable for high stress applications because the neck provides important reinforcement to the flange. The bore of the flange matches the bore of the pipe, reducing turbulence and erosion.

 

Special Flanges

The special types of flanges are:
  ' Groove Flanges / Tongue Flanges
  ' Long Neck
  ' Orifice
  ' Spectacle

Groove Flanges / Tongue Flanges

A groove flange is constantly paired with a tongue flange.
The tongue flange has the face with a raised ring (i.e. the tongue). One flange has a machined raised ring (also called the tongue) and the other one has machined groove depression (also called the groove). Those two flanges should match perfectly with each other.

Tongue-and-groove facings are standardized in both large and small types. They are mainly used for pump covers and valve bonnets.

Tongue-and-groove joints have the advantage of being self-aligning and act as a reservoir for the adhesive. Major machining operation are not necessary especially thanks to the scarf joint keeping the oxis of loading in line.

Long Neck Flanges

Owing to our rich industrial experience, we are offering a comprehensive range of Long Weld Neck Flanges. The professionals of our organization source these neck flanges from trusted vendors. These flanges are unique due to their simple connectivity with other pipes. Moreover, our products are extensively used in refining industries for linking purposes. Our esteemed patrons can avail these qualitative range of flanges from us at industry-leading prices.

Orifice Flanges

The function of an orifice flange is to provide access to a line for metering of gases or liquids. An orifice plate is clamped between a pair of flanges when installed in a line and the whole assembly is refer to as an orifice flange union. Jack-screws within the assembly facilitate removal of the orifice plate. The orifice plate, the metering device, consists of a thin plate with a concentric, square edge, circular hole in the centre. Two pressure tap-holes are drilled in each flange to measure pressure difference through the orifice.

Spectacle Flanges

This is a pressure retaining plate with one solid end and one open end connected with a web or tie-bar. In normal operation, the open end forms the seal between two flanges and permits normal flow of fluid through pipe work. If the solid end is swung into position it effectively blanks of the pipe and halts the flow.

 

Flange faces

The ASME B16.5 and B16.47 define different types of flange facings as follows:

  ' Raised Face
  ' Flat Face

Raised Face Flanges

The Raised Face (RF) type is the most applied flange face, and is easy to identify. It is referred to as a raised face because the gasket surfaces are raised above the bolting circle face.

Flat Face Flanges

The Flat Face (FF) flange has a gasket surface in the same plane as the bolting circle face. Applications using flat face flanges are frequently those in which the mating flange or flanged fitting is made from a casting.
Flat face flanges are never to be bolted to a raised face flange. ASME B31.1 says that when connecting flat face cast iron flanges to carbon steel flanges, the raised face on the carbon steel flange must be removed, and that a full face gasket is required. This is to keep the thin, bittle cast iron flange from being sprung into the gap caused by the raised face of the carbon steel flange.

General flange faces such as the Ring-Type Joint (RTJ), Male-and-Female (M&F) and Tongue-and-Groove (T&G) cannot be bolted together, because the contact surfaces do not match and there is no gasket that has one type on one side and another type on the other side.

 

If you want to have more information about the article or you want to share your opinion with us, contact us at *protected *.

Please notice that you might be interested in the other product-related articles we've published:

  ' What is Steel Forging?

  ' The History of Steel Forging

  ' Open Die Forging and Closed Die Forging ' What's the difference?

 

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