Cladding Pipe – The Ultimate FAQ Guide
Pipes have a crucial role in every industry there is. Industrial and manufacturing companies need strong, tougher, and wear-resistant pipes. But pipes are usually just made from regular materials – how can you improve this? In this guide, you will learn everything you need to know about cladding pipes. What it is, what it’s used for, and how you can take advantage of it.
What is a Clad Pipe?
Clad pipes are materials formed from bonding a pipe and a cladding material, metallurgically.
The majority of clad pipes globally manufactured are used in natural gas industries, as well as chemical and oil refineries because of their high resistance to pressure and temperature.
What is SGP Pipe Material?
Also known as carbon steel pipe for ordinary piping, is a type of piping material galvanized of zin-coating.
You’d use an SGP pipe materials in a wide array of applications, including:
- Non-water supply piping
- Fire fighting
- Industrial water services
- Wastewater services
- Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC); and
How is a Clad Pipe Manufactured?
As opposed to how many people think, a clad pipe isn’t manufactured like how regular pipes are.
Here’s the simplest summary for you to understand how a clad pipe is manufactured:
- The clad plates are prepared and treated accordingly for the process
- Our raw materials are consisted of a base or a parent material plus a corrosion resistant alloy (CRA)
- Using press brakes and other equipment of the likes, the plates are individually formed
- Once formed, the insides of the newly-formed pipe are grit blasted
- The CRA material is applied within the diameter of the pipe
- After application, it’s fused via metallurgical bonding
- The entire output is treated and is tested before being sent to factories for distribution
How are Clad Pipes Installed?
You’ll be able to install clad pipes easy – even easier if you’re certain with the sizes and measurements.
Installing clad pipes does not fall far from how you would install regular pipe and tube fittings.
For large-diameter pipes, though, you would need certain machines to help you with lifting and positioning.
What is an Inconel Clad Pipe?
Inconel is a family or a group of superalloys that have nickel-chromium as its base.
The term “Inconel” is a registered trademark for this specific collection of superalloys.
That brings us to an Inconel clad pipe being a pipe, with Inconel as its cladding within the diameter.
So why do businesses and companies utilize an Inconel clad pipe? They do so because of the following perks and benefits:
Advantages of Inconel Clad Pipes
Inconel clad pipes that would be used for marine or underwater applications
Reduction of Project Costs
Many businesses confirmed that Inconel cladding has helped them save a lot of money; this is in comparison to producing solid alloy components.
Not only does it save costs – there are other benefits too!
Best Used in Subsea and Offshore Environments
Any type of Inconel is a superalloy that contains agents that prevent corrosion and oxidation.
Therefore, Inconel clad pipes are best for a wide variety of marine and underwater applications, including:
- Shipbuilding and shipyard applications
- Petrochemical industry
- Oil and gas industries
Instant Re-Certification
Did you know that refurbishing a clad pipe with Inconel will bring certification?
This is a practice that has been observed for many years, and it’s still going to continue because of Inconel’s properties.
These are just some of the most common advantages of utilizing Inconel clad pipes, there are many more!
Why is a Clad Pipe Important in the Oil Industry
Corrosion is among the biggest enemies of pipes, tubes, and other types of fitting.
In fact, corrosion accounts up to $2.2 trillion as a whole.
The oil industry is an industry where chemical reactions take place more often than we expect, and therefore, a clad pipe is best for that.
Because pipe cladding produces corrosion-resistant pipes, you wouldn’t have to worry about whatever type of fluid your pipes will ever experience.
Furthermore, clad pipes will be able to resist higher temperatures, bigger impacts, and environments where wear is more susceptible.
Pipe Coating vs. Pipe Cladding
How does pipe cladding and pipe coating differ? Aren’t they the same process? – No, they’re not.
While they hold a lot of similarities, both procedures are distinct from one another.
Pipe coating can give you a ton of advantages, such as making a pipe corrosion resistant. But, its application is only on the surface of the pipe or tube.
No metallurgical bonding is required! Sometimes, the use of thermal and fuse sprays is all you need!
Pipe cladding, on the contrary, is a process that involves a metallurgical bonding of the pipe with a corrosion resistant alloy. Oftentimes, the clad material is deposited and applied within the inner diameter of the pipe or the tube.
How is a Clad Pipe Metallurgically Bonded?
A phase in metallurgical bonding of a thin pipe
Since the discovery of metalurgically bonding clad pipes, many companies and businesses have used varying methods of metallurgically bonding.
They include:
- Extrusion
- Centrifugal Casting
- Weld Cladding
Difference Between Mechanical and Metallurgical Bond
The two (2) terms fit well with one another. In fact, you don’t have to be a physics expert if you want to define each of them.
Mechanical bonding is a type of fusing technique, which is an entanglement of two (2) or more parts. These parts are fused without altering the chemical composition or bonds that the materials have.
For you to understand it easier, you can imagine it as applying or putting cheese or butter on a bread slice.
Metallurgical bonding, on the other hand, is a procedure that gives you a better guarantee of the output. It’s the result of chemical bonding of two (2) metals that can be dissimilar with one another.
There are a lot of clues in distinguishing a metallurgical bond from a mechanical bond; this is the easiest.
What is Pipe Cladding?
Pipe cladding simply is the process of applying cladding material to a pipe. 
It usually is a metallurgical attachment of clad material to a pipe.
What is the Cladding Pipe Process?
- One or more metals are selected to be joined together
- You’ll join these metals by welding it to the surface of the parent material
- This process is done to improve the material in all angles and aspects
Where Can You Apply and Use Clad Pipes?
You can use cladded pipes mostly in certain situations and scenarios, where there is: 
- High Pressure
- Dynamic and High Stress
- High Levels of Corrosiveness and Abrasion
- High Temperatures
In addition to that, cladding pipe is highly beneficial for certain industries like:
- Mining Industry
- Gas and Oil Industry
- Manufacturing Industry
- And Others
What are the Different Pipe Cladding Methods?
The different methods you can take in cladding pipe are: Hot Rolling It’s a process where the pipe is bonded with the clad by heating the base metal. You would allow the base metal to pass through hot rollers, and thus, the hot rolling process. Explosion Bonding This process involves explosives and the process is simple:
- The steel pipe would be lined with the cladding
- Calculated explosives would be placed on the cladding surface
- With heat and pressure combined, the explosion would bond the pipe and the clad together
Powder Metallurgy In this process, you will use a layer of powdered material on the interior part of the pipe. Then, you’ll melt the material via electrical currents, heat, lasers, or other mediums. Coextrusion This process uses molten or near molten metal, creating extruded pipes. Coextrusion means that the cladding pipe is made through both the liner and the exterior pipe at the same time.
Weld Overlay
Weld overlay is a process that is the deposition of materials to a surface or a parent material.
More often than not, you would use materials with the same properties as the workpiece. This enhances the base metal.
What is Overlay?
Overlay is the process of covering something up using coating material through welding. In overlay, you ought to use metals with the same characteristics to that of parent workpiece.
Is Overlay the Same as Cladding Pipes?
No, weld overlay and pipe cladding are two different processes. 
What is CRA Cladding?
CRA cladding is the type of cladding that uses CRA material to cover and protect the surface. 
What are Clad Materials?
Clad materials are materials that fuse two or more metal types through bonding. 
What is Pipe Lining?
Pipe lining is a process that you can do to restore pipes that have been subject to wear. 
Why is Cladding Pipes Important in the Oil and Gas Industry?
The oil and the gas industries are the industries that are most prone to corrosion. Both industries deposit high levels of sulfur and carbon dioxide. Because of this, corrosion in their parts and materials is easy. 
Is Pipe Lining and Pipe Cladding the Same?
No, cladding pipes and lining pipes are not the same. They are two different methods that have different outcomes. Pipe lining refers to a process where you bond a pipe and a line material. 
What are the Advantages of Cladding Pipes?
Some of the pros or advantages of cladding pipes include: 
- Improved crack and wear resistance
- It’ll be able to withstand extreme temperatures, pressure, and stress
- Provides air and chemical pollution resistance
- More workable with high heat
What Does the Term CRA Mean?
CRA is short for what’s called a corrosion resistant alloy.
They’re special alloys you can use to buff machines and equipment, enhancing corrosion resistance and strength.
Common Types of Corrosion
In case you’re not aware, there area actually different types of corrosion, they include:
- High Temperature Corrosion (Oxidation)
- Atmospheric Corrosion
- Galvanic Corrosion
- Pitting Corrosion
- Crevice Corrosion
Corrosion Resistant Alloys (CRA) Examples
It’s not just one product – in fact, there are many examples of corrosion resistant alloys.
The most common corrosion resistant alloy families include:
Copper-Based Alloys
Alloys that are copper based have exemplary quality electrical and thermal conductivity.
You can use them in salt water, water, air, as well as within an environment where inorganic chemicals are present.
Nickel Based
Nickel based alloys perform well when it comes to corrosion resistance. You can use them in fresh water, caustic alkalis, in the normal atmosphere, and so on!
Stainless Steel
The most common type of corrosion resistant alloys, it creates a level of oxide that heals itself.
What’s a CRA Clad Pipe?
It’s a steel pipe that’s been cladded with CRA material. They’re combined either through metallurgical or mechanical bonding.
You’ll find use for it if you’re in an industry prone to corrosion and rust.
Oftentimes, CRA clad pipes are used in the Oil & Gas industry, the Chemical industry, Pipeline transport, Marine industry, Natural Gas industry, and so on.
CRA Materials: What Are They?
CRA materials are materials that have high levels and degrees of resistance to corrosion.
They’re the ones you add to parts and components to improve its resistance properties.
How is a CRA Clad Pipe Manufactured and Created?
How is a CRA clad pipe created, you ask? Well, the process in which CRA clad pipes are created isn’t actually complex.
In fact, it can be bonded through many different processes such as:
- Coextrusion
- Explosion Bonding
- Hot Rolling
- Weld Overlay
- Powder Metallurgy
- And Many More
You can make or create CRA clad pipes by using processes that produce a metallurgical bond.
Process of CRA Clad Pipe Manufacturing
Whatever bonding or fusion process it may be, it’ll always follow this particular structure:
- Preparation of the pipe to be cladded
- Grit blasting of the inside of the pipe
- Application of corrosion resistant materials
- Fusion of the CRA material to the pipe
This is the entire process of creating or manufacturing a CRA clad pipe. It’s not complicated as how it looks like. However, it’s a long process because it needs to make sure that the process was successful.
What’s the Difference Between Lining and Cladding?
Many people get confused in discussing the two. When in reality, it’s actually easy to determine!
Both are processes to improve and enhance a pipe; but they’re quite distinctively different.
Pipe cladding is a metallurgical bonding process between cladding material and the pipe. Pipe lining, on the other hand, is the mechanical bonding process of the material to the pipe.
You would want to apply cladding if you want a corrosion resistant pipe. Lining, if you want an abrasion resistant pipe.
They’re two fusion methods with different goals and objectives.
CRA Clad Pipe Welding
CRA clad pipe welding is a fusion process you can use to deposit CRA material to a pipe.
It’s one of the many techniques to fuse and combine CRA materials to parts and components.
How are CRA Clad Pipes Tested and Inspected?
There are many different tests you can do to measure the effectiveness of CRA clad pipes.
Some of which include:
- Fracture Toughness Tests
- Flattening Tests
- Residual Magnetism
- Ultrasonic Inspection
- Guided Bend Tests
- CRA Liner and Cladding Bond Strength Tests
- Tensile Tests
- And Many More
Different tests and assessments measure different results.
What is Non-Destructive Test (NDT)?
It’s a type of testing process that carefully analyzes a certain material’s properties.
You can find and distinguish it as it is the last step of a manufacturing process.
Before it gets delivered, it needs to undergo the NDT first.
Why Should You Use a CRA Clad Pipe?
If you are in the chemical industry, or any other industry prone to corrosion, you can use CRA clad pipes to:
- Prevent easy corrosion to your pipes
- Prolong and lengthen the lives of your pipes
- Save money from frequent purchasing of piping and tubing
- And many more
What’s the Main Advantage Can You Get From Using a CRA Clad Pipe?
The main purpose of a CRA clad pipe is to prevent corrosion from occurring.
The properties of CRA materials make this easy, allowing your pipes to stay healthy and free from corrosion. Aside from that, other benefits you can get from it include:
- Better productivity
- Less damages of your pipes
- Faster operations
- Healthier working environment
- Stronger and much more reinforced pipes
- And so on
What are the Disadvantages of Cladding Pipes?
- More expensive than the regular pipe lining process
- Requires higher grade materials that are hard to find
- Needs excellent and accurate welding skills to pursue
Who Can Help You With Pipe Cladding?
There are a lot of companies that can help you with hardfacing or with cladding pipes. 
How Can You Get a Cladding Pipe Service?
In case you need to get a pipe cladding service, just contact a company you know via email. Tell them about your request. It’s always helpful to include all relevant information in your initial email.
