Pipe and round tubing can be saw-cut or torch-cut in half longitudinally to create half pipe which can be subsequently straightened or curved. The curved half pipe is sometimes welded to the outside or inside of tanks to be used for thermal transfer. Pipe and round tubing up to 24in OD can be split and rolled this way.
A customer recently initially thought that the only way to produce 24in OD half pipe curved to a very tight 11ft inside radius was to have full sections of pipe curved by the heat induction method and then split in half. Furthermore, the customer only needed the sections rolled with the “toes” out. That meant that half of the material—the sections rolled with the toes in—would be wasted if the splitting were done after the curving.
Moreover, delivery from the induction bender was out eight weeks and the customer needed parts now.
By splitting the pipe before curving and then rolling the parts cold, Chicago Metal Rolled Products was able to ship some parts three days after receiving the purchase order and the balance within a week. No material was wasted. And Chicago Metal saved the customer a considerable amount of money.
