Adhering to ASTM Standards
Adhering to ASTM Standards
The financial costs associated with unplanned downtime in oil and gas operations can reach beyond $250k per hour, with estimates suggesting the average loss for a large plant was $129 million per year1. With durability and uptime at this kind of premium, Swagelok uses American Society for Testing and Materials International (ASTM) testing and reporting methodologies to research baselines. Then we improve our product capabilities and performance beyond the minimum requirements.
Guidance issued by ASTM has been helping businesses run better through important quality control and process standards for more than 125 years, bringing consumers of industrial components and materials:
- Product Reliability: Reduced risk of component failure in high-stakes environments
- Industry Acceptance: Market trust and global interoperability
- Damage Resistance: Enhanced resistance to corrosion and material failure
- Intermix Compatibility: Performance in mixed assemblies
While ASTM compliance is voluntary (technically, there’s no such thing as “ASTM certified”), these important standards provide globally recognized benchmarks for material properties, testing methods, and product specifications—areas of vital interest to Swagelok’s customers.
Swagelok carefully works with each customer to make sure ASTM standards are properly (and not overly) applied, remaining on-target for both quality and efficiency goals with a range of ASTM-compliant fittings, valves, and tubing that meets the rigorous demands of each customer’s particular application and environment. Swagelok also participates in various committees involved with ASTM standards creation to ensure they meet industry demands.
ASTM Compliance for Industrial Applications
Swagelok’s adherence to ASTM standards stems from a commitment to address modern materials science challenges that share curious metallurgical roots with 19th-century railroad advancements.
By the late 1800s, railroads had become one of the most crucial underpinnings of the industrial revolution, expanding at a phenomenal pace that tested the limits of material science, not unlike the advancement of contemporary oil and gas production. Trains of the day operated on increasingly congested routes, at ever-higher speeds, and often with heavy loads.
Despite advancements in large-scale industrial production, the sheer diversity of material specs in use at that time resulted in unaddressed variations in the chemical composition and metallurgical structure of railway steel. This lack of standardization manifested as insufficient tensile strength, inferior chemical composition (e.g., carbon content), and susceptibility to fatigue. Combined with a rising intensity of usage, these deficiencies ultimately contributed to dangerous rail breaks, determined to be the cause of many perilous and disruptive derailments.
In 1878, Pennsylvania Railroad chemist Charles Dudley brought these industrial shortcomings to light with a publication addressing quality issues related to the chemical and metallurgical attributes of steel. By 1898, his work had culminated in the formation of the ASTM. It helped reform the steel industry to meet the challenges of industrial customers who could not afford to compromise on dependability.
Swagelok Provides ASTM Fittings and ASTM Valves
Safety and reliability in harsh environments are primary concerns for Swagelok's customers. With more than 75 years of experience in industrial fluid systems, our expertise with ASTM standards is deeply rooted in the recognized need for dependability and strength in both material and design, including:
Fittings
- ASTM F1387: Performance requirements for mechanical fittings
- ASTM A967: Chemical passivation treatments for stainless steel parts
- ASTM A380: Cleaning, descaling, and passivation of stainless steel parts
- ASTM E1558: Electrolytic polishing of metallographic specimens
Tubing
- ASTM A269: General service seamless and welded austenitic stainless steel tubing
- ASTM A213: Seamless ferritic and austenitic alloy-steel boiler, superheater, and heat-exchanger tubes
- ASTM A179: Seamless cold-drawn low-carbon steel tubes
- ASTM A519: Seamless carbon and alloy steel mechanical tubing
Other ASTM Standards
- ASTM G93: Guidelines for cleaning methods and cleanliness levels for materials used in oxygen-enriched environments
- ASTM G144: Measurement of carbon residue on surfaces
- ASTM G121 and G122: Preparation and cleaning of test coupons for carbon residue analysis
- ASTM G127: Cleaning agents
- ASTM G131: Ultrasonic agitation techniques
Our products can be used across the entire range of ASTM allowed tubing hardness because our materials science and manufacturing expertise allows us to produce components that withstand stress assisted corrosion in upstream and downstream operations. Oil and gas OEMs and refiners worldwide depend on our fittings and valves to achieve peak levels of dependability and operational efficiency—even in the harshest of environments.
Swagelok doesn’t just meet the standard; we help you understand why, where, and how to apply it. Contact one of nearly 200 authorized Swagelok sales and service center locations to find answers to your questions about ASTM standards.
Contact a local sales and service center
1According to a 2023 report by Siemens