How to Select Tubing for Fluid Systems
Swagelok offers a wide range of tubing options designed to meet the demands of fluid system applications across industries. Choosing the right tubing is critical to achieving long-term system performance, safety, and reliability. In this video, you'll learn how to use the Swagelok tubing data sheet to evaluate key selection criteria, including tubing material, hardness, wall thickness, and allowable working pressure.
Through a step-by-step demonstration, you'll see how tubing size and wall thickness influence pressure ratings for both hydraulic and gas applications. The video also explains how to determine the minimum recommended wall thickness for your operating conditions and how to account for elevated temperatures when making tubing selections.
In addition, you'll learn the importance of maintaining adequate straight tube length when installing tube fittings near bends to help ensure proper installation and performance. Whether you're designing a new fluid system or evaluating an existing one, this practical guidance can help you confidently select tubing that meets your application requirements while supporting safe and reliable operation.
Video Transcript
A common question that comes up is, “How do I select the proper tubing for my application?” Swagelok provides a tubing data sheet to help you with that selection. There are several variables that you need to take into consideration when selecting the proper tubing. Some of those variables are surface finish, material, hardness, and wall thickness. All that information can be found in the tubing data sheet.
When talking about wall thickness, the tubing data sheet has a chart for the suggested allowable working pressures at various wall thicknesses and sizes. The way the chart works is that the outside dimension of the tubing runs along the left side, and the wall thickness runs across the top.
Let’s use 1/2-inch tubing as an example. As you go across the chart for 1/2-inch tubing, you’ll see that there are no working pressures listed for several of the wall thicknesses. This tells you that those wall thicknesses are too thin for 1/2-inch tubing. The very first working pressure you come to is 2600 psig working pressure at 0.035-inch wall thickness, but that rating is grayed out. That means it is the allowable working pressure for hydraulic applications. If you are working in gas applications, you need to move over to the next wall thickness, which is 0.049-inch wall thickness at 3700 psig. That’s the minimum wall thickness we would suggest for 1/2-inch tubing.
If you’re working at a higher pressure, say 4000 psig, you’ll need to move over to the next highest wall thickness: 0.065-inch wall thickness.
When installing fittings near bends in tubing, you need to make sure you leave enough straight length in the tubing to properly bottom the tubing out in the fitting. The tubing data sheet provides a handy chart to help you. Using our 1/2-inch tubing example, you’ll see that 1/2-inch tubing requires a straight length of 1 3/16 inches in order to properly bottom the tubing out in the fitting. Additionally, the tubing data sheet provides information about elevated temperatures.
