Nominal Pipe Size
Nominal Pipe Size (NPS) is a North American set of standard sizes for pipes used for high or low pressures and temperatures. The name NPS is based on the earlier "Iron Pipe Size" (IPS) system.
That IPS system was established to designate the pipe size. The size represented the approximate inside diameter of the pipe in inches. An IPS 6" pipe is one whose inside diameter is approximately 6 inches. Users started to call the pipe as 2inch, 4inch, 6inch pipe and so on. To begin, each pipe size was produced to have one thickness, which later was termed as standard (STD) or standard weight (STD.WT.). The outside diameter of the pipe was standardized.
As the industrial requirements handling higher pressure fluids, pipes were manufactured with thicker walls, which has become known as an extra strong (XS) or extra heavy (XH). The higher pressure requirements increased further, with thicker wall pipes. Accordingly, pipes were made with double extra strong (XXS) or double extra heavy (XXH) walls, while the standardized outside diameters are unchanged. Note that on this website only terms XS and XXS are used.
Pipe Schedule
So, at the IPS time only three walltickness were in use. In March 1927, the American Standards Association surveyed industry and created a system that designated wall thicknesses based on smaller steps between sizes. The designation known as nominal pipe size replaced iron pipe size, and the term schedule (SCH) was invented to specify the nominal wall thickness of pipe. By adding schedule numbers to the IPS standards, today we know a range of wall thicknesses, namely:
SCH 5, 5S, 10, 10S, 20, 30, 40, 40S, 60, 80, 80S, 100, 120, 140, 160, STD, XS and XXS.
SCH 5, 5S, 10, 10S, 20, 30, 40, 40S, 60, 80, 80S, 100, 120, 140, 160, STD, XS and XXS.
Nominal pipe size (NPS) is a dimensionless designator of pipe size. It indicates standard pipe size when followed by the specific size designation number without an inch symbol. For example, NPS 6 indicates a pipe whose outside diameter is 168.3 mm.
The NPS is very loosely related to the inside diameter in inches, and NPS 12 and smaller pipe has outside diameter greater than the size designator. For NPS 14 and larger, the NPS is equal to 14inch.
Standard codes | Models of steel tubes | Chemical compositions | |||||||
C | SI | Mn | P | S | Cr | Mo | Cu | ||
GB3087 | 10 | 0.07-0.13 | 0.17-0.37 | 0.38-0.65 | ≤0.030 | ≤0.030 | 0.30.65 | ≤0.25 | |
20 | 0.17-0.23 | 0.17-0.37 | 0.38-0.65- | ≤0.030 | ≤0.030 | 0.30.65 | ≤0.250 | ||
GB5310 | 20G | 0.17-0.24 | 0.17-0.37 | 0.35-0.65 | ≤0.030 | ≤0.030 | ≤0.25 | ≤0.15 | ≤0.20 |
20MnG | 0.17-0.25 | 0.17-0.37 | 0.70-1.00 | ≤0.030 | ≤0.030 | ≤0.25 | ≤0.15 | ≤0.20 | |
25MnG | 0.23-0.27 | 0.17-0.37 | 0.70-1.00 | ≤0.030 | ≤0.030 | ≤0.25 | ≤0.15 | ≤0.20 | |
15CrMo | 0.12-0.18 | 0.17-0.37 | 0.40-0.70 | ≤0.030 | ≤0.030 | 0.80-1.10 | 0.40-0.55 | ≤0.20 | |
12Cr2Mn | 0.08-0.15 | ≤0.50 | 0.40-0.70 | ≤0.030 | ≤0.030 | 2.00-2.50 | 0.90-1.20 | ≤0.20 | |
12Cr1MnV | 0.08-0.15 | 0.17-0.37 | 0.40-0.70 | ≤0.030 | ≤0.030 | 0.90-1.20 | 0.25-0.35 | ≤0.20 | |
10Cr9Mo1V Nb | 0.08-0.12 | 0.20-0.50 | 0.30-0.60 | ≤0.020 | ≤0.010 | 8.00-9.50 | 0.85-1.05 | ≤0.20 | |
ASME SA106 | SA106B | 0.17-0.25 | ≥0.1 | 0.7-1.00 | ≤0.030 | ≤0.030 | |||
SA106C | 0.23-0.27 | ≥0.1 | 0.70-1.00 | ≤0.030 | ≤0.030 | ||||
ASME SA333 | |||||||||
ASME SA335 | SA335 P11 | 0.05-0.15 | 0.50-1.0 | 0.30-0.60 | ≤0.030 | ≤0.030 | 1.00-1.50 | 0.50-1.00 | |
SA33512 | 0.05-0.15 | ≤0.50 | 0.30-0.60 | ≤0.030 | ≤0.030 | 0.80-1.25 | 0.44-0.65 | ||
SA335 P22 | 0.05-0.15 | ≤0.05 | 0.30-0.60 | ≤0.030 | ≤0.030 | 1.90-2.60 | 0.87-1.13 | ||
SA335 P5 | ≤ | ≤0.05 | 0.30-0.60 | ≤0.030 | ≤0.030 | 4.00-6.00 | 0.45-0.65 | ||
SA335 P91 | 0.08-0.12 | 0.20-0.50 | 0.30-0.60 | ≤0.020 | ≤0.020 | 8.00-9.50 | 0.85-1.05 | ||
