Regular Checking of Flanges

The stainless steel flange connection is to connect two pipes, pipe fittings or devices. The flange connection is completed by first fixing the two pipes, pipe fittings or devices on a flange respectively, putting a pad between them, and using bolts to fasten them. Some of the pipes or facilities have their own flanges, but they still belong to the flange connections. Stainless steel flanges can be classified into various categories such as threaded flanges and weld neck flanges. Flanges are disc-shaped parts. They are often used in pairs, and are most commonly used in the pipeline projects to connect pipes. The threaded flanges can be applied to the low pressure pipes, and the high pressure pipes should adopt the weld neck flanges. The flanges with low pressure and small diameters are usually the threaded flanges, while flanges with high pressure and flanges with low pressure but large diameters generally are the weld neck flanges. For flanges with different pressure, the diameters and the number of the bolts to be used for the flanges as well as the thickness of the flanges vary form each other. Pitting, corrosion or wear will not happen on stainless steel flanges because stainless steel has excellent corrosion resistance and it is one of the materials which have the greatest strength, and can keep the integrity of the engineering permanently.
 
However, flanges can not be stored for a long time without regular checking. The exposed surfaces of flanges must be kept clean and the dirt on it must be removed. Flanges should be stored in the ventilated dry rooms instead of the outdoor places. In the use of flanges, the repair and maintenance work of flanges are of great significance in prolonging the service lives of flanges as well as ensuring the extraordinary performance of flanges. The corrosion of the flange connections is one of the matters related to the industrial flanges which deserve great attention. As long as the flange connections are checked and maintained regularly, the service lives of the flange connections can be lengthened. Most working environments for flanges are very bad, which puts forward high requirements on the quality of the flanges.
 
Flanges can be made of a variety of materials and their manufacturing process is simple. Although flanges are widely used in many industries, and they have low prices, they are unsuitable for the pipelines transporting flammable, explosive or hazardous media and the conditions with high vacuum requirements and extreme hazards.