How to Guard Against Fraud in Sourcing ASTM A179 Seamless Tubes

Sourcing Fraud

During the international sourcing, sometimes you might be a victim of fraud. What should you do to see through the fraud and guard against it? Let’s take the example of sourcing ASTM A179 (ASME SA179) seamless tubes.

ASTM A179 / ASME SA179

First of all, let’s get to know about ASTM A179 seamless tubes. They are mainly used for heat exchangers and condensers. Normally they are produced by cold drawn or cold rolled process. The quality requirement for them is much strict. Common sizes are O.D. 3/4” (19.05mm) and O.D. 1” (25.4mm). Beside straight tubes, there are also U-Bent tubes and fin tubes. In fact, A179 U-Bent tubes are for heat exchangers, and A179 fin tubes are for condensers.

Here are photos of the three types of ASTM A179 seamless tubes:

ASTM A179 ASME SA179 Straight Tubes

ASTM A179 U-Bend Tubes

ASTM A179 Fin Tubes

Fake ASTM A179 Tubes

Some customers sourcing ASTM A179 tubes mentioned that they had been fooled with fake goods before.

There are different types of ”fake ASTM A179 tubes“. Let’s see some examples as follows.

1.Fake material. 

For heat exchanger tubes and condenser tubes, the standard ASTM A179 or ASME SA179 has clear requirements for the material’s chemical composition and mechanical properties. 

After receiving the tubes, customers will do chemical composition test or PMI test. Sometimes, the test result shows that the Carbon composition is about 0.19-0.23%. It is the same as ASTM A106 GR. B material which is cheaper than ASTM A179 material.

Moreover, sometimes the Elongation will be found too much lower than 35% which is required for ASTM A179. That will be a big problem in the usage, and bring about economic loss and safety risks.

2.Requirements unfulfilled.

The tube size tolerances cannot meet the ASTM A179 standard requirements. That problem also has a fat chance to happen. Therefore, O.D. Inspection, Thickness Inspection and length Inspection are very important. Especially for Thickness Inspection, A179 standard has requirement for the minimum thickness instead of average thickness. That is very important. Many trading companies’ people did not study the standard carefully, so they make mistakes on Thickness.

ASTM A179 O.D. Inspection

ASTM A179 Thickness Inspection

ASTM A179 Length Inspection 

For size tolerances we can easily find in the A179 standard as follows:

ASTM A179 Thickness Tolerance

ASTM A179 O.D. Tolerance

ASTM A179 Length Cutting Tolerance

For more A179 inspection details you could check ASTM A179/ASME SA179 Standard.

3.Fake “seamless”. 

As we know ASTM A179 is seamless cold drawn or seamless cold rolled process. ERW or welded tubes are not allowed. However, to make as much profit as possible, some dodgy companies use remove the outside and inside seams of ERW tubes to take the place of real seamless tubes. The price will surely be much lower than seamless, and therefore it will be easier for them to get customers’ order than the companies who actually sell the real seamless tubes. Customers will have big troubles while using those fake “seamless” tubes.

ERW Tubes (inside and outside seams removed)

4.Quality Issue.

There are other quality problems such as too much rust on the surface, not good  tube straightness, and so on. As a purchaser, customers would like to find good suppliers whose price may not be the lowest one but quality is good and delivery time is promised.

In order to guard against most risks, here we have some suggestions as follows for steel tubes purchasers:

I.For each inquiry, ask at least two or three companies, so that you get to know the price range for ASTM A179 tubes on the market. If you find a company’s price is too much lower than others, you should be more careful with it. Actually, my suggestion is not to choose it, since it may have some problems.

II.Before you place the order, it’s important to ask the factory or company to provide you with the Mill Test Certificate of tubes and raw materials. You can check the chemical compositions and mechanical properties with the standard.

III.Ask for their shipping recorders for ASTM A179 tubes including photos of tubes, package, loading, etc.…

IV.If possible, arrange third party inspection or other professional ASTM A179 tubes inspection company to help you to check the

V.Cooperate with old supplier if you could, or ask them to help you to purchase from Chinese market. You can give them your target price as you get from suggestion I. That will be safer. New supplier means both chance and risk.

At last, as a supplier of ASTM A179 seamless tubes for more than 10years, we are glad to share our experiences in your sourcing process.

If you need our company to help you to do factory audit or tubes inspection before loading, don’t be hesitate and just contact us.

For ASTM A179 tubes, we are professional compared with third party companies and also less expensive than them.

We could help you to do:

1.      Factory or company audit before your cooperation.

2.      Production process witness and inspection during the production.

3.      Finished tubes inspection before loading.

4.      Visiting schedule arrangement and accompany when you come to China.

Get in touch
Tel.: +86 185 5109 0083 | E-mail: cts@ctstubes.com