Tube VS Pipe In the manufacturing industry one often hear terms such as pipes or tubing. To those working in this industry it is often not clear what the difference is between a pipe and a tube. After all they’re both just hollow cylinders, so many people think that the word has the exact same meaning. That is however wrong. There are a couple of key differences between tubes and pipes:
Tube and Pipe Differences
1. A pipe is a vessel – a tube is structural
2. A pipe is measured ID – a tube is measured ODA hollow cylinder has 3 important dimensions which are: The outside diameter (OD)The inside diameter (ID)The wall thickness (WT) These three are related by a very simple equation: OD = ID + 2 * WT
3. One can completely specify a piece of pipe/tube by supplying any two of these numbers
From the Jan/Feb issue of Branch 68 NZART “Ragchew” Newsletter