Profile tube specific weight: weight per linear meter

Steel pipe rolled products with a square or rectangular section are called profile tubes, or simply “box tubes”. Profile products can also include pipe rolled products whose section differs from a square: three-, six-, eight-sided, ribbed, oval, drop-shaped and other forms. Such a product is created on a rolling mill by deforming a steel sheet blank. The seam is then welded.

Production features of profiled tubes

A “box tube” can be made of different metals, but the most widely used is steel: carbon, alloy or stainless, as well as galvanized. Aluminum profile tubes are also found.

The size range of profile tubes depends on the standard and manufacturer. In common metal stock, square and rectangular profile tubes are usually found from small 15x15 mm sections to large structural sizes; the exact range and wall thickness should be checked against the product range table and the manufacturer’s documents.

Depending on the production method, there are:

• cold-rolled,
• hot-rolled,
• welded carbon profile tubes.

It is worth noting that the price of deformed pipe rolled products is higher, as is their quality. The main parameters of a profile tube are:

• geometry: weight per linear meter of pipe, surface quality, compliance with standards for wall thickness and length, absence of maximum permissible deviations in straightness, thickness and other parameters;
• technical: production method, material quality and seam quality, regulated by GOST.

How to find out the weight of a tube?

To find out how much a tube weighs, you need to determine how much material and what material was used to produce it. For calculations, it is enough to know the weight of 1 linear meter of profile tube. This applies both to large products, for example 180x180x60, and to small ones such as 50x50x5. The mass value depends on the following parameters:

• shape - rectangular-section products are the most popular, and their area of application is very wide, from construction to machine-tool and automotive engineering. It is quite easy to find the weight of one linear meter of such a tube without using complex design programs;
• size - the data specified in the product marking is used to calculate the theoretical mass of the profile;
• density, or specific weight of metal - depending on the alloy, whose characteristics are specified in GOST, this indicator will differ. Common steel grades have an average density within 7.5-7.8 g/cm³.

The exact weight of a profile tube is needed to calculate structure mass, load on supports, tonnage for transportation, vehicle selection and material cost estimation.

Metal warehouses mostly indicate the price per tonne of product, and nobody weighs each tube separately. But for calculations, the required parameter is the weight of one linear meter of profile tube. You can use complex calculation methods or use a table of steel square tube weight for the most common parameters: