The Australian construction and food processing sectors can now obtain stainless steel tube in large sizes at a Victorian plant. Manufacturing by an Australian firm will also make it easier for specifiers to communicate their special requirements.
Stainless Tube Mills’ special-purpose factory in Melbourne is producing longitudinally welded tube in diameters up to 300mm and wall thicknesses up to 8mm – the largest seam-welded stainless steel tube available in Australia. Tube in this size range has always been imported. The recently commissioned draw mill, designed in house by ASSDA member STM in conjunction with CSIRO, joins 12 other mills on-site which produce welded tube up to 101.6mm outside diameter. Large-diameter tube is also finding application architecturally for balustrades, barriers and structural column formers. STM used 300mm columns in T304 alloy for its own office façade. The firm’s future plans include production of heavy-walled large diameter sectional tubes for architectural applications. (From Australian Stainless, 2002, no. 21.)
