What Is a Flange?

A flange is a protruded ridge, lip, or rim, either external or internal, that serves to increase strength for easy attachment or transfer of contact force with another object (as the flange on the end of a pipe, steam cylinder, or another object, or the lens mount of a camera) or for stabilizing and guiding the movements of a machine or its parts.

Flanges are ridges or rims that stick out and are often used to increase or spread loads.

Flanges connect pipes, valves, pumps, and other piping components to create a pipeline system. It also simplifies cleaning, inspection, and modification. After welding, flanges are the second most frequent joining method.

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What is a Stainless Steel 304 Flange?

Stainless steel 304 flanges remain the most adaptable and widely used stainless steel on the market, despite the availability of various alternatives.

This material is used to create a variety of flanges, such as weld neck, blind, spectacle, and others.

Types of 304 Flanges

Flanges aren’t a one-size-fits-all item. Apart from size, selecting the appropriate flange design for your pipe system and intended usage will ensure efficient operation, long life, and optimum pricing. Flanges exist in a range of forms and sizes, as seen below.

Slip-On

Slip-on Flanges are slid over the pipe and welded both inside and outside to give sufficient strength and prevent leaking. These flanges might have a raised or flat front.

They work well in low-pressure situations.

Socket Weld

With these flanges, the pipe is placed into the flange, and the connection is secured using a single multi-pass fillet weld.

Socket-weld flanges contain just one fillet weld on the exterior and are not often used in critical applications. For low-pressure pipes with tiny diameters, this sort of flange is necessary.

Blind Flanges

Blind flanges are often employed to seal the end of a pipe or its entrance, and so have no more. If work has to be done within the line, these flanges provide simple access to the pipe.

On vessels, these flanges are usually used to block a pipe or nozzle that isn’t needed.

Weld Neck

Butt welding is necessary during installation for this style of the flange. They are welded to the end of a pipe to form a high-temperature, high-pressure flange.

The ‘neck’ of the weld neck flange may shift pipe tension, lowering strain in the lower section of the flange.

Screwed or Threaded

The flange bore has a thread (a female thread) that links to the male thread of the pipe or fitting. While this flange is easy to use, it is not ideal for high-pressure or temperature applications.

The fundamental benefit of a threaded flange is that it may be installed without the need for welding.

Lap Joint

The two-piece configuration of lap joint flanges demands butt welding the stub end to the pipe or fitting before completing the flanged connection with a backing flange.

They are utilized in low-pressure and non-critical applications because of their limited pressure-holding capacity.

Spectacle

This flange is shaped like a spectacle (a pair of spectacles); two metal discs are joined together by a metal section to create the flange.

When equipment or lines need to be examined or withdrawn from service, spectacle blind flanges are used as a safety feature to separate items.

Plate

Due to their shape, these flanges are also known as flat flanges because they feature a flat, level surface with a complete face gasket that touches the bulk of the flange surface.

Flat-face flanges are often utilized in situations where the mating flange or flanged fitting is cast.

Reducing

Reducing flanges are a kind of flange that is often used on projects that need the connecting of pipes of different diameters.

The flange has a single diameter, whereas the hole is smaller. Such flanges are avoided when there is unexpectedly fluctuating turbulence.

Tongue and Groove

The flanges feature matching grooves and elevated portions. They have the benefit of being self-aligning and functioning as an elastic buffer.