Fractional Stainless Steel Tube & Gauge Chart

What is Fractional Tubing?

Fractional tubing is tubing that is named according to a fractional OD (outside diameter) size and a corresponding wall thickness. In the same way that a buyer can select a ¼” bolt or a 3/8” bolt, fractional tubing simply follows common fractions spaced out typically in increments of 1/16 or 1/32 of an inch. For example, common fractions sold by Vita are 1/32, 1/16, 3/32, 1/8” and so on increasing in size. Fractional tube is specified by an OD and a wall thickness (compared to hypo tube which is specified by an OD and ID). For each given OD, there a range of standard wall values offered. For example, .005, .010, .015” and so on. If required by the customer, an OD/ID spec is also possible and frequently requested, and special tolerances and custom wall thicknesses are available, too.

Fractional vs Hypo Tube

From a process standpoint, there is nothing different about fractional welded and drawn hard temper tubing compared to hypodermic tube. Both are manufactured as medical grade products using Vita’s TIG welded and plug drawn process and cold worked to a hard temper with quality checks in place throughout the production process. Be cautious comparing Vita’s fractional tubes with generic offerings found elsewhere by national distributors---these other offerings may be “commercial grade” tubing products made to looser tolerances, poorer surface finishes and annealed (soft) temper. Ensure products you are selecting meet your application requirements.

Fractional Tubing Fabrication

Just like all of our tubing products, fractional tubing can be cut and deburred to length, or fabricated via cutting and cold work processes into custom designed components, and assembled with other machined pieces.

Custom Fabricated Parts

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Cut & Deburred Tubing

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For products that expand beyond the small diameter range into what is considered larger pipe products, the specification usually utilized is an OD defined by a fractional size, and a wall thickness defined by what is called a “pipe schedule”. For example, pipe schedule 40 equates to a wall thickness value depending on the pipe OD. For more information on the larger diameter products, please visit our commercial tubing pages.

We stock Hard Temper 304 Stainless Steel fractional tubes. This medical grade fractional tubing is a more robust product and held to closer tolerances than commercial grade annealed tubing.

Type SS 304, Medical Grade, Hard Temper. Some sizes available in SS 316.
Typically manufactured closer to nominal OD & Average Wall than tolerances indicate.