Whats Food Grade / Sanitary / Hygienic Stainless Steel pipe fittings, and how is it different from other Fittings?
No single article can fully cover the world of process pipes and fittings, let alone this one page of our site. But we will try to cover the basics of food grade stainless steel.
We hope that by the end of you reading this page, you will feel a little bit more knowledgeable, or at least slightly entertained.
Stainless steel was discovered in the 1900's, scientists found out that by adding at least 10% of Chromium to steel, a transparent layer would form on the surface of the steel that disallowed rusting by stopping oxidation. The transparent layer would heal itself, when injured by water, slight denting and scratching.
To qualify as Dairy / Sanitary / Hygienic Fittings and Tubing, it has to be cleanable, either by using a CIP (clean in place) system, or by manually dismantling and cleaning the system.
The minimum surface finish to qualify as sanitary is around 150 grit, or 32 Ra.
Sanitary Fittings mostly come in butt weld and ferrule connections.
The most common sizes are 0.5" to 4".
Food Grade / Sanitary / Hygienic stainless steel is almost mainly used in the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and personal care industry.
Such fittings mostly come in SS 304 or SS 316L material.