What Is Clad Pipe? Complete Guide to Cladded Steel Pipe Manufacturing

When a pipeline must resist highly corrosive fluids — sour crude, CO2-laden gas, or aggressive brines — engineers face a choice: build the entire pipe from expensive corrosion-resistant alloy (CRA), or use clad pipe, which bonds a thin CRA liner to an affordable carbon steel backing. This guide explains what clad pipe is, how it's made, and where it delivers the best value.

What Is Clad Pipe?

Clad pipe, also called bimetallic or lined pipe, consists of two metallurgically or mechanically bonded layers: an outer carbon steel or low-alloy steel pipe that provides structural strength and pressure rating, and an inner liner of corrosion-resistant alloy — commonly stainless steel (316L), duplex stainless steel, or nickel alloys such as Alloy 825 or Alloy 625 — that contacts the process fluid and resists corrosion.

The result is a pipe that performs like solid CRA pipe where it matters (the wetted surface) while using far less of the expensive alloy, since the liner typically makes up only 10-20% of total wall thickness.

How Clad Pipe Is Manufactured

● Explosion bonding: a controlled explosive charge drives the liner and base metal together at extremely high velocity, creating a metallurgical bond across the entire interface — widely used for plate that is later rolled and welded into pipe.

● Hot-roll bonding: liner and base plate are bonded under heat and pressure in a rolling mill before being formed into pipe, producing a strong metallurgical bond suited to high-volume production.

● Weld overlay (weld cladding): the CRA liner is deposited onto the inside surface of a carbon steel pipe using automated welding, building up the corrosion-resistant layer weld pass by weld pass.

● Mechanically lined pipe (MLP): a separately manufactured CRA liner pipe is inserted into a slightly larger carbon steel host pipe and mechanically expanded to create a tight interference fit rather than a metallurgical bond.

Common Liner Materials

Why Use Clad Pipe Instead of Solid CRA Pipe?

● Significant material cost savings — the expensive alloy is used only where it contacts the fluid

● Full mechanical strength from the carbon steel backing, allowing standard pressure design calculations

● Weight savings compared to equivalent-strength solid CRA pipe in some configurations

● Widely qualified for oil and gas service under API 5LD, giving engineers a standardized basis for design and procurement

Common Applications

● Sour oil and gas gathering and transmission pipelines (H2S / CO2 service)

● Offshore flowlines and risers exposed to seawater and produced fluids

● Chemical processing plant piping handling corrosive process streams

● Desalination plant intake and brine piping

Choosing a Clad Pipe Supplier

Specify the base pipe grade, liner material and thickness, bonding method, and applicable standard (typically API 5LD) up front, and request bond-strength test reports, ultrasonic bond inspection records, and liner thickness verification for every joint. Bond integrity is the single most important quality factor in clad pipe — insist on documented, joint-by-joint testing rather than batch sampling for critical service.

Sindara supplies clad and lined steel pipe manufactured to API 5LD with 316L, duplex, and nickel-alloy liner options, complete with bond inspection and mill test documentation. Share your service conditions and we will recommend the right base/liner combination.