What is ISO 11120 - Refillable seamless steel tubes about?
ISO 11120 specifies minimum requirements for the material, design, construction and workmanship, manufacturing processes, examinations, and tests at the manufacture of refillable quenched and tempered seamless steel tubes of water capacities exceeding 150 l up to and including 3 000 l for compressed and liquefied gases exposed to extreme world-wide ambient temperatures, normally between –50 °C and +65 °C.
ISO 11120 is applicable to tubes with maximum tensile strength, Rma, of less than 1 100 MPa. These tubes can be used alone or in batteries to equip trailers or multiple-element gas containers (ISO modules or skids) for the transportation and distribution of compressed gases. ISO 11120 is applicable to tubes having an opening at each end.
Who is ISO 11120 - Refillable seamless steel tubes for?
ISO 11120 on Refillable seamless steel tubes is useful for:
- Power generation
- The oil and gas industry
- The pharmaceutical industry
Why should you use ISO 11120 - Refillable seamless steel tubes?
ISO 11120 provides a specification for the design, manufacture, inspection, and testing of tubes at the time of manufacture for worldwide usage. The objective is to balance design and economic efficiency against international acceptance and universal utility. ISO 11120 aims to eliminate concern about climate, duplicate inspections, and restrictions currently existing because of the lack of definitive International Standards. ISO 11120 does not reflect on the suitability of the practice of any nation or region. ISO 11120 addresses the general requirements on design, construction and initial inspection and testing of pressure receptacles of the United Nations Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods: Model Regulations.
ISO 11120 is intended to be used under a variety of regulatory regimes, but it is suitable for use with the conformity assessment system for UN pressure receptacles of the above-mentioned Model Regulations. Seamless steel pipe is used in the transportation of fluids such as water, natural gas, waste, and air and is used in many high-pressure, high-corrosive environments. Seamless steel tubes are known for their ability to withstand pressure.
What’s changed since the last update?
BS EN ISO 11120:2015 supersedes EN ISO 11120:1999, which is withdrawn. BS EN ISO 11120:2015 includes some technical changes with respect to BS EN ISO 11120:1999. These include:
- Annex A “Typical chemistry groupings for seamless steel tubes” is informative
- Nickel chromium molydbenum steel has been added in 6.1.1 and Annex A as Group V
- Reduction of maximum sulfur content in 6.2.2 from 0,020 % to 0,010 %; also the sum of sulfur and phosphorus is reduced from 0,030 % to 0,025 %
- The modification of ultrasonic provisions for ultrasonic examination in 8.3 to include ultrasonic
- Examination for wall thickness and for imperfections also on the supplied tubing
- “Type Approval Procedure” has been introduced in Clause 9

