Material Information

Understanding and specifying the correct grades of steel can have a significant impact on the performance of a finished product. For example, the stresses and requirements for a sheet of steel forming a body panel on a car would be completely different than those for the material for the band of a hose clamp and furthermore hose clamp material varies depending on the component of the clip.

Material selection is taken very seriously at Jubilee and we select only the best materials for manufacturing our products and our engineers embrace technical challenges without cutting corners so that you know that you have a hose clip you can rely on. We never mix materials, resulting in a product that will perform as expected.

Steel Technical Data Download

Mild Steel

Also known as carbon steel, mild steel is the most common form of steel for all applications and hose clips are no different.  It is also one of the broadest grades of steel covering a wide range of mechanical properties.

  • Very Low Carbon content but the surface strength can be further strengthened with addition of carbon
  • Malleable & ductile
  • Low Tensile strength but cheap and easy to form
  • Magnetic

Its low resistance to corrosion is overcome by applying a coating, most commonly of zinc however, variances in coating methods and standards mean that corrosion resistance can be an area of extreme difference between hose clips.

All Jubilee branded mild steel products are Zinc protected. The British Standard for hose clips requires a 48 hour resistance from significant red rust in a 5% neutral salt spray test and many non-kitemarked products cannot reach this.  At Jubilee our internal tests have revealed some products on the market, not of our manufacture, showing significant red rust within the first 15 hours of the test.  Our clips all reach a minimum 72 hours and our Original, Light and Multiband ranges are all capable of surviving 240 hours in the neutral salt spray test.

Stainless Steel

Stainless steel is an alloy of Iron with a minimum of 10.5% Chromium. Chromium produces a thin layer of oxide on the surface of the steel known as the ‘passive layer’. This prevents any further corrosion of the surface. Increasing the amount of Chromium gives an increased resistance to corrosion.

Ferritic steels do not require any additional process to improve corrosion resistance due to the presence of chromium in the alloy.  However, the absence or low quantities of nickel in this steel mean that the performance is below that of the austenitic grades of stainless steel.  Ferritic stainless steels are used by many hose clamp manufacturers as a substitute for mild steel, or, as a low price alternative to austenitic grades of stainless steel.  Ferritic grades are used in hose clip specifications W2 and W3 and fall in the 400 grade series.

  • Low carbon and nickel content
  • Good corrosion resistance
  • Good weldability and toughness
  • Magnetic

Austenitic stainless steels offer the highest levels of corrosion resistance against all forms of corrosion including acid and the broadest range of operating temperatures.  At Jubilee® we produce stainless steel clips in 304 and 316 grades only; both of these are acceptable for marine use and Lloyds register approval, whereas ferritic grades are not.  These grades are also acceptable for use in the food and beverage industry where acids such as acetic, citric, malic, lactic and tartaric may not permit the use of ferritic steels.

  • Highest carbon and nickel content when compared to Ferritic Steels.
  • Very good corrosion resistance
  • Non-Magnetic

Why we do not offer mixed material products.

As mentioned above some manufacturers will mix stainless and carbon steels when manufacturing hose clamps to achieve low manufacturing costs.

By circumventing the need to electroplate the band and housing before the insertion of the screw automation of production procedures could be simplified.  It was therefore common practice to choose a material that was as close in price as possible to mild steel and so the most commonly seen specification is a 430 grade ferritic stainless steel.  As the screw is introduced separately the same issue does not apply and so the most cost conscious option remained a mild steel plated screw and the result of this has been the proliferation of the mixed material hose clamp specification.

Importantly, dissimilar metals can react when brought together, mixed material clamps experience a cathodic reaction between the two metals and will rust much faster than clamps made all from one material specification, which is why Jubilee products do not use mixed material.