---
title: Capabilities, Copper Tube Melting, Casting, Pilgering, Drawing, Testing | Ameritube
description: Ameritube's Hillsboro, Texas mill melts and casts C12200 copper, and pilgers, draws, anneals, straightens, and tests every copper alloy tube in-house. 80,000 sq ft, 60-foot annealing furnace, 100% eddy current. See the full process.
---

100% Made in USA · Hillsboro, TexasISO 9001:2015 certified · [(254) 580-9888](tel:+12545809888)

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Home / Capabilities

# The whole process, under one roof.

Ameritube pilgers, draws, anneals, straightens, and tests every copper alloy tube in one 80,000 square foot building in Hillsboro, Texas, and since 2025 melts and casts C12200 copper here too. This page walks through every step.

[Request a quote](https://ameritube.net/request-a-quote?hsLang=en)

The plant

80ksquare feet of manufacturing and testing floor in Hillsboro, TX

60 ftcontrolled-atmosphere annealing furnace

100%of tube eddy current tested

2011pilger mill and continuous casting development began

## 1. Melt

![Open melting furnace with molten copper at Ameritube](https://ameritube.net/hubfs/new-site/cast/furnace-open.jpg)

Molten copper in the melting furnace. Charge is verified by XRF before it goes in.

![Copper bales staged for the furnace](https://ameritube.net/hubfs/new-site/cast/copper-bales-worker.jpg)![Molten copper close up](https://ameritube.net/hubfs/new-site/cast/melt-closeup.jpg)

Cathode copper and phosphorus are charged and melted to C12200 DHP chemistry. Chemistry is checked before the pour, and the heat number assigned here follows the tube through every step and onto your mill test report. Today the furnace runs C12200. Copper-nickel and brass shells for the other alloys come from qualified mills and enter the process at the pilger.

*New in 2025: C12200 melting and casting moved in-house. C70600 copper-nickel is next.*

## 2. Cast

Cast copper shell drawing out of the continuous casting die, water-cooled as it leaves.

![Continuous casting die at temperature](https://ameritube.net/hubfs/new-site/cast/casting-ring.jpg)![Cast tube emerging from the casting line](https://ameritube.net/hubfs/new-site/cast/cast-tube-emerging.jpg)

The C12200 melt is continuously cast into seamless hollow shells sized for the pilger mill. Casting our own shells means no dependence on outside hollow suppliers for that alloy, and a heat number that starts here. For potable water and federally funded work, that is the "melted in the USA" line item.

## 3. Pilger

![pilger2](https://ameritube.net/hs-fs/hubfs/pilger2.jpg?width=400&height=707&name=pilger2.jpg)![pilger](https://ameritube.net/hs-fs/hubfs/pilger.jpg?width=400&height=225&name=pilger.jpg)

Cold pilger rolling reduces the cast shell's diameter and wall in a single pass while working the grain structure. The pilger mill, installed in 2011, gives us large reductions with excellent wall concentricity, setting up the tube for drawing.

## 4. Draw

![drawing2](https://ameritube.net/hs-fs/hubfs/drawing2.jpg?width=500&height=350&name=drawing2.jpg)

Draw bench. Tungsten carbide dies are polished and maintained in-house.

Multi-pass cold drawing on our draw benches brings the tube to finished OD and wall. On demanding alloys such as admiralty brass we run more than 30% reduction per pass. That is deliberate: a hard draw opens up sub-surface defects that a light draw or a tube-sheet roll would never find, so they get caught here rather than in your exchanger. Tungsten carbide dies are polished and maintained in-house.

## 5. Anneal

## ![annealing furnace](https://ameritube.net/hs-fs/hubfs/annealing%20furnace.jpg?width=650&height=275&name=annealing%20furnace.jpg)

Tube is annealed in our 60-foot controlled-atmosphere furnace to the specified temper: fully annealed (O61), light drawn (H55), or stress relieved between draws. Microstructure and grain size are checked in our lab against SOP-400.

## 6. Straighten, cut, and finish

![copper\_printing\_typeL\_.75](https://ameritube.net/hs-fs/hubfs/copper_printing_typeL_.75.jpeg?width=346&height=750&name=copper_printing_typeL_.75.jpeg)

Straightened, cut to length, ends deburred, and cleaned per SOP-903 so the tube arrives ready to roll or braze. Pointing, swaging, bending, and U-bend fabrication are available.

## 7. Test

![Optical emission spectrometer](https://ameritube.net/hubfs/new-site/cast/spectrometer.jpg)![Mechanical testing bench](https://ameritube.net/hubfs/new-site/cast/lab-bench.jpg)

Spectrometer and mechanical test bench in the Hillsboro lab.

Every tube passes through eddy current inspection. Depending on the specification and your requirements we also perform:

- Hydrostatic testing per SB-111 and MIL-T-16420K
- Air-under-water pneumatic testing
- Ammonia vapor testing for residual stress (SOP-200)
- Ultrasonic testing, in-house and third-party
- Dimensional, hardness, tensile, flare, flatten, and expansion tests
- Microstructure and grain size

NDT is performed by Level II certified operators. Final inspection follows SOP-600, and the results go on the MTR with the chemistry from step one.

## Size range

|  | Range |
| --- | --- |
| Copper alloy tube OD | 3/8" to 2-1/2" |
| Wall | .035" to .156" |
| Copper-nickel pipe, manufactured | 1/4" to 2" IPS |
| Copper-nickel pipe, distributed and certified | 2-1/2" to 8" NPS |
| Lengths | Cut lengths to 48'1" |

## Distribution, backed by the same lab

Carbon, stainless, duplex, and nickel alloy tube is sourced from qualified domestic and international mills, received under SOP-1001, and inspected and released through the same lab and quality system as our own copper. When we distribute it, we can also test it.

### Talk to the mill

**Quote desk**[(254) 580-9888](tel:+12545809888)**Email**[rfq@ameritube.net](mailto:rfq@ameritube.net)**Plant**1000 N State Hwy 77, Hillsboro, TX 76645

[Request a quote](https://ameritube.net/request-a-quote?hsLang=en)

### Downloads

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- [Services overview](https://ameritube.net/hubfs/PDFs/services.pdf?hsLang=en)PDF
- [Hydrostatic testing](https://ameritube.net/hubfs/PDFs/hydro.pdf?hsLang=en)PDF

### Have a spec? Send it.

Alloy, OD, wall, length, quantity. An engineer on the Hillsboro quote desk answers within one business day.

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#### Contact

- Quote desk[(254) 580-9888](tel:+12545809888)
- Email[rfq@ameritube.net](mailto:rfq@ameritube.net)
- Plant1000 N State Hwy 77, Hillsboro, TX 76645

Ameritube.

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