Stainless steel physical properties

The uses of steel are too diverse to be Hsted completely or to serve as a basis of classification. Inasmuch as grades of steel are produced by more than one process, classification by method of manufacture is not advantageous. The most useful classification is by chemical composition into the large groups of carbon steels, alloy steels, and stainless steels. Within these groups are many subdivisions based on chemical composition, physical or mechanical properties, or uses. 

Zirconium is a hard, shiny, ductile metal, similar to stainless steel in appearance. It can be hot-worked to form slabs, rods, and rounds from arc-melted ingot. Further cold-working of zirconium with intermediate annealings produces sheet, foil, bar wire, and tubing. Physical properties are given in Table 3. 

One of the most effective methods of preventing corrosion is the selection of the proper metal or alloy for a particular corrosive service. Once the conditions of service and environment have been determined that the equipment must withstand, there are several materials available commercially that can be selected to perform an effective service in a compatible environment. Some of the major problems arise from popular misconceptions for example, the use of stainless steel. Stainless steel is not stainless and is not the most corrosion-resistant material. Compatibility of material with service environment is therefore essential. For example, in a hydrogen sulfide environment, high-strength alloys (i.e., yield strength above 90,000 psi or Rc 20 to 22) should be avoided. In material selection some factors that are important to consider are material s physical and chemical properties, economics and availability. 

The basic corrosion behaviour of stainless steels is dependent upon the type and quantity of alloying. Chromium is the universally present element but nickel, molybdenum, copper, nitrogen, vanadium, tungsten, titanium and niobium are also used for a variety of reasons. However, all elements can affect metallurgy, and thus mechanical and physical properties, so sometimes desirable corrosion resisting aspects may involve acceptance of less than ideal mechanical properties and vice versa. 

Table 3.15 Physical properties of some stainless steels...

In addition to nickel alloys, nickel also forms an important alloying element in stainless steels and in cast irons, in both of which it confers additional corrosion resistance and improved mechanical and engineering properties, and in Fe-Ni alloys for obtaining controlled physical and magnetic properties (see Chapter 3). With non-ferrous metals nickel also forms important types of alloys, especially with copper, i.e. cupro-nickels and nickel silvers these are dealt with in Section 4.2. 

Loop Tests Loop test installations vary widely in size and complexity, but they may be divided into two major categories (c) thermal-convection loops and (b) forced-convection loops. In both types, the liquid medium flows through a continuous loop or harp mounted vertically, one leg being heated whilst the other is cooled to maintain a constant temperature across the system. In the former type, flow is induced by thermal convection, and the flow rate is dependent on the relative heights of the heated and cooled sections, on the temperature gradient and on the physical properties of the liquid. The principle of the thermal convective loop is illustrated in Fig. 19.26. This method was used by De Van and Sessions to study mass transfer of niobium-based alloys in flowing lithium, and by De Van and Jansen to determine the transport rates of nitrogen and carbon between vanadium alloys and stainless steels in liquid sodium. 

Toluene is continuously nitrated to mononitrotoluene in a cast-iron vessel, 1 m diameter, fitted with a propeller agitator 0.3 m diameter rotating at 2.5 Hz. The temperature is maintained at 310 K by circulating 0.5 kg/s cooling water through a stainless steel coil 25 mm o.d. and 22 mm i.d. wound in the form of a helix, 0.80 m in diameter. The conditions are such that the reacting material may be considered to have the same physical properties as 75 per cent sulphuric acid. If the mean water temperatute is 290 K, what is the overall coefficient of heat transfer ... 

The coating chamber was equipped with a set of independently controlled stainless steel boats and a shutter system to enable the fabrication of multilayer structures. Pure selenium pellets were loaded into one boat and As Sei alloys into another. The two sources were evaporated sequentially (without breaking the vacuum) at boat temperatures of about 450 K. Typical coating rates were l j,m/min. After evaporation, they were allowed to anneal over several weeks in the dark at room temperature. During this period, due to structural bulk relaxation, most physical properties of the photoconductor film become stabilized. The compositions of the deposited films were determined by electron probe microanalysis, and the compositions quoted (0 < X < 0.20) are accurate to within 0.5 at.%. By shuttering the beginning and the end of the evaporation, a uniform arsenic composition across the film thickness can be obtained. In all experiments, a transparent gold electrode ( 300 jm thick) was used as the top contact. 

A fermentation broth contained in a batch-operated stirred-tank fermentor, 2.4m in inside diameter D, is equipped with a paddle-type stirrer of diameter (L) of 0.8 m that rotates at a speed Af = 4s -. The broth temperature is maintained at 30 °C with cooling water at 15°C, which flows through a stainless steel helical coil that has a 50 mm outside diameter and is 5 mm thick. The maximum rate of heat evolution by biochemical reactions, plus dissipation of mechanical energy input by the stirrer, is 51000 kcal h , although the rate varies with time. The physical properties of the broth at 30 °C were density p = 1000 kg m " , viscosity p = 0.013 Pa s, specific heat Cp = 0.90 kcal kg °C , and thermal conductivity K = 0.49 kcal h m °C = 0.000136 kcals m °C . ... 

Physical Properties. Hafnium is a hard, heavy, somewhat ductile metal having an appearance slightly darker than that of stainless steel. The color of hafnium sponge metal is a dull powder gray. Physical properties of hafnium are summarized in Table 1. These data are for commercially pure hafnium which may contain from 0.2 to 3% zirconium. Although a number of radioactive isotopes have been artificially produced, naturally occurring hafnium consists of six stable isotopes (Table 2). Hafnium crystallizes in a body-centered cubic system which transforms to a hexagonal close-packed system below 2033 K. 

Reference G7 provides an excellent coverage of the materials of construction used in nitric acid manufacture and storage. Reference G8 is a Firth-Vickers catalogue, used to obtain the physical properties and corrosion resistance data for stainless steel 304L. 

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