Stainless Steel

• Stainless steel are selected as engineering materials mainly because of their excellent corrosion
resistance in many environments. The corrosion resistance of stainless steel is due to their chromium
contents.

• In order to make a stainless steel “stainless” there must be at least 12% chromium in the steel.
Chromium forms a surface oxide that protects the underlying iron-chromium alloy from corroding. To
produce the protective oxide, the stainless steel must be exposed to oxidizing agents.

• It is the addition of a minimum of 12% chromium to the steel that makes it resist rust, or stain 'less'
than other types of steel. The chromium in the steel combines with oxygen in the atmosphere to form
a thin, invisible layer of chrome-containing oxide, called the passive film.

• The sizes of chromium atoms and their oxides are similar, so they pack neatly together on the
surface of the metal, forming a stable layer only a few atoms thick. If the metal is cut or scratched and
the passive film is disrupted, more oxide will quickly form and recover the exposed surface, protecting
it from oxidative corrosion. (Iron, on the other hand, rusts quickly because atomic iron is much smaller
than its oxide, so the oxide forms a loose rather than tightly-packed layer and flakes away.)

•The passive film requires oxygen to self-repair, so stainless steels have poor corrosion resistance in
low-oxygen and poor circulation environments. In seawater, chlorides from the salt will attack and
destroy the passive film more quickly than it can be repaired in a low oxygen environment.
 Stainless Steel
Ferritic Stainless Steel :
• Ferritic Stainless steels are essentially iron-chromium binary alloys
containing about 13 to 30% Cr. They are called ferritic because their structure
remains mostly ferritic ( BCC, Alpha iron) at normal heat treatment conditions.
Chromium, since it has the same BCC crystal structure as alpha ferrite, extends the
alpha phase region and suppresses the gamma phase region.

• Ferritic stainless steels, since they contain more than 12% Cr, do not
undergo the FCC to BCC transformation and cool from high temperatures as solid
solutions of chromium in alpha iron.

• Ferritic stainless steels are relatively low in cost since they do not
contain nickel. They are used mainly as general construction materials in which
their special corrosion and heat resistance is required.

• The presence of carbides in the steel reduces it corrosion resistance to

some extent. New ferritics have been recently developed with very low carbon and
nitrogen levels and have much improved corrosion resistance.
 Stainless Steel
Ferritic Stainless Steel :
• Low in carbon content, but generally higher in chromium than
martensitic grades, these steels are not hardened by heat treatment and are only
moderately hardened by cold working.

• They are magnetic and can be cold worked or hot worked, but they
develop their maximum softness, ductility and corrosion resistance in the annealed
condition.

• In the annealed condition, the strength of these steels is

approximately 50% higher than that of carbon steels, and they are superior to the
martensitic stainless steels in corrosion resistance and machinibility.

• Since the ferritic steels may be cold formed easily , they are used
extensively for deep drawn parts such as vessels for chemical and food industries
and for architectural and automotive trim.
 Stainless Steel
Ferritic Stainless Steel :
• The only heat treatment applied to truly ferritic steel is annealing.
This treatment serves primarily to relieve welding and cold working stresses.

• Prolonged exposure to, or slow cooling within the temperature

range from about 750-950° F can normally impart brittleness to ferritic grades
stainless steel.
 Stainless Steel
Martensitic Stainless Steel:
• Martensitic stainless steels are essentially Fe-Cr alloys containing 12
to 17% Cr with sufficient carbon ( 0.15 to 1%C) so that a martensitic structure can
be produced by quenching from the austenitic phase region. These alloys are called
martensitic because they are capable of developing a martensitic structure after an
austenitizing and quenching heat treatments.

• Since the composition of martensitic stainless steels is adjusted to

optimize strength and hardness, the corrosion resistance of these steels is relatively
poor compared to ferritic and austenitic types.

• Heat Treatment of martensitic stainless steels for increased strength

and toughness is basically the same as that for plain carbon and low alloy steels.
That is, the alloy is autenized, cooled fast enough to produce a martensitic
structure, and then tempered to relieve stresses and increase toughness.
 Stainless Steel
Martensitic Stainless Steel:
• They are magnetic, can be cold worked without difficulty, especially
with low carbon content, can be machined satisfactorily, have good toughness,
show good corrosion resistance to weather and to some chemicals, and are easily
hot worked.

• Tempering of steels in this group should not be done in the range of

750-950°F because of drop in impact properties. Tempering is usually done above
1100F. The higher tempering temperature will cause some precipitation of carbides
with a subsequent reduction in corrosion resistance. However, with the carbon
content on the low side of the range, the lowering of corrosion resistance is not too
severe.

• Stainless steel as a group are much more difficult to machine than plain
carbon steels. Use of small amount of sulphur in 416 type and selenium in 416Se
type improves the machinibility considerably. The use of selenium has less effect in
reducing the corrosion resistance than sulphur.
 Stainless Steel
Martensitic Stainless Steel:
• 410 type martensitic stainless steel with 12% Cr is a lower strength
martensitic stainless steel and is a general purpose heat treatable type used for
applications such as machine parts, pump shafts, bolts and bushings.

• When the carbon content of Fe-Cr alloys is increased upto about 1%C ,
the alpha loop is enlarged. Consequently Fe-Cr alloys with about 1% C can contain
about 16% Cr and still be able to produce a martensitic structure upon austenitizing
and quenching.

• Type 440C martensitic stainless steel with 16%Cr and 1% C has the
highest hardness of any corrosion resisting steel. Its high hardness is due to a hard
martensitic matrix and to the presence of a large concentration of primary carbides.
 Stainless Steel
Austenitic Stainless Steel:
• Austenitic stainless steels are essentially Fe-Cr-Ni ternary alloys
containing about 16 to 25 % Cr and 7 to 20% Ni. These alloys are called austenitic
since their structure remains austenitic ( FCC, gamma iron type) at all normal heat
treating temperatures. Presence of Ni which has FCC crystal structure enables the
FCC structure to be retained at room temperature. The high formability of the
austenitic stainless steels is due to their FCC crystal structure.

• Austenitic stainless steels normally have better corrosion resistance

than ferritic and martensitic stainless steels because the carbides can be retained in
solid solution by rapid cooling from high temperatures. However, if these alloys are
to be welded or slowly cooled from high temperatures through the 870 to 600C
range, they can become susceptible to intergrannular corrosion, because chromium
containing carbides precipitate at grain boundaries.

•This difficulty can be reduced to some degree either by lowering the maximum
carbon content in the alloy to about 0.03%C (304L type) or by adding an alloying
element such as columbium or niobium to combine with the carbon in the alloy.
 Stainless Steel
Austenitic Stainless Steel:
• These are Cr-Ni (type 3xx) and Cr-Ni-Mn stainless steels ( type 2xx).
They are essentially non magnetic in the annealed condition, and do not harden by
heat treatment. They can be hot worked readily and can be cold worked. Cold
working develops wide range of mechanical properties, and the steel in this
condition may become slightly magnetic.

• They are extremely shock resistant and difficult to machine unless

they contain sulfur and selenium. These steels have the best high temperature
strength and resistance to scaling of the stainless steel.

• In some austenitic steels, a carbide other than chromium carbide

(tantalum or columbium carbide) precipitates, thus chromium is retained in solid
solution and the alloy maintains its corrosion resistance.
No carbide visible in microstructure
 Stainless Steel
Duplex Stainless Steel:
• Duplex stainless steels are called “duplex” because they have a two-
phase microstructure consisting of grains of ferritic and austenitic stainless steel. 
The picture shows the yellow austenitic phase as “islands” surrounded by the blue
ferritic phase.  When duplex stainless steel is melted it solidifies from the liquid
phase to a completely ferritic structure.  As the material cools to room
temperature, about half of the ferritic grains transform to austenitic grains
(“islands”).  The result is a microstructure of roughly 50% austenite and 50% ferrite.
 Stainless Steel
Duplex Stainless Steel:
The duplex structure gives this family of stainless steels a combination
of attractive properties:

Strength:  Duplex stainless steels are about twice as strong as regular austenitic or
ferritic stainless steels.

Toughness and ductility:  Duplex stainless steels have significantly better toughness
and ductility than ferritic grades; however, they do not reach the excellent values of
austenitic grades.

Corrosion resistance:  As with all stainless steels, corrosion resistance depends

mostly on the composition of the stainless steel.  For chloride pitting and crevice
corrosion resistance, their chromium, molybdenum and nitrogen content are most
important.  Duplex stainless steel grades have a range of corrosion resistance,
similar to the range for austenitic stainless steels, i.e from Type 304 or 316 (e.g. LDX
2101©) to 6% molybdenum (e.g. SAF 2507©) stainless steels.
 Stainless Steel
Duplex Stainless Steel:
Stress corrosion cracking resistance: Duplex stainless steels show
very good stress corrosion cracking (SCC) resistance, a property they have
“inherited” from the ferritic side.  SCC can be a problem under certain
circumstances (chlorides, humidity, elevated temperature) for standard austenitics
such as Types 304 and 316.

Cost: Duplex stainless steels have lower nickel and molybdenum contents than their
austenitic counterparts of similar corrosion resistance.  Due to the lower alloying
content, duplex stainless steels can be lower in cost, especially in times of high alloy
surcharges.  Additionally, it may often be possible to reduce the section thickness of
duplex stainless steel, due to its increased yield strength compared to austenitic
stainless steel.  The combination can lead to significant cost and weight savings
compared to a solution in austenitic stainless steels.
• Duplex stainless steels are a family of stainless steels. These are called duplex
(or austenitic-ferritic) grades because their metallurgical structure consists of
two phases, austenite (face-centered cubic lattice) and ferrite (body centered
cubic lattice) in roughly equal proportions.
• They are designed to provide better corrosion resistance, particularly chloride
stress corrosion and chloride pitting corrosion, and higher strength than
standard austenitic stainless steels such as Type 304 or 316.
• The main differences in composition, when compared with an austenitic
stainless steel is that the duplex steels have a higher chromium content, 20 -
28%; higher molybdenum, up to 5%; lower nickel, up to 9% and 0.05 - 0.5%
nitrogen.
• Both the low nickel content and the high strength (enabling thinner sections
to be used) give significant cost benefits. They are therefore used extensively
in the offshore oil and gas industry for pipework systems, manifolds, risers, etc
and in the petrochemical industry in the form of pipelines and pressure
vessels.
• In addition to the improved corrosion resistance compared with the 300
series stainless steels duplex steels also have higher strength.