Today most industrial plants especially in the oil and gas, offshore, sea water desalination, power generation industries work in very critical operating conditions and require more and more the use of special alloys resistant to corrosion and high temperatures.
How to distinguish pipe material
Steel is steel carbon content between 0.04% -2.3% of the iron-carbon alloys. In order to ensure its toughness and ductility, the carbon content of not more than 1.7%. The main elements of the steel in addition to iron, carbon, there are silicon, manganese, sulfur, and phosphorus.
Our highly-skilled manpower is dedicated to producing the finest quality steel pipe, pipe fittings, meeting a wide variety of material specifications. Their knowledge and experience of metal properties, welding procedures and quality control have set the pace and standard expected by our customers world-wide.
The primary raw material in pipe production is steel. Steel is made up of primarily iron. Other metals that may be present in the alloy include aluminum, manganese, titanium, tungsten, vanadium, and zirconium. Some finishing materials are sometimes used during production. For example, paint may be used if the pipe is coated. Typically, a light amount of oil is applied to steel pipes at the end of the production line. This helps protect the pipe. While it is not actually a part of the finished product, sulfuric acid is used in one manufacturing step to clean the pipe.
Steel can be categorized into four basic groups based on the chemical compositions:
What Is Abrasion Resistant Steel
Some abrasion is intentional, such as sanding, grinding, and blasting. However, unintentional abrasion can lead to component failure so it is important to use the proper materials to ensure that surface wear does not lead to unanticipated breakdown of structures or parts. While steel in general has excellent resistance to abrasion, not all steels are equal.
How Does It Work?
The chemical composition of abrasion resistant steel is one of the attributes that make it more immune to wear than other types of steel. There are several alloys that can be used increase the abrasion resistance. Carbon helps block dislocations, which increases the hardness and strength of a steel. The added carbon also allows the steel to form microstructures with increased hardness when heated and quenched. There are other elements that can be added to abrasion resistant steel to increase its hardness value too. Chromium and manganese are also added to abrasion resistant steels to help reduce the negative effects caused by wear.
Heat treatment is another factor that helps the steel resist abrasion. Abrasion resistant steel must have a microstructure that allows it to have a high hardness. This is accomplished, in part, by adding the proper alloying elements. However, this alone is not enough to ensure the proper microstructure is formed. The steel must also undergo a heating and a rapid quenching process to form microstructures such as martensite and bainite which gives the steel the required high hardness values. Care must be taken when welding or heating abrasion resistant steels. If they are heated to a high enough temperature, it may have an annealing effect on the steel, causing it to lose some of its hardness and, therefore, its abrasion resistance.
What Types of Abrasion resistant pipes Are Available?
There are several different abrasion resistant steel grades. Each grade is typically made to a specific Brinell hardness value, as opposed to other steels that are made with tensile strength and toughness in mind. This is because hardness is one of the most important factors when trying to increase abrasion resistance.
What is SHS?
Self-propagating high temperature synthesis (SHS) is used to describe a process in which the initial reagents (usually powders), when ignited, spontaneously transform into products due to the exothermitic heat of reaction.
A well-known example of SHS reaction is the thermite reaction given below:
Fe2O3 + Al → 2Fe + Al2O3
This reaction generates temperatures above the melting point of alumina and is used in the thermit welding process for joining railway lines.
Several other terminologies - such as combustion synthesis, gasless combustion or self-propagating exothermic reaction - are used to describe the process.
The types of material that can be formed using this process include metal borides, silicides, carbides, nitrides, sulphides, aluminides and oxides.
How different alloys change steel's properties?
Architects and manufacturers have used steel for hundreds of years because of its strength and durability. And until recently, any steel would work for these creators’ needs. Their steel didn’t have to withstand the high temperatures and pressures that steel endures today. These modern demands make steel alloys necessary in nearly all industries and applications.
Steel alloys have different properties than steel alone. They still have steel’s strength and durability, but in some cases they multiply it, and other some cases they add new properties altogether. You can find a more thorough breakdown of different alloys’ properties below.
1. Steel-Aluminum Alloys
Aluminum deoxidizes and degasifies steel, which controls the steel’s grain size and makes it finer. When used in conjunction with nitrogen, aluminum can turn steel into a uniformly hard casing. Aluminum helps steel form more slowly, which means you can make aluminum-steel alloys into more intricate parts. It also makes steel lighter.
2. Steel-Carbon Alloys
Carbon raises steel’s tensile strength, making it harder, less ductile, tougher, and more resistant to wear and tear. Depending on how much carbon the manufacturer adds, the steel could have varying degrees of strength and hardness.
3. Steel-Chromium Alloys
Chromium, also called chrome, represents the second primary ingredient in stainless steel. When you add chromium to steel, it boosts steel’s performance in several ways. On the one hand, it makes it harder and tougher. It also makes the steel’s grain finer and makes it resistant to scratching, staining, rusting, and denting. It also hold steel’s shape at higher temperatures and gives it a distinctive silvery gloss.
4. Steel-Cobalt Alloys
You probably know that metal tends to become more malleable at higher temperatures. This can prove disastrous or even dangerous in certain circumstances, like manufacturing. Luckily, manufacturers can turn to steel-cobalt alloys for a safe solution. Cobalt reinforces steel’s strength, and it maintains that strength at high temperatures. This makes it ideal for use in cutting tools.
When combined with nickel and aluminum, steel-cobalt alloys also create powerful alnico magnets.
5. Steel-Copper Alloys
You don’t usually find steel alloys with copper deliberately added, but when manufacturers do add it, it creates precipitation hardening properties.
6. Steel-Lead Alloys
Lead improves steel’s machining characteristics. It reduces friction where working edges contact each other, and it improves chip breaking formations.
7. Steel-Manganese Alloys
If you want particularly powerful steel, you opt for steel-manganese alloys. By itself, manganese has brittle, but extremely strong properties. It cools slowly, and once it cools, it proves quite difficult to cut.
Wear also makes the surface even harder. So if you need to cast ore crushers or railways crossings, opt for manganese steel.
8. Steel-Molybdenum Alloys
Molybdenum, like manganese, cobalt, and chromium, also improves steel’s strength. It adds hardness, and it enables steel to withstand higher temperatures and more forceful shocks. It also gives steel the added benefit of creep resistance. You’ll often find this alloy in automobile parts and high grade machinery.
When used in conjunction with other alloy materials, it intensifies their effects.
9. Steel-Nickel Alloys
Nickel functions similarly to manganese when alloyed with steel. It increases the material’s strength and hardness, but doesn’t make it less ductile. Nickel helps steel resist rust, and it gives steel more elasticity. This means that when forces hit it, it can bounce back into its original shape. When used with chromium, it allows stainless steel to resist corroding at high temperatures.
10. Steel-Nitrogen Alloys
Nitrogen boosts steel’s stability and yield strength. This makes the alloy less breakable as a whole.
11. Steel-Phosphorus Alloys
By itself, phosphorous simply improves steel’s strength and resistance to corrosion. However, it can also make steel more susceptible to cracking, so manufacturers typically use it in conjunction with manganese and sulfur. We’ll sulfur’s strengths more below.
12. Steel-Silicon Alloys
Like aluminum, silicon deoxidizes steel, which makes it stronger overall. It also increases steel’s magnetic permeability.
13. Steel-Sulfur Alloys
When you pair steel and sulfur, the resulting material has little weldability and ductility. It also has less impact toughness, so it’ll crack with sufficient force. It does have improved machinability though, and when you use it with manganese, it loses all of its disadvantages.
14. Steel-Titanium Alloys
Titanium has a reputation as a tough metal by itself. When you combine it with steel, another tough metal, you create something even stronger. Manufacturers usually inject carbon into the reaction when they create titanium steel, and the resulting metal has incredible strength and corrosion resistance.
15. Steel-Tungsten Alloys
Like chromium and cobalt, tungsten maintains steel’s strength at high temperatures. It also improves the material’s strength overall. The material not only stays hard, but it isn’t brittle either. Its toughness prevents it from breaking after enduring powerful forces.
16. Steel-Vanadium Alloys
Vanadium by itself has brittle properties, but when you combine it with steel, the resulting material doesn’t have this weakness. You end up with a fine-grained steel that can resist great shocks, so you’ll often find it in vehicle springs, gears, and other parts that vibrate constantly.
Now that you know a little more about steel alloys, you know what alloyed elements to look for the next time you need steel in an application. Call your local manufacturer to get the steel alloy you need for your next project.
Some known facts about stainless steel
Stainless steel has been around for a long time. Numerous industries have used stainless steel to construct skyscrapers, memorials, and even kitchen utensils since the 1990s.
You’re probably surrounded by stainless steel objects, such as saucepans, handrails, pen springs, or watches. And you probably use stainless steel every day at work if you use shipping containers, exhaust systems, cable trays, or process piping.
But have you ever stopped to think about what makes stainless steel so unique? Here are some little-known facts about stainless steel—it may surprise you just how versatile stainless steel can be.
1. Some Stainless Steel Can Be Magnetic
Stainless steel is a non-magnetic material, in most cases. However, this is not true for all types of stainless steel. Stainless steel’s magnetic properties depend on its microstructure.
Stainless steel can be divided into five groups:
- Austenitic
- Martensitic
- Ferritic
- Duplex
- Precipitation Hardening
Each type features a different combination of metal alloys. For example, austenitic stainless steel has a combination of 18% chromium and 10% nickel. This combination makes austenitic stainless steel non-magnetic.
Martensitic stainless steels contain 12-15% chromium, as well as 0.2-1% molybdenum. Martensitic stainless steel also contains no nickel, and 0.1-1% carbon. This particular combination is ferromagnetic. Its magnetic properties depend on the strength of the applied magnetizing field. Martensitic stainless steel will exhibit permanent magnetic properties if it becomes magnetized during its hardening process.
Ferritic stainless steels contain between 10.5% and 27% chromium and little to no nickel. Like martensitic stainless steel, ferritic stainless steel is ferromagnetic. However, ferritic stainless steel’s magnetic behavior isn’t as strong as martensitic stainless steel’s.
2. Stainless Steel Can Stain
Stainless steel comes from a family of materials that resist corrosion and oxidation. This gives it the ability to resist rust and unsightly blotches. When exposed to oxygen and moisture, stainless steel produces a thin oxide film that coats the metal. It essentially repairs itself.
Yet despite its name and resistant nature, stainless isn’t impossible to stain. The protective film will break down over time, leading to pitting and corrosion.
To maintain stainless steel, you must regularly clean its surface and ensure the steel has an adequate supply of oxygen.
3. Stainless Steel Is Recyclable
Steel is one of the most recycled materials on the planet. According to the American Iron and Steel Institute, approximately 88% of the world’s steel is recycled. Further, two out of three tons of new steel come from old steel.
The steel industry also recycles steel byproducts, including mill scale, steelmaking slags, and processing liquids. Steelmaking dust and sludge can also be recovered and reused to make other metals, like zinc.
4. Stainless Steel Can Be Made into “Soap”
Many reputable manufacturers produce stainless steel soap, which is essentially a piece of stainless steel in the shape of a soap bar.
While stainless steel soap does not kill germs or other bacteria like regular soap would, stainless steel soap can neutralize strong odors on the hands. Simply rub the bar on your hands after handling garlic, onion, or fish. The smell should disappear.
Why does stainless steel have this unique property? Some researchers hypothesize that the stainless steel binds to sulfur compounds in various substances, which reduces odors.
5. Stainless Steel Expands and Contracts
Stainless steel is valuable in the nuclear power and aerospace industries because it has a high temperature oxidation resistance. While it has a much higher resistance than many other metals, stainless steel still expands and contracts when the temperature varies.
Because of this, construction industries have to account for thermal expansion when creating a steel frame for a building. The Eiffel Tower, for example, is approximately 984 feet tall (not including the antenna) during the summer. But on cold days, the metal tower is approximately 6 inches shorter.
6. Stainless Steel Can Be Woven and Worn
Stainless steel is incredibly ductile, which means it can be drawn out into a thin wire without losing its toughness. Many stainless steel manufacturers produce stainless steel mesh that is fine enough and pliable enough to wear.
Stainless steel clothing is thermal and radiation resistant, so it is often used in the electrical and textiles industries.
Stainless steel thread is a key component in the tech industry and is often used in touchscreen gloves. Capacitive touchscreens can detect the presence of an electrically conductive object (such as a finger). Stainless steel gloves conduct electricity in a way that mimics a finger’s electrical current.
Additionally, some manufacturers weave stainless steel fibers into carpet. The stainless steel prevents the buildup of static electricity, reducing the likelihood of static electric shock.
Because stainless steel’s unique properties have applications in a variety of situations, this metal alloy has the ability to make your life easier. Take the time to appreciate what stainless steel can do for you, and be sure to ask a stainless steel distributor for additional information.
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