Stainless steel refers to alloyed or unalloyed steels. Stainless steel is often referred to as "non-corrosive steel", although this designation is not entirely correct, as there are also stainless steels that can corrode. The classic stainless steel is durable, robust and corrosion-resistant, noble in appearance, hygienic, mechanically and thermally highly resilient and decorative. Stainless steel has a high thermal conductivity with a high degree of purity.
Krupp developed stainless steels more than 100 years ago. It coined the designations V2A and V4A, which are still used today.
The V2A (Versuchsschmelze (melt tes) 2Austenite) alloy was developed in 1912. However, the high carbon content reduced the corrosion resistance of the material, especially after heat treatment such as welding or hot forming. Today's V2A steels contain significantly less carbon but more nickel and are considered to be rust-resistant. V2A is easy to process and polish. Numerous household objects such as sinks, railings and cutlery are made of it.
We have experience with the processing of V2A materials 1.4301 (X5CrNi18-10), 1.4307 (X2CrNi18-9), 1.4305 (X10CrNiS18-9 and X8CrNiS18-9), which contains sulphur and is therefore easier to turn, and 1.4541 (X6CrNiTi18-10), which is titanium-stabilized and suitable for temperatures above 600°.
The V4A (Versuchsschmelz (melt test) 4austenite) alloy was a further development of V2A stainless steel with an admixture of at least two percent molybdenum. This significantly improved the acid resistance (chlorides) and the stainless steel could be used in swimming pools, salt water and in the chemical industry. Like V2A, it can be easily cold formed, bent, deep-drawn and punched. However, its machinability is very poor, which makes the production of turned and milled parts more expensive.
EXMAR uses the alloy 1.4571 (X6CrNiMoTi17-12-2) for all standard articles, which is characterised by increased corrosion resistance and high strength, even at high temperatures. For use at lower working temperatures, we can offer the more economical 1.4404 (X2CrNiMo17-12-2) for special designs.
|Material||1.4571 (X6CrNiMoTi17-12-2, AISI 316 Ti)|
|Melting point||approx. +1500°C|
|Recommended tubes||Stainless steel tubes and plastic tubes like PVDF, PTFE, PA, etc.|
|Application (selection)||Semiconductors, Off-shore, Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, Biotech|
|Suitable for (medium)||Gases, acid, water, oil even in aggressive environments|