Technische und wirtschaftliche Alternativen zu den klassischen nichtrostenden, austenitischen Stählen unter atmosphärischen Einsatzbedingungen

Technical and economical alternatives to the classical austenitic stainless steels under atmospheric conditions.

The systematic laboratory and field exposure tests allow to compare seven different stainless steels among each other and also regarding two standard austenitic materials (1.4301, 1.4401) with respect to various applications. Parallel investigations with five different surface finishes of the respective materials enable to consider also industry-specific features of the surface finish. The influence of the surface finish can mainly be seen in the results of the exposure tests in critical atmospheres and less in the electrochemical investigations.
The three duplex stainless steels showed under most of the test conditions excellent corrosion resistance. Especially for applications in civil engineering the lean duplex steels offer clear advantages. The manganese alloyed 1.4376 and the ferritic steel 1.4509 are only limited suitable as alternatives as these materials showed significant weaknesses in some of the tests.