Acid Proof Stainless Steel

[steris]

I have been trying to find out information regarding acid proof stainless steel, specifically 316L. The web is abound with suppliers but scant on specific information. Does anyone here know what it is and can you explain how it is different than normal 316L. As near as I can tell, the metal has merely been pickled; but, I don't have much faith in my findings. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Best,
Steris

 

[ash9144]

There is no such thing. May be pickled or coated but these will wear out over time.
Also acids are all different with different corrosion mechanisms. Such a general statement as generic acid proof is impossible. Even the corrosion varies greatly over a range of compositions. 5% sulfuric will quickly dissolve 316L while 98% is fine with carbon steel and proper inspections.

 

[EdStainless]

In some acids you get much better life with very clean steels. There are Nitric Acid Grades of 310 made that have low C, S, P, N and a few others.
These tricks can't change the corrosion resistance much, but in some cases it is enough.

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Plymouth Tube

 

[steris]

Thank you for the responses. So when companies make claims as illustrated in

http://www.pahlen.com/images/varme/PB45-03E.pdf

do you think that this is just hogwash?

 

[gr2vessels]

steris,
You should know that there is no stainless steel imune to acid attack, there is only degree of resistance to corrosion. Please visit the Outocumpu website and download their free Corrosion handbook, it should be "The" technical book on everyones bookshelf.
cheers,
gr2vessels

 

[strider6]

as someone else said there is not such thing as a "acid prof" materials. Even the higher alloyed materials, ni alloys, will fail under specific condition of temperature concentrations...
There are a lot of good info on the web on materials resistance

Outokumpu (clik on corrosion handbook)

http://www.outokumpu.com/applications/documents/start.asp

i've also gathered from the web some free info on materials resistance:
[link

http://www.corrosionist.com/isocorrosion_curves.htm

] corrosion resistance data [/url]

S

Corrosion Prevention & Corrosion Control

 

[TVP]

Part of the issue is due to translating foreign languages into English: I have seen "acid-proof" or "acid-resistant" used by non-native English speakers to describe stainless steel alloys. Bulten Stainless is a Swedish company that is a world leader in stainless steel fastener manufacturing and they use the term "acid-proof", so it is not necessarily hogwash, although most of us here would prefer a different description to be used.

 

[steris]

Hi TVP -

Thank you for that answer!! That was one of my suspicions and it fully explains almost everything. Thanks to everyone else that responded as well. I really appreciate and respect everyone's help!

Best,
Steris

 

[TVP]

Just to provide some evidence, the following two links show European websites where acid-proof or acid-resistant are used as descriptors:

http://www.edelstahl-witten-krefeld.de/index.php?id=1299&L=1

http://www.bufab-stainless.se/eng/index.htm