Duplex Stainless Steel Composition: History
Duplex stainless steel may account for a big share in the production of stainless steel nowadays, but this isn’t the case two decades ago. Although orders accounting for thousands of metric tons of the said steel have been made by industrial plants in the 80s, it wasn’t until the 90s that the demand surged.
Conferences have played a huge role in creating a buzz around duplex steel. It was during the Beaune ‘91 Conference in France that the humble steel had become widely appreciated for its scientific qualities and market applications. It was also during the conference that new grades of duplex steel like the super duplex (PREN > 36) and hyper duplex (PREN > 40) were presented, as well as the standard 2205 grades with increased nitrogen and molybdenum content. Since then, the market share of duplex steel production had grown from a mere one percent to over 100%.
Duplex Stainless Steel Composition: Developments
Similar conferences such held in New York in 1994, Maestricht in 1997, and Venice in 2000, had also contributed in helping duplex steel reach a wider audience. A bigger emphasis was made on the cost-effectiveness of working with duplex steel for both fabricators and end-users. New codes for new duplex grades were also announced during the conferences.
Studies conducted by French researchers at FGD (flue gas desulphurization) plants have also shown promising results regarding the mechanical properties of higher grades of duplex steel against super austenitic steel. The super duplex grade 32520, which has increased chromium and molybdenum in content and some copper additives, proved to be very resilient against corrosion, high temperature than the super austenitic grade 08926.
Duplex Stainless Steel Composition: Forecasts
Industry experts see a movement in the growth of duplex steel production from Europe, where majority of orders for duplex steel were made, to Asia. As a matter of fact, China has already made use of over one million tons of new duplex grades and this is expected to increase because of the rapid industrialization in the next few years.