SUPER DUPLEX STAINLESS-STEELS

This paper presents an overview of duplex stainless steels (DSS) with particular emphasis on super DSS, i.e. steels containing sufficient amounts of chromium, molybdenum, and nitrogen to produce a pitting resistance equivalent greater than 40. Duplex stainless steels have an attractive combination of mechanical and corrosion properties and are thus suitable for many marine and petrochemical applications, particularly where chlorides are present. The paper covers the following aspects of DSS: physical metallurgy, mechanical properties, corrosion properties, metallurgy of welding, machinability, and applications. A large number of references to the literature are given to aid the reader who is interested in acquiring a deeper understanding of the behaviour of this family of steels.