This article reviews the properties of cast steels that are specified for liquid corrosion service at temperatures above and below 650 deg C. Stainless steel castings are usually classified based on their resistance to corrosion and heat and generally fall into one category or the other. The article describes alternate methods for classifying cast stainless steels, one is based on grade designations, the other on microstructural analysis. It also addresses heat treatment, pointing out its similarities with the thermal processing of wrought materials, and establishes the importance of mechanical properties in material selection. The article presents information on the selection process and provides a detailed list of heat-resistant cast steels and alloys. It also includes key manufacturing characteristics to aid in foundry and welding-related decisions.

This article discusses two categories of stainless steel casting alloys and their nomenclature. It provides information on two situations in which welding of stainless steel castings is required. These situations are based on casting defects and selection of welding processes. The article presents compositions and typical microstructures of corrosion-resistant stainless steel casting alloys in tabular form. It presents special considerations for the welding of martensitic stainless steel castings. The article reviews the two most serious problems encountered in the welding of stainless steel castings, namely, solidification hot cracking and heat-affected zone hot cracking. It concludes with a discussion on the some useful considerations for welding corrosion-resistant alloys to avoid defects.

Cast stainless steels are widely used for their corrosion resistance in aqueous media at or near room temperature and for service in hot gases and liquids at elevated temperatures. This article provides a comparison between cast and wrought stainless steels in terms of composition, microstructure and properties. It discusses the grade designations and compositions of cast stainless steels. The article describes the mechanical properties, applications, and corrosion characteristics of corrosion-resistant steel castings and heat-resistant steel castings.

Cast stainless steels are usually specified on the basis of composition by using the alloy designation system established by the Alloy Casting Institute. This article discusses the corrosion behavior of heat-resistant alloys due to oxidation, sulfidation, and carburization. It describes the influence of the metallurgy of corrosion-resistant stainless steels on general corrosion, intergranular corrosion, localized corrosion, corrosion fatigue, and stress corrosion.

Proper sectioning of the surface to be examined is a very important step in preparing steel specimens. The first step in preventing damage to the metallurgical structure is to minimize the amount of sectioning that is done. This article discusses the various metallographic techniques, namely mounting, grinding, polishing, and etching involved in the microstructural analysis of carbon and alloy steels, case hardening steels, cast iron, ferrous powder metallurgy alloys, wrought and cast stainless steels, tool materials, steel castings, iron-chromium-nickel heat-resistant casting alloys and different product forms of steels.

Stainless steels are widely used at elevated temperatures when carbon and low-alloy steels do not provide adequate corrosion resistance and/or sufficient strength at these temperatures. This article deals with the wrought stainless steels used for high temperature applications. It gives some typical compositions of wrought heat-resistant stainless steels, which are grouped into ferritic, martensitic, austenitic, and precipitation-hardening (PH) grades. Quenched and tempered martensitic stainless steels are essentially martensitic and harden when air cooled from the austenitizing temperature. These alloys offer good combinations of mechanical properties. The article focuses on mechanical property considerations and corrosion resistance considerations of stainless steels. The corrosion and oxidation resistance of wrought stainless steels is similar to that of cast stainless steels with comparable compositions.

This article discusses factors that influence the effect of alloying, metallurgical treatments, and mechanical treatments on the corrosion resistance of metallic materials, with schematic illustrations.

Stainless steel alloys have many unique failure mechanisms, including environmentally assisted cracking, cracking associated with welding, and secondary phase embrittlement. This article describes these failure mechanisms and the fracture modes associated with the different categories of stainless steel. These mechanisms and modes are grouped together because of their similarities across the categories.

This article provides information on the process details that differ from general water atomization of metals as they relate to basic and engineering properties that are specific to stainless steel powders. The discussion focuses on the compacting-grade stainless steel powders. The process details include raw materials, melting method, and control of physical and chemical powder characteristics. The article describes the gas atomization of stainless steel powders and processes that are done after water atomization: drying, screening, annealing, and lubricating. It also discusses the two types of quality assurance testing measures for powder metallurgy stainless steels: tests for powder contamination and tests of chemical and physical properties.

This article describes the selection of materials for the production and handling equipment of concentrated sulfuric acid, depending on factors such as the allowable corrosion rate, desired mechanical and physical properties, fabrication requirements, availability, and cost. Materials such as carbon steel, cast irons, austenitic stainless steels, higher austenitic stainless steels, higher chromium Fe-Ni-Mo alloys, nickel-base alloys, non-metals, and specific other metals and alloys are also discussed.

This article discusses the mechanical properties of carbon steels, low-alloy steels, wear-resistant steels, corrosion-resistant steels, heat-resistant steels, and common alloys at both room and elevated temperature. It also provides information on the corrosion-resistant and heat-resistant applications of the common alloys.