Outokumpu is now taking orders for Sanicro® 35, a cost-competitive alternative to nickel-based Alloy 625 for demanding industrial environments in chemical processing, oil and gas and biorefineries.
Sanicro® 35 provides excellent corrosion resistance to give equipment a long service life in demanding environments. It can withstand a wide range of corrosive conditions, including seawater, acid and alkali, erosion-corrosion, pitting and crevice corrosion and stress corrosion cracking (SCC). In addition, it has high mechanical strength together with excellent formability, weldability and machinability.
These properties make Sanicro® 35 ideal for equipment such as reactors, heat exchangers and processing vessels in direct contact with high temperature seawater applications, sour environments and other corrosive chemicals.
“Sanicro® 35 is a material of the future. We expect it to take a big share of the current market for Alloy 625,” says Marie Louise Falkland, Outokumpu’s Senior Technical Manager. “Its good balance of alloying elements and property profile makes it fill the gap in the market between high-performance stainless steels and nickel-based alloys for the harshest environments. The new material provides excellent properties for many harsh environments at a competitive and stable price.”
Traditionally, engineers have used nickel-based Alloy 625 as the go-to grade for equipment in corrosive environments. However, its price is high and variable due to its alloying content, which includes 58 percent nickel and up to 10 percent molybdenum. Both of these have recently experienced price volatility, making the cost of Alloy 625 unpredictable. In turn, this creates challenges in project planning and delivery.
Sanicro® 35 provides similar performance while reducing exposure to this market volatility as it contains only 35 and 6.4 percent of nickel and molybdenum.
Outokumpu is producing Sanicro® 35 as part of its Ultra range under licence from Alleima, the expert in advanced alloys that was formerly known as Sandvik Materials Technology. Alleima introduced the grade in 2020 and has since delivered seamless tube to the market, e.g. a major order from a refinery on the US Gulf Coast. In this application, Sanicro® 35 was selected for its superior corrosion resistance in a seawater-cooled heat exchanger.
Outokumpu is accepting orders for hot rolled plate up to 50 mm thick and will extend production to cold rolled sheet 0.4 – 5.5 mm thick during 2023. This will complement Alleima’s own production of seamless tube and bar to provide the market with a range of product forms.
“When it comes to mechanical properties, Sanicro® 35 has similar strength as Alloy 625, together with excellent formability, weldability and machinability,” comments Marcus Loren, Head of Product Management for Outokumpu’s Advanced Materials business line. “Our workshop has just completed testing that found the super austenitic alloy is more straightforward to machining processes like milling than Alloy 625. This important when manufacturing assets such as heat exchanger tube plates.”
Sanicro® 35 in the form of sheet, plate, bar, seamless tube and pipe is covered by the ASTM B625 and ASME Code Case 2982, Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section VIII, Division I and II. This creates the opportunity to adopt the grade in pressure vessels.
Sanicro is a trademark owned by Alleima AB