Stainless Steel Extrusions and Castings
Nickel alloys, stainless steel castings, and stainless steel extrusions are used to produce many different industrial parts and products. These parts and products are used by a variety of industries including:
- Oil
- Mining
- Valve & Pump
- Manufacturing equipment
- Material Handling
- And more
Stainless Steel Corrosive Applications
Stainless steel parts, regardless of whether they’re castings, forgings, or extrusions, offer material characteristics that are required for high strength and corrosive applications.
Corrosive applications use many stainless steel castings in the finished condition that weigh anywhere from one pound to thousands of pounds. Some of these applications include:
- Equipment parts
- Elevator
- Architectural parts & products
- Petrochemical parts
- Material Handling equipment
- And more
Stainless Steel Castings
Most stainless steel castings are produced by sand casting, while investment casting is used to provide better surface finish and dimensional accuracy. Marine parts are sometimes created from investment casting and supplied with a high polished surface condition.
Stainless steel extrusions could be used in many industries but are very difficult to produce. In most cases, this is due to the larger minimum order quantity requirements and high tooling costs. Many company’s product needs do not meet these required minimums.
Stainless Steel Passivation
Parts and components machined from stainless steels must be passivated to maximize their essential corrosion resistance. Good passivation practices can make the difference between satisfactory performance and premature failure. Poor passivation has the ability to cause corrosion.
Clean, freshly machined, polished, or pickled stainless steel parts automatically acquire protective passivation coating film from exposure to oxygen in the atmosphere. Under the best conditions, this oxide film covers all part surfaces.
The need for passivation arises when parts are fabricated, either by cold forming or machining. Contaminants such as shop dirt or iron particles from cutting tools may be transferred to the surface of the stainless steel parts during fabrication. These foreign particles can reduce the effectiveness of the original protective film. If they are not removed, corrosive attack may begin.
Under certain conditions, rust spots may appear on machined parts. This is due to the corrosion of foreign particles from the tool steel, not the parent metal. Sometimes the crevice at the embedded tool steel particle, or its corrosion products, may cause the attack on the part itself.
