
Guides for the People Who Choose the Grade
15 guides on grade selection, corrosion behaviour, finishes, tolerances and fittings, written for engineers and buyers rather than for search engines.

316 or 316L Which One Belongs in a Welded Fabrication
316 is the second most used alloy in the 300 series. 316L is its low carbon version, created to stop the weld zone corroding.…
Read the guide →
Duplex and Super Duplex What the PREN Number Tells You
Duplex grades carry a mixed austenite and ferrite microstructure in roughly equal proportion. Super duplex is a subcategory of…
Read the guide →
Hastelloy and Monel How to Tell Which One Your Process Needs
Both are nickel alloys and both are expensive, but they are built for different chemistry. Monel is a nickel copper alloy for…
Read the guide →
904L Stainless Steel and the Industries That Depend on It
904L is a high alloy austenitic stainless steel with low carbon and high chromium, nickel, molybdenum and copper. It exists for…
Read the guide →
2205 Duplex Sheet and Why Designers Reach for It
The 2205 designation describes the chemistry: roughly 22 percent chromium, 5 percent nickel and 3 percent molybdenum with a…
Read the guide →
The Three Families of Stainless Steel and How to Pick One
There are thousands of stainless steel alloys but only three broad families. Knowing which family you are in settles most…
Read the guide →
Why Stainless Steel Rusts and What the Passive Film Is Doing
Brown spots on a stainless surface surprise people who believe stainless cannot rust. It can, under specific conditions, and…
Read the guide →
Why You Must Ask About Tolerance When Buying Stainless Plate
Tolerance is the permissible deviation in length or thickness, and on stainless plate it is a commercial term as much as a…
Read the guide →
Butt Weld Fittings and the Centre to Face Rule
Butt weld fittings cover elbows, tees, reducers, crosses, caps and stub ends, in carbon, stainless, duplex and nickel alloys. The…
Read the guide →
A Series or B Series for Large Diameter Flanges
Above DN600 a large diameter flange has to be specified as A series or B series. Designers who leave that off the drawing buy the…
Read the guide →
Where Stainless Steel Pipe Is Actually Used
Stainless pipe follows whichever industry is growing. Four applications account for most of the volume, and each one specifies…
Read the guide →
Surface Treatment Options for Precision Stainless Tube
Precision tube is better than ordinary tube in size, performance and appearance, and the surface treatment is a large part of…
Read the guide →
How Pipe Ends and Wall Thickness Are Inspected After Rolling
Uneven wall thickness exists at both ends of a pipe after rolling, which is why each pipe has part of both ends removed. Knowing…
Read the guide →
Martensitic Stainless Steel and Where Hardness Wins
Martensitic stainless steels transform on cooling rather than staying austenitic, which is what lets them be hardened by…
Read the guide →
Shaanxi Jiade at INNOPROM 2024 in Yekaterinburg
From 8 to 11 July 2024, Shaanxi Jiade joined the Shaanxi provincial delegation at the Russian Industrial Exhibition INNOPROM 2024…
Read the guide →About These Guides
Who writes these guides
Can I use these figures in a specification
Do you cover grades you do not sell
How do I ask a question not answered here
Still Choosing Between Two Grades
Send the medium, the temperature and the chloride level and you will get a written recommendation, not a catalogue page.
