PITTING RESISTANT STAINLESS STEEL ALLOY HAVING IMPROVED HOT-WORKING CHARACTERISTICS

摘要

ABSTRACTAn austenitic stainless steel alloy which has extremelygood pitting resistance and at the same time has good hot-workability characteristics. The alloy contains, as essentialconstituents, chromium, nickel, molybdenum, calcium andcerium. In achieving the desirable characteristics of theinvention, the molybdenum and chromium levels are importantin determining pitting resistance; while recoveries of ceriumand calcium in the final alloy are important in determining thehot-workability of the alloy, although cerium is the more impor-tant of the two. Sulfur levels are preferably maintained low,on the order of .006% or less.Also disclosed is a method for making an alloy of the typedescribed above wherein the finishing temperature of hot-rolledstrip is maintained around or above 1800°F to reduce edgecracking and preferably is maintained at about 2000°F.