Stainless Steel
STAINLESS STEEL: THE STANDARD ASPECTS
Standard EN 10088 is the main standard concerning "general-purpose" stainless steels.
Other specific standards cover particular families or areas of use:
EN 10095: Refractory stainless steels
EN 10272: Stainless steels for pressure vessels (long products)
European Standard EN 10088 provides for two types of designations:
- symbolic designation
In accordance with Standard EN 10027, "Designation Systems for Steel", the symbolic designation of stainless steels begins with the letter "X", representing steels containing at least one alloying element the content of which is equal to or greater than 5%. This letter is followed by the carbon content x100, then by the chemical symbols of the alloying elements by decreasing order of their content. The average contents of these elements are then indicated, separated by dashes, in the same decreasing order.
X12Cr13 - X2CrNiMo17-12-2
- numerical designation
This consists of 5 digits, and starts with 1.4; the third digit corresponds to a particular family of grades and takes into account the chemical composition, while the last two are given arbitrarily.
1.40xx: Stainless steel with Ni % < 2.5 - Without Mo, Nb or Ti;
1.41xx: Stainless steel with Ni % < 2.5 - With Mo, without Nb or Ti;
1.43xx: Stainless steel with Ni % < 2.5 - Without Mo, Nb or Ti;
1.44xx: Stainless steel with Ni % < 2.5 - With Mo, Nb or Ti;
1.44xx: Stainless steel containing special additions.
Examples: 1.4003 - 1.4404 - 1.4301