Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), managed by the United States Department of Energy, has licensed its alumina-forming austenitic stainless steel alloy technology to Carpenter Technology, producer of metal alloys.
As per the licensing deal, Carpenter can sell the alloy in different vacuum-melted bulk forms. The new alloy can be used in various applications, including chemical processing materials and instruments, down-hole drilling, heat exchangers and recuperators.
According to Tim Armstrong, who works as Vice President at Carpenter Technology for research and development, the alloy is ideal for applications that are exposed to high corrosion and temperature conditions.
The ORNL research team comprising Yukinori Yamamoto, Chain T. Liu, Zhaoping Lu, Michael Brady, Bruce Pint and Phil Maziasz developed the new alloy, whose specific proportion enables the formation of alumina scales on the steel¡¦s exterior, offering high resistance to oxidation.
The steel alloy exhibits superior creep strength even at a temperature range between 700„aC and 800„aC. The cost of producing the new alloy is comparatively cheaper than current alloys, which need high proportions of nickel.
Source: http://www.ornl.gov