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NSSC Launches Sn-added Ferritic Stainless Steel Grades
Jul. 23, 2010 Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel Corp. (NSSC) has developed what it claims is the world’s first Sn-added, low-interstitial ferritic steel grades, named the “FW (forward) series.”
NSSC used its own seed technology that can “drastically improve” the corrosion resistance of ferritic stainless steel by adding a micro amount of tin (Sn). The company says that the FW series steel also exhibits increased workability.
NSSC has begun marketing/distributing the first FW series steel, “NSSC® FW1,” which consists of 14% Cr but reportedly has corrosion resistance equivalent to 18% Cr stainless steel grades (Tp.430, SUS430LX, Tp.439, etc.). Since NSSC FW1 is an ultra fine-grained steel with low-alloy elements (no addition of Ni or Mo, and with reduction of Cr), it stabilizes cost by minimizing the effect of fluctuations of raw material prices, the company notes.
NSSC expects the steel to become a new general-purpose grade that can follow two leading types of steel (Tp.304 [18%Cr-8%Ni] and Tp.430 [18%Cr]), which account for more than 50% of all distributed stainless steel.
The company plans to announce a new product in December with even higher corrosion resistance, the “NSSC® FW2”, a new type of steel grade from the same series that also utilizes a micro amount of Sn.