Materials of Construction Material Carbon Steel Advantage Low cost, easy to fabricate, abundant, most common material.

Resists most alkaline environments well. Relatively low cost, still easy to fabricate. Resist a wider variety of environments than carbon steel. Available is many different types. Moderate cost, still easy to fabricate. Resistance is better over a wider range of concentrations and temperatures compared to stainless steel. Very good resistance to chlorides (widely used in seawater applications). Strength allows it to be fabricated at smaller thicknesses. Superior resistance to chlorides, even at higher temperatures. Is often used on sea water application where Titanium's resistance may not be acceptable. Very good resistance to high temperature caustic streams. Very wide range to choose from. Some have been specifically developed for acid services where other materials have failed. One of the few materials capable of withstanding weak HCl streams. Disadvantage Very poor resistance to acids and stronger alkaline streams. More brittle than other materials, especially at low temperatures. No resistance to chlorides, and resistance decreases significantly at higher temperatures. Little resistance to chlorides, and resistance at higher temperatures could be improved.

Stainless Steel

254 SMO (Avesta)

Titanium

While the material is moderately expensive, fabrication is difficult. Much of cost will be in welding labor.

Pd stabilized Titanium

Very expensive material and fabrication is again difficult and expensive.

Nickel

Moderate to high expense. Difficult to weld. Fairly expensive alloys. Their use must be justified. Most are easy to weld. Brittle, very expensive, and very difficult to fabricate. Some stream components have been know to diffusion through some types of graphites.

Hastelloy Alloy

Graphite

Tantalum

Superior resistance to very harsh services where no other material is acceptable.

Extremely expensive, must be absolutely necessary.