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LDX2101 Stainless Steel

Penn Stainless inventory now includes Alloy LDX2101 (UNS S32101) in plate and flat bar products.

Overview

General Properties

LDX 2101 is a duplex (austenitic-ferritic) stainless steel with relatively low contents of alloying elements. The grade has high mechanical strength, similar to that of other duplex grades. Its good corrosion resistance is on par with that of most standard stainless steel grades. Combined, these properties can be utilized to optimise design with respect to strength, maintenance, durability and long-term cost efficiency.

Characteristics:

  • High strength – approximately twice as high proof strength as austenitic stainless steels ASTM 304 and 316
  • Very good resistance to stress corrosion cracking
  • Good resistance to general corrosion and pitting
  • High energy absorption
  • Physical properties that offer design advantages
  • Ease of fabrication and good toughness
  • Very good weldability

Applications

General-purpose applications and environments:

  • Building and construction
  • Storage tanks
  • Reinforcement bars
  • Water piping

Specification

UNS: ASTM/ASTE S32101

Resistance

Corrosion resistance

  • generally good corrosion resistance
  • suitable for use in a wide range of general-purpose applications and environments.

Pitting and crevice corrosion

  • resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion increases with the content of chromium, molybdenum and nitrogen in the steel.
  • resistance to these types of corrosion, which are mainly caused by chloride containing environments, is good due to the grade’s high chromium and nitrogen content.

Atmospheric corrosion

  • strongly linked to resistance to uniform corrosion and localised corrosion such as pitting and crevice corrosion.
  • sufficiently resistant in most environments.

Stress corrosion cracking

  • Like all duplex stainless steels, LDX 2101 shows good resistance to chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking (SCC).
Processing

Heat treatment

  • Plate, sheet and coil are normally delivered in heat treated condition. If additional heat treatment is needed after further processing the following is recommended.

Solution annealing

  • 1020 -1080°C (1865 -1975°F), rapid cooling in air or water.

Fabrication

Hot forming

  • Hot forming is performed in the temperature range 1100–900°C (2010-1650oF) and should be followed by solution annealing. It should, however, be observed that the strength is low at high temperatures.

Cold forming

  • Due to the high proof strength of duplex material, greater working forces than those required for austenitic steel are usually needed for cold forming.
  • LDX 2101 is suitable for most forming operations used in stainless steel fabrication.
  • Due to the grade’s higher mechanical strength and lower toughness, operations such as deep drawing, stretch forming and spinning are more difficult to perform than with austenitic steel.
  • The grade’s high strength, may give rise to a relatively high spring back.

Welding

  • LDX 2101 has a good weldability and can be welded using the same processes used for other duplex steels.
  • In general the recommendations for welding duplex steels also apply for LDX 2101, however, the restrictions in arc energy are less tight than for conventional duplex steels due to the grade’s low alloy content and high nitrogen level.
  • Suitable welding methods are manual metal-arc welding with covered electrodes or gas shielded arc welding. Welding should be undertaken within the heat input range 0.2-2.5 kJ/mm. Preheating or post-weld heat treatment is not normally necessary.
Properties

Chemical composition (nominal) %

C Si Mn P S Cr Ni N Mo
0.030 1.0 5.0 0.04 0.03 21.5 1.5 0.22 0.3

Mechanical Properties

LDX2101 Minimum values
(.625″ Plate)
Typical values
(.625″ Plate)
0.2% Yield Strength ksi 65 69
Tensile Strength ksi 94 101
Elongation % 30 38
Hardness (Brinell) HB 290 (max) 225

Physical Properties

LDX2101 Temperature, ºF
68 200 400 600
Density lb/in^3 0.28
Modules of Elasticity x 10^6 psi 29 28 27 26
Poissons Ratio 0.3
Linear Expansion x 10^-6 in/in/°F 7.2 7.5 7.5
Thermal Conductivity Btu/ft/h °F 8.7 9.3 9.8 10.4
Thermal Capacity J/kg °F 500 530 560 590
Electric Resistivity micro-ohms•meter 0.80 0.85 0.90 1.00

Introduction to Duplex Stainless Steel