Today we look at another steel from the family of austenitic steels: grade 1.4878, also known under the EN/DIN designation X8CrNiTi18-10. Its outstanding property is that it is scale-resistant up to a temperature of 850 degrees Celsius. Nevertheless, it is not suitable for every location - more on that later.
If you are interested in this or another special stainless steel, we offer you not only comprehensive information but also individually produced sheets and profile sheets. We deliver quickly and reliably - and you will learn at the end how to order from us.
The composition of 1.4878
If we want to tell you about steel 1.4878, a brief theory excursion into its composition is essential. The most important constituent is chromium with a share between 17.0 and 19.0%. Nickel must account for at least 9.0% but no more than 12.0%. Up to 0.8% titanium is added for stabilisation. Carbon is present in a concentration between 0.04 and 0.10%.
Further constituents are up to 2.0% manganese, up to 1.0% silicon, up to 0.015% phosphorus and up to 0.015% sulphur. Commercially, 1.4878 is offered in various forms, including hot-rolled and cold-rolled sheets. Tubes are also offered in this material.
What distinguishes 1.4878
This material is said to be comparable with steel 1.4541, as both have good corrosion resistance. However, this does not apply to seawater, sea air and common salt. Prolonged contact with these media must be avoided at all costs, as corrosion or pitting corrosion may otherwise occur.
Thanks to its good hot strength, steel 1.4878 (X8CrNiTi18-10) can be used at temperatures of up to 850 degrees Celsius in oxidising media. If the environment additionally contains sulphur, the temperature must not exceed 750 degrees Celsius.
Processing the material
1.4878 is very well suited to welding with all common processes. Thanks to the addition of titanium, resistance to intergranular corrosion is maintained during welding - regardless of the thickness of the workpiece being processed. As a rule, preheating can be dispensed with without compromising the result.
Laser beam welding is used particularly often, but TIG welding, arc welding or MAG welding can also be used without problems. Bear in mind, however, that 1.4878 has significantly lower thermal conductivity than alloyed steels and its melting point is therefore lower - welding must always be carried out with reduced heat input.
The expansion coefficient of stainless steel 1.4878 must also be taken into account: greater distortion is to be expected unless back-step welding, alternating-side welding or the use of two welders on large components is applied.
Where is X8CrNiTi18-10 used?
As heat resistance is its most important material property, it is no surprise that 1.4878 is used above all where high temperatures prevail and good mechanical properties are still required.
This material is therefore used particularly often for the construction of industrial furnaces and apparatus. Annealing furnaces as well as muffle furnaces and hardening boxes are made from this robust material. There are also various applications for stainless steel 1.4878 in the automotive sector and the construction industry.
Why do we know so much about stainless steel?
To answer this question, we only need to take a look at our company history. Our roots lie in steel processing - we operated a rolling mill for decades - but in the 1990s we transformed our company. Since then, we have seen ourselves as a stainless steel service center. This means we have specialised in customising various materials for our customers.
There are no off-the-shelf products with us, because we work exclusively to customer order. If you now think this leads to long delivery times, you are mistaken. A special customer order is normality for us, and we have geared our production precisely to it. That is why we can produce and dispatch almost every order within 48 hours. Not bad for such a specialised, made-to-measure article, is it?
We offer you various services around stainless steel
Because we want to be far more than a trading company for stainless steel, we do not just sell sheets off the coil. We cut them to width and length according to your specifications. Depending on how large your sheet is to be and how thick the chosen material is, various cutting tools are used. They all have one thing in common: they work precisely and guarantee cutting accurate to the millimetre.
But we can do more than cut. With professional machines, we also offer the forming of sheets. Looking for angles in special dimensions? Need L-profiles in a non-standard size? We can produce all of this for you on our machines.
Surface treatment is the third area of our production site. Our customers have different requirements, which is why we are set up for grinding, pickling and foil protection. We can also take on the surface treatment of individual sheets for you.
Advice first, then the order
As we offer a very specialised product, we attach great importance to advising our customers with our knowledge - always free of charge and without obligation, of course. This allows us to make sure you only use 1.4878 where it should be used - not, for example, on a ship with constant contact with sea air and seawater.
Our sales staff know all the properties of the various alloys and can therefore tell you which sheet is the best choice for your project. They can also quote the price for your desired sheet immediately during the phone call - no lengthy calculation or consultation with the boss required. After all, made-to-measure sheets are our daily bread.
You need not hold back because you think your order might be too small for us. We deliberately decided not to serve only key accounts and have therefore also set ourselves up for producing individual sheets for private customers. Feel free to call us without obligation and have a quotation prepared for a sheet of steel 1.4878 or another alloy. Should we not have the material you want in stock, we will either find an equivalent alternative or source it for you.
+49 3921 72-0