Finkl Steel – Sorel is part of the Swiss Steel Group and is a leading Canadian manufacturer of high-performance forged steel components. The company is currently working on a project to leverage the Swiss Steel Group’s advanced metallurgical expertise and the integrated manufacturing capabilities available at the Sorel site to qualify in Canada for the supply of high-quality stainless steel materials for marine applications. Safety, reliability, and material integrity are the key requirements here: The special steel must meet the highest international standards and the strictest technical quality requirements, such as those specified by the German Institute for Defense Materials and Manufacturing Technology (WIWeB), the classification society Det Norske Veritas (DNV), or in Construction Regulation 1050 for shipbuilding for the German Navy.
Non-magnetic fully austenitic
Specifically, the project involves the production of grade 1.3964 special steel (similar to UNS: S20910), a highly developed, corrosion-resistant chromium-nickel-molybdenum steel with niobium stabilization. This steel is primarily characterized by its stable austenitic microstructure, which gives it extremely low magnetic permeability. The other outstanding property of grade 1.3964 stainless steel is its good resistance to corrosion when in contact with seawater. This high-alloy special steel is also resistant to intergranular and stress corrosion cracking and withstands not only sub-zero Arctic temperatures but also the extreme pressures at greater ocean depths. With a tensile strength between 700 and 950 MPa and a yield strength of ≥ 365 MPa, it exhibits significantly higher strength compared to other stable austenitic steels. It also possesses excellent ductility and is highly weldable.
Deutsche Edelstahlwerke: The Experts
Corrosion-resistant stainless steels with the highest requirements for magnetic properties are a specialty of the Swiss Steel Group. Deutsche Edelstahlwerke has extensive experience with this steel group. They are not only experts in grade 1.3964 steel, which is produced at the Witten site via multiple routes, but also manufacture numerous other variants of fully austenitic steels. For example, the special steel grade 1.4435, which is used in the chemical and food industries as well as in the pharmaceutical sector. Or grade 1.4441 (UNS: S31673), which is used in the medical sector for the manufacture of implants, and steels with the material numbers 1.3891 and 1.3892 (UNS: K94610), which are required in the offshore industry (e.g., for drilling tools).
No matter how challenging the application, the Swiss Steel Group is able to design non-magnetic, highly corrosion-resistant steels to meet the most demanding industrial requirements.