Advanced High Strength Martensitic Stainless Steels for High Pressure Equipment

Maraging stainless steels offer a large panel of high strength materials with good ductility and stress corrosion cracking resistance. Their mechanical properties compared to conventional 15-5 PH and 17-4 PH martensitic stainless steels show much better yield strength / toughness compromise for yield strength exceeding 1300 MPa. In the same time, fatigue resistance is significantly increased at high strength stress levels and material keeps good resistance to stress corrosion. These properties make them particularly suitable for ultra-high pressure equipment or high pressure rotating components submitted to high cyclic stresses. Their application for Pascalisation pressure vessels and ultra-high pressure compressors for ethylene gas is briefly presented.