Metals Used for Forged Components in the Oil and Gas Industry

There are many types of steel alloys used in the production of ANSI/ASME and API flanges in the oil & gas industry. Here are some examples of the most common ones.

Carbon Steel

This is by far the most common type of steel used in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries for pipelines, flowlines and other structural components. Carbon steel consists of iron steel with less than 2% carbon and small amounts of manganese, phosphorus, sulfur, and silicon. The specific amount of these other elements define the actual API grade of steel. The higher the amount of carbon in the alloy, the harder it is to machine and weld it. For this reason, there are many different types of carbon steel–low, medium, high, and very high carbon steel alloys.

Carbon steel is so commonly used because it is very strong and has a high wear resistance, but it does corrode easily. There is more carbon steel produced each year than all other types of steel.

Stainless Steel

Stainless steel (AKA Austenitic Stainless Steel) is an iron steel that contains at least 10.5% of chromium. This creates a “passive layer” that provides protection against corrosion. Other metals such as nickel and molybdenum might be added to help improve the steel’s corrosion resistance.

Stainless steel is commonly used in the oil and petrochemical industries for heat exchangers, process equipment, and structural components.

Duplex Stainless Steel

Duplex stainless steel consists of austenitic and ferritic stainless steel (which is a magnetic steel with less than 0.10% of carbon) as a dual microstructure. Duplex stainless steel has high corrosion resistance and is very strong. Because it is a bit lighter than other steel alloys it is perfect for storage tanks and pressure vessels.

Forged Steel

Forged steel is an alloy steel that is refined using forging to not only to harden and strengthen the steel but to shape it as well. Because of the increased strength and weight, forged steel is great for subsea equipment, wellhead components, and a variety of valves and other forged components.

Nickel

Nickel is a valuable metal for forged components because it can be added to other steel alloys to improve the metal’s corrosion resistance. As such, you will see it used in almost any component used in the oil, gas, and petrochemical production industries. This includes subsea equipment, forged valves and fittings, and for components in natural gas processing plants.

Chromium

Chromium is another metal used as a common additive to other alloys to improve corrosion resistance and stainless steel. As such, you will see it used in almost any component used in the oil, gas, and petrochemical production industries. This includes subsea equipment, forged valves and fittings, and for components in natural gas processing plants.

Titanium

Titanium is another metal that is highly corrosion-resistant, but also is extremely light and strong which makes it good to use in subsea equipment, heat exchangers and in any equipment needing less weight while retaining high strength.

Forged Components is the Premier Manufacturer of Forged Vessel Components

As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of forged pressure vessel connections, primarily for the oil & gas, and petrochemical industries, FCI uses a wide array of steel material grades. Having an extensive raw steel inventory on-site of most ASME grades of steel, we can deliver our forged products significantly faster to our customer base. For more information, please call us at (281) 441-4088 or contact us online to get in touch with one of our sales personnel.