Material Trends for High Purity and Sanitary Applications, By: Ken Kimbrel

For several years stainless steel has been the workhorse processors have used in tough corrosive environments and for the most part, it has performed well. In recent years however, when it comes to new installations or even repairs to existing process lines, today’s stainless steel doesn’t perform as well in the same application as stainless steel of years past. Additionally, with the advent of newer buffer solutions in the pharmaceutical industry we are experiencing higher than ever chloride levels which attack stainless steel causing pitting and crevice corrosion.