UGIMA® 4541 Annealed – Superior Corrosion-Resistant Stainless Steel

The main property of UGIMA® 4541 is its resistance to intergranular corrosion. It uses titanium as a stabilising element to avoid the formation of chromium carbides in the grade when it is used at high temperature. The mechanical properties of this stainless steel are better than those of 1.4307.

UGIMA® 4541 is specifically designed for machining and bar turning and provides increased productivity for these operations.

UGIMA® 4541 has excellent oxidation and corrosion resistance and good creep behaviour. It is particularly recommended for applications requiring heat resistance at continuous or cyclic operating temperatures (400 – 850°C).

Properties

General

Property	Value
Density	7.9 g/cm³

Mechanical

Property	Temperature	Value	Comment
Elastic modulus	20 °C	200 GPa
	100 °C	194 GPa
	200 °C	186 GPa
	300 °C	180 GPa
	400 °C	172 GPa
	500 °C	165 GPa
Elongation		45 %	min.
Hardness, Brinell		215.0	max.
Tensile strength		500.0 - 700.0 MPa

Thermal

Property	Value	Comment
Coefficient of thermal expansion	0.000016 1/K	20 to 100°C
	0.0000165 1/K	20 to 200°C
	0.000017 1/K	20 to 300°C
	0.0000175 1/K	20 to 400°C
	0.000018 1/K	20 to 500°C
Specific heat capacity	500 J/(kg·K)
Thermal conductivity	15 W/(m·K)

Electrical

Property	Value
Electrical resistivity	7.3e-07 Ω·m

Chemical properties

Property	Value	Comment
Carbon	0.08	max.
Chromium	17.0 - 19.0 %
Manganese	2.0	max.
Molybdenum	0.5	max.
Nickel	9.0 - 12.0 %
Phosphorus	0.045	max.
Silicon	1.0	max.
Sulfur	0.03	max.
Titanium	0.7000000000000001	max., min: 5x(C+N)

Technological properties

Property

Application areas

Automotive: turbochargers, exhaust manifolds, sensor supports.

Aeronautics: turboprop engines, jet engines.

Process, chemical and oil industry: fittings and expansion joints, components for high-temperature equipment, furnaces, heat exchangers.

Corrosion properties

It has excellent corrosion resistance in natural environments (drinkable water, rural and urban environments) and in food processing and agri-food environments (but with reservations in some specific cases, such as white wines, mustards, etc.).

UGIMA® 4541 is resistant to intergranular corrosion even after welding; it complies with the ASTM A262 Practice E standardised test.

UGIMA® 4541 can be used in mineral and organic acids, for example nitric acid. Precautionary measures are however required when it is used in other acids, for example phosphoric and sulphuric acids.

UGIMA® 4541 can be salt spray tested (ISO 9227 standardised test). It is difficult for us to give an accurate value in terms of the number of hours after which traces of corrosion will appear, because such resistance to salt spray depends not only on the composition of the grade, but also on the geometry of the component tested, the surface finish (roughness, machining scratches), the presence or absence of pollution (iron particles, cutting oils, etc). Finished components can be tested in the laboratory.

UGIMA® 4541 has excellent high-temperature chemical resistance; estimated continuous use limit temperatures are given below (the limit temperature must take into account the exact nature of the atmosphere and the amplitude and frequency of mechanical and thermal stresses):

Oxidizing atmosphere	850°C
Oxidizing sulphur atmosphere	750°C

General machinability

Turning: Not only does UGIMA® 4541 reduce tool wear (see the graph on the right for improvements in terms of potential turning productivity), it also provides better chip breakability (see graph on the right for the number of cutting conditions with fragmented chips in turning).

Bar turning: To compare UGIMA® 4541 with a standard 1.4541, tests were carried out on a TORNOS SIGMA 32 screw machine. For each grade, the test consisted in defining the optimum cutting conditions for making, for example, 1000 components without having to change tools. The table below shows the cutting conditions that can produce 1000 components without having to change tools for each grade according to the operations and tools used. Improved productivity that can exceed 10% was noted.

Operations	Tools	UGI 4541	UGIMA® 4541
´Rough straight turning	SECO TM2000 CCMT 09T308-F2	Vc = 170 m/min ap = 2 mm; f = 0.30 mm/rev	Vc = 190 m/min ap = 2 mm; f = 0.30 mm/rev
Finish straight turning	SECO TM2000 CCMT 09T304-F1	Vc = 240 m/min ap = 0.5 mm; f = 0.10 mm/rev	Vc = 250 m/min ap = 0.5 mm; f = 0.10 mm/rev
Axial drilling	GÜHRING RT100F 6 mm – DK460UF	Vc = 70 m/min f = 0.10 mm/rev	Vc = 80 m/min f = 0.10 mm/rev
Axial drilling	ISCAR IC908 9.9 mm – ICM099	Vc = 120 m/min f = 0.15 mm/rev	Vc = 130 m/min f = 0.15 mm/rev
Cross-cutting	SANDVIK 2135 N132E2-0300-0002-CM	Vc = 60 m/min f = 0.06/0.03 mm/rev	Vc = 60 m/min f = 0.06/0.03 mm/rev

Heat Treatment

Annealing: UGIMA® 4541 heat treatment involves maintaining a high temperature of between 1000°C and 1100°C, followed by air- or water-cooling. This treatment, which is called annealing, removes all trace of hardening, while giving the steel its lowest level of mechanical properties.

Hot forming

UGIMA® 4541 can be forged at between 950°C and 1250°C without taking special precautions. As for all austenitic stainless steel grades, the force required to deform metals is high (far higher than that required for carbon steels). Components can be air- or water-cooled.

Other

Available products:

Product	Shape	Tolerance	Dimensions (mm)
Rolled and descaled bars	Round	12 to 13	22 to 130
Cold-finished drawn, turned, ground bars	Round	6 to 11	2 to 130
Drawn bars	Hexagonal	11	3 to 60

Other options: contact the supplier

Surface Treatment

The conditions generally used for austenitic grades apply to UGIMA® 4541.

Welding

UGIMA® 4541 can be welded by all types of arc processes (MIG, TIG with or without filler metal, coated electrodes, submerged arc welding, etc.), resistance (spot or seam), friction, electron beam or LASER welding.

Thanks to the correct analytical balance and despite a slightly higher percentage of S than UGI 4541, there is no increased risk of thermal cracking for UGIMA® 4541 during arc and LASER welding.

In MIG welding, the Ar (+ possibly He) based shielding gas will have to contain 2 to 3% CO₂ or O₂ to make it easier to stabilise the welding arc; in TIG welding, the filler gas will be pure Ar (+ possibly He). H₂ and N₂ can be added to the shielding gas if required.

If filler metal is used, ER347 wire should be preferred, particularly in the case of welds used at high temperatures.

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