STAINLESS STEEL TUBE & PIPE   

Room Temperature Tensile Properties
Minimum mechanical properties for annealed Alloys 316, 316L and 317L austenitic stainless steel as required by ASTM specifications ASTM A213 and ASME specification SA-213 are shown below.

Effect of Cold Work
Deformation of austenitic alloys at room or slightly elevated temperature produces an increase in strength accompanied by a decrease in elongation value. Alloys 316, 316L, and 317L flat rolled products are generally available in the annealed condition.

Analyses Tested (See footnote)

Elevated Temperature Tensile Properties
Representative short time elevated temperature tensile properties for Alloys 316, 316L, and 317L of the following analyses are shown below.

Analyses Tested (See footnote)

Type 316 (Bar specimen tension test procedures)

Stress Rupture and Creep Properties
At temperatures of about 1000°F (538°C) and higher, creep and stress rupture become considerations for the austenitic stainless steel pipe. Considerable variation in the creep strength and stress rupture strength values is reported by various investigators.

Impact Resistance
The annealed austenitic stainless steels maintain a high level of impact resistance even at cryogenic temperatures, a property which, in combination with their low temperature strength and fabricability, has led to their extensive use in cryogenic applications. Representative Charpy V-notch impact data for annealed Type 316 at room temperature are shown below.

Fatigue Strength
The fatigue strength or endurance limit is the maximum stress below which material is unlikely to fail in 10 million cycles in air environment. For austenitic stainless steel tube as a group, the fatigue strength is typically about 35 percent of the tensile strength. Substantial variability in service results is experienced since additional variables such as corrosive conditions, form of stress and mean value, surface roughness, and other factors affect fatigue properties. For this reason, no definitive endurance limit values can be given which are representative of all operating conditions.

The ASTM specified minimum tensile properties and maximum hardness for annealed plate, sheet, and strip products are shown in the following table.

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