Heat Exchanger Materials: Stainless Steel, Titanium and Nickel Alloys
How to match plate and tube material to the chemistry, chloride content, temperature and pressure of your service.
Stainless 304 and 316L
Stainless 316L is the workhorse material for plate heat exchangers and clean tubular services. It tolerates most clean water, glycol, oil and food-grade duties. 304 is acceptable for low-chloride, low-temperature service but should be avoided when chlorides above ~50 ppm or elevated temperatures are present.
Duplex and super-austenitic
When chlorides exceed the limits of 316L but full corrosion-resistant alloy is unnecessary, duplex stainless (2205) and super-austenitic grades (904L, 254 SMO) provide a cost-effective intermediate. They are widely used in brackish water and moderately corrosive process streams.
Titanium
Titanium is the standard choice for seawater, brine, hypochlorite and many aggressive process streams. It is more expensive per kilogram than stainless but the thinner plates required offset some of the cost. Titanium is mandatory in marine, aquaculture and many chemical duties.
Nickel alloys
Hastelloy, Inconel and similar nickel alloys are reserved for the most aggressive services — concentrated acids, oxidizing environments and high-temperature corrosive gases. Selection should be confirmed against published corrosion charts and, where possible, plant experience.
Practical guidance
For most enquiries, send the chemistry and operating temperature and let the engineering team recommend the material. Over-specifying drives cost; under-specifying drives failure. A short technical conversation usually saves both.
Send your working conditions to Evan
Share your medium, temperatures, flow rate and pressure — Evan will return a thermal selection and indicative pricing after reviewing the available data.