A large variety of corrosion resistant alloys are used regularly in the chemical process industry (CPI).
The most common family of alloys include the iron (Fe)-based stainless steels, nickel (Ni) alloys and titanium
(Ti) alloys. There also other corrosion resistant alloys but their family of alloys is not as large as
for the three groups mentioned above. All ranges of corrosive environments can be found in the CPI,
from caustic solutions to hot acidic environments, from highly reducing to highly oxidizing. Stainless
steels are ubiquitous since numerous types of stainless steels exist, each type tailored for specific applications.
In general, stainless steels suffer stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in hot chloride environments
while high Ni alloys are practically immune to this type of attack. High nickel alloys are also resistant to
caustic cracking. Ti alloys find application in highly oxidizing solutions. Solutions containing fluoride
ions, especially acid, seem to be aggressive to almost all corrosion resistant alloys.