Can the heat exchange tubes be made of stainless steel, while the baffle plates are made of carbon steel?
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Are the heat exchange tubes made of stainless steel, and can the baffle plates be made of carbon steel?
The baffle material is determined by the medium in your shell side. If the shell-side material is carbon steel. That definitely can be done
It mainly depends on the corrosivity of the medium and the user’s expectations; if the tube side is severely corroded while the shell side is not, then carbon steel can certainly be used for the baffle plates
It depends on whether the shell material is carbon steel or stainless steel; your requirements aren’t clear.
This post was last edited by wanlirn on 2021-11-29 at 15:22. Baffles are generally made of the same material as the shell in the shell-side, and they have little to do with the heat exchange tubes
Yes, the key is to consider what requirements the material in the shell side has; intuitively, this involves looking at the material of the shell.
The poster is concerned about the corrosion issue that occurs when stainless steel and carbon steel are in contact during installation.
In my opinion, one should not consider only the corrosiveness of the medium; the issue of contamination that occurs when stainless steel comes into contact with carbon steel also needs to be taken into account. Otherwise, why would pressure vessel manufacturing require a dedicated stainless steel processing area?
I agree with you; when stainless steel comes into contact with carbon steel, carburization can occur, as well as potential corrosion. The areas of carburization can turn into sites of corrosion
If the issue of carbon steel contact contamination is to be taken into account, then for stainless steel tube sheets, only stainless steel shells can be used, and for stainless steel reaction vessels, only stainless steel jackets can be employed.