Between carbon steel and stainless steel tube sides, which one has the smallest heat exchange area?
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Experts, in shell-and-tube heat exchangers, when using carbon steel and stainless steel for the tube sides, which one has the smaller heat exchange area? And what value should be used for the fouling factor of stainless steel?
Under the same conditions, the heat exchange area of carbon steel is smaller, as carbon steel has a high thermal conductivity – typically 2.5 to 3.0 times that of stainless steel – resulting in a lower thermal resistance.
From the perspective of thermal conductivity, carbon steel has a much higher thermal conductivity than stainless steel. However, I believe that the choice of material should primarily depend on the requirements of the working fluid! Each specific problem needs to be analyzed on its own!
Could you tell me where to look up the data?