I have been in the Live Steam hobby and maching steel, bronze, brass, copper, and aluminum for about 14 years, but when it comes the metal world, I am know very little.
For bushings I know that bronze and cast iron are good, but are there others?
What is "boiler" steel? and what are its characteristics? are there other uses for it other than for boilers?
Thanks,
Jeff


jsfrost@mtu.edu

> What is "boiler" steel? and what
> are its characteristics? are there other
> uses for it other than for boilers?

Hello Jeff:

"Boiler steel" is a common use term, which I interpret to mean steel alloys that are listed in Part PG-6 of Section 1 of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code.

These steel alloys include:

SA-285 Pressure Vessel Plates, Carbon Steel, Low and Intermediate Tensile Strength

SA-299 Pressure Vessel Plates, Carbon Steel, Manganese-Silicon

SA-515 Pressure Vessel Plates, for Intermediate and Higher Temperature Service

SA-516 Pressure Vessel Plates for Moderate and Lower Temperature Service.

These are the steel alloys most commonly used in locomotive type boilers.

There are additional alloys available.

These alloys can be cross referenced to the ASTM standards by dropping the "S".

Hope that this helps.

Cheers;

PKurilecz

pkurilecz@yahoo.com

> What is "boiler" steel? and what
> are its characteristics? are there other
> uses for it other than for boilers?

Boiler plate is a low-carbon steel - the quality that's most important is it's ductility -it will bend rather than break. It is used for all sorts of tanks and pressure vessels, not just boilers. Of the grades that listed above I use SA285 and SA516 the most. If you are going to do a lot of forming SA285 would be your best bet.

In the old days you could buy firebox steel and flange steel. But no one knows what you're talking about when you mention these.

Martyhuck@aol.com

Do you need to worry about the different grades.

ASTM A285, Grade A
ASTM A285, Grade B
ASTM A285, Grade C
ASTM A516, Grade 55
ASTM A516, Grade 60

Tim

fltenwheeler@aol.com

> Do you need to worry about the different
> grades.

I usually use SA285 Grade C, and SA516 Grade 70. Those are the most commonly available grades, but I'm not the one to ask. That is the sort of thing you need to discuss with your boiler inspector.


Martyhuck@aol.com

Jeff,
If you happen to run across a handy little book titled "Mechanical Engineers Handbook " by Lionel S. Marks, McGraw-Hill, you will find a lot of information on materials and their uses. My copy is dated 1941 and has a lot of stuff on steam, railroads, material use and design.


lamontdc@adelphia.net

Maybe GEL3031 can tell me why Santa Fe would deviate from regular steel in their boilers to go with a nickle steel compound that gave them nothing but headaches and cracks. Was it just a weight saving idea, or did they think it would reduce corrosion with the alkaline water Santa Fe had to deal with in arid areas?

The "alloy" boiler steel was indeed an attempt to prevent corrosion from unfriendly boiler water. Unfortunately the material could not be fabricated, repaired or worked without a "retempering" heat treatment. If for example you did any hot riveting, the area around the rivet hole would get hot enough to reform a very hard brittle phase around the hole and then cool quickly to lock that phase into the material. The result was cracking from the heating and cooling cycles. If you decided to use this stuff on a modern boiler you would 100% weld the pieces/parts, stick them in a heat treat furnace, and retemper the assembly. Hardly practical or cost effective.


lamontdc@adelphia.net