Valves and Specialty Metal Materials

The role of valves in a process is far from insignificant. These components enable engineers to control the vitals of a process: temperature, pressure, concentration, and flow. In some cases, the failure of a valve could be catastrophic and in other cases just a headache, but whatever your situation, your material selection will surely be one of the most important elements in determining the reliability of a valve. In corrosion applications where a typical valve material, such as stainless steel, doesn’t offer the corrosion protection that is needed, and polymer coatings are not feasible due to various processing conditions, specialty-metal materials should be considered. Specialty-metal valve solutions serve a niche in the industry, delivering corrosion resistance and mechanical stability where other materials can fail. Although usually found in the most severe applications, these materials have specific appeal throughout the chemical process industries (CPI) including the chemical, oil and gas, specialty chemical, pharmaceutical and food sectors. This article provides a broad look at the specialty metal solutions that are currently available, including titanium, nickel alloys, zirconium, and the exotic metal tantalum. (Part 1 of…