Steel 20X13: characteristics, application and analogues

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

This article is a brief description of all the features of steel 20X13: characteristics, application, properties, substitutes and foreign analogues. This article will be useful to those who want to get acquainted with the most important information on this topic in a short time without wasting time.

Deciphering steel

So, let's start with the simplest. Correctly deciphering steel grades is a very useful skill, which is indispensable if you often work with various alloys.

Since the Soviet naming system and GOSTs are still used in the domestic metallurgy, absolutely any steel grade is deciphered according to approximately the same principle. Steel 20X13 is deciphered very simply:

• The number 20 (or 2 in some cases) indicates the amount of the main alloying element in any steel - carbon.
• The letter X means that the alloy contains at least chromium.
• The number 13 indicates the percentage of the previous chemical element.

After such a surface analysis, based only on reading the steel grade, it becomes clear that we have technical steel with a carbon content (approximately 0.2%) and chromium (approximately 13%). It is important to note that this information already sufficiently fully allows us to determine the characteristics and application of steel 20X13.

Steel composition

Now consider the most important component of any metal-containing alloy - its composition.

Thanks to official technical documents, anyone can determine with a high degree of accuracy which elements are included in the composition of steel 20X13. Their list is as follows:

• Carbon - 0.2% - an element without which steel cannot exist. It is he who gives the soft iron strength and hardness. However, at this grade, the alloy is still relatively ductile and machinable, in some cases even without preheating.
• Silicon - 0.6% - an alloying additive that improves the structure of steel and allows it to better tolerate overheating.
• Manganese - 0.6% - an additive in many respects similar to the previous one, however, manganese not only increases the hardenability of steel, but also increases its toughness.
• Nickel - 0.6% - again an alloying element that increases the thermal stability of steel, its overall ductility and strength.
• Chromium - 13% - no less important element than the same carbon, because chromium is responsible for the strength of steel, its corrosion resistance, hardenability andconductance.

At this stage, we can add that 20X13 is a heat-resistant steel with exceptional resistance to elevated temperatures, if, of course, it is compared with other technical steels. In addition, the alloy is extremely resistant to corrosion and oxidation due to its high chromium content.

If you know the characteristics of steel 20X13, the use of this alloy ceases to be a secret. With a high degree of probability, these may be parts operating at high temperatures.

Steel production

However, in its original form, steel is not very suitable for use, so the metallurgical plants not only smelt the alloy, but also give it a certain shape. In this way, several goals can be achieved at once:

1. Shaped steel is easier to store.
2. It is much easier to transport.
3. Customers know in advance which form factor of the product they buy is more preferable.

For steel 20X13, GOSTs provide for several molding options:

• Bars of various gauges.
• Steel strip.
• Steel tape.
• Steel sheet of various thicknesses.
• Forging.
• Pipes of various diameters.
• Steel wire.

Use of steel 20X13

This alloy is used primarily for the manufacture of quite ordinary bolts and nuts of various diameters and configurations. In this field of steel 20X13, it actively helpscorrosion resistance. The second area is energy. Industrial engine rotors, turbine blades and other important components are made from 20X13 alloy. The third area of application is the construction of furnaces. Since 20X13 is a heat-resistant steel, its use in this process is more than justified, since some other grades of steel will simply lose their original properties. But the heat resistance of this steel is not really revealed here. The third, but no less significant area of application of the characteristics of steel 20X13 is the processing of petroleum products at high temperatures, where the heat resistance of steel was especially useful.

Substitutes

In such a highly demanded field as metallurgy, there can be no interchangeable products of production. For any grade of steel, there is a substitute that fully or partially corresponds to the original in terms of its characteristics and composition. For steel 20X13, there are such substitute grades:

1. 12X13 - steel with a lower carbon content, which is somewhat offset by a high content of silicon and manganese.
2. 14X17H2 - an alloy richer in various additives, characterized by a slightly higher carbon content, additional additives of titanium, copper and nickel. A similar grade of steel has better characteristics and, for example, the same steel sheet of this grade will be more preferable for the manufacture of something.

Foreign analogues

The need for heat-resistant metal-containing alloys is ubiquitous, soin various countries on different continents, their own production of steels is being established, often very similar in composition to their foreign counterparts. For steel 20X13 abroad there are the following analogues:

• United States of America - 420 and S42000;
• Japan - SUS420J1;
• Europe - Х20Cr13;
• China - 2Cr13.

Knowing these names, anyone will be able, regardless of their geographical location, to purchase a product made from the desired steel grade in the nearest store.