The pharmaceutical industry is one of the largest sectors in the world that uses 316 stainless steel pipe tube and other related items for product handling and processing purposes. Do you know the reason behind this? Stainless steel is an excellent material that is durable and can withstand exposure to several chemicals. Usually, the in-house staff uses these chemicals to sanitize pharmaceutical products at their facility. What else, the stainless steel products have a high-temperature tolerance that enables them to withstand heat-based sanitation methods.
With that covered, now it’s time to see some of the advantages of the 316 stainless steel pipe tube:
1. It has excellent machinability
2. It has impressive weldability
3. Its corrosion resistance ability is good
4. It remains robust at elevated temperatures for more time than 304 grade
5. It offers good resistance to pitting
6. It provides solid resistance to corrosive chemicals
7. It is extremely capable of resisting potable water or drinking water
8. It withstands the effects of chloride greatly
9. It offers high resistance to cracking
10. Its austenitic structural integrity provides excellent toughness
Now that you know the advantages of 316 stainless steel pipe tube, let’s see some common uses of SS in the pharmaceutical industry:
1. Parts-washing baskets
2. Biosample processing
3. Product-processing containers
4. Sanitary product handling
5. Sample disposal
What are the properties and uses of grade 316 stainless steel?
Do you know what the main difference between 316 and 304-grade stainless steel is? The grade 316 stainless steel has more nickel and molybdenum than grade 304. It is the main reason the former variant of stainless steel is more resistant to pitting corrosion than the later SS. Sometimes the metal gets affected by pitting corrosion when it gets exposed to chloride like salt.
As far as the application of 316 stainless steel goes, it gets widely used in both cookware and naval applications. However, when it comes to the pharmaceutical industry, it gets used in most applications, such as sample and material handling applications. These are the applications where salty chemicals or saline solutions might come into touch with the metal and harm their structural integrity. But with 316 steel at your disposal, you can rest assured about the prevention.
If that’s not all, this steel grade is pretty handy for high-temperature sanitation processes. You can use it at a maximum continuous temperature of around 800 degrees C, which is enough for killing microbial agents and sanitize the steel’s surface.
Besides this, do you know what the best part of another variant of this steel 316L is? It has low carbon with enhanced resistance to corrosive materials. Additionally, it offers improved weldability with negligible difference in tensile strength, which is why 316L gets preferred more than 316 stainless steel in many pharmaceutical manufacturing applications.
How to improve the usefulness of stainless steel for pharmaceutical applications?
Though stainless steel items are pretty advantageous for pharmaceutical applications, industry professionals often prefer to electropolish them. Now you may want to know what does the term “electropolishing” means? Right? Electropolishing is an electrochemical finishing process in which a thin layer of the material gets removed from the metal part. Once this process completes, the stainless steel or similar alloys get a smooth, shiny, and ultra-clean surface finish.
Similarly, when the stainless steel gets electropolished, it strips away its surface layers thoroughly. Due to that, the tiny flaws on the surface also get removed, giving the stainless steel a microscopically smooth finish.
Now the most critical question – do you know why pharmaceutical professionals electropolish different types of stainless steel? The main goal of doing this is to improve the steel’s sterility, or you can say make it free from bacteria or other living microorganisms. In addition to that, it also makes it easy to sanitize the steel down the line. Everything boils down to a point – the smooth surface of electropolished steel makes it challenging for microbes to stay on its surface, making it easy to clean whenever required.
Summing-up
So, in this content piece, you saw various applications and advantages of 316 stainless steel for pharmaceutical use. If you also supervise a pharmaceutical facility, you must get into conversation with a trusted stainless steel material supplier like FastMetals to meet your specific needs. FastMetals sells metal pipe products for structural applications like framing, fencing and handrail creation. Not only that, if you need customized stainless steel products for your particular pharmaceutical application, don’t forget that the customer-centric steel dealer is just a call away. Besides this, if you have got doubts about the pricing and delivery of steel products, you can clarify that with their representatives through call or email.
