A Japanese producer has developed a high-molybdenum ferritic stainless steel which resists both erosion and corrosion in seawater service. The new stainless grade (ASTM A268/A268M, UNS S44800), with the proprietary name Sumitomo FS10, contains 4% molybdenum, 29% chromium and 2% nickel. The new grade has been installed as thin-walled tube at the Buzen thermal power plant, operated by Kyushu Electric Power of Japan. Because of the great performance of the tubes, the power company went on to replace over 100 (out of a total of 23,000) aluminium brass tubes with FS10 at another Buzen plant in 1997.
