Specialty Stainless – special grades and products

Outokumpu's Specialty Stainless division supplies both flat and stainless tubular products for tailored solutions and demanding customer applications. Project orders form an important part of the business, supported by a strong R&D function and extensive, long-term experience in delivering tailored solutions.

End-users

Specialty Stainless serves customers with very high requirements for steel grade, shape, thickness and surface finish in the oil and gas, chemical and petrochemical and pulp and paper industries as well as nuclear power plants.

Products, production and R&D

The main products produced by Specialty Stainless are hot and cold rolled sheet, quarto plate, tubes and a variety of fittings, and precision strip. Most of the stainless steel slabs supplied to Specialty Stainless units come from Outokumpu's melt shops in Avesta, Sweden and Sheffield, the UK.

In terms of finished products, Specialty Stainless units have a production capacity of:

• 500 000 tonnes of cold rolled and white hot strip and plate
• 170 000 tonnes of quarto plate
• 100 000 tonnes of tubular products

The focus of operations in Specialty Stainless is on differentiation and further specialisation in special grades and products, with development opportunities being offered to meet specific customer needs. Duplex grades in particular are an effective response to the increasing competition from standard grades of stainless steel. Outokumpu is a market leader in duplex grades with a global market share of some 50%. Read more about duplex.

At the Group's Avesta Research Centre in Sweden, the focus of R&D is on developing new grades of stainless steel, new applications and identifying the best solutions for each Outokumpu customer.
Read more about R&D.