Feb. 17 -- Nippon Steel has received a Nikkei award for a breakthrough in ferritic stainless steel technology that uses a 0.1% tin addition as a partial substitute for chromium. The new stainless steel grade looks set to compete strongly with the two main representative grades of TP304 (18%Cr-8%Ni) and TP430 (18%Cr), which together currently account for a little over half of all stainless steel production of some 30 million tpy. The new product, NSSC FW1 (Forward One) stainless steel, was launched commercially in July 2010 and has a 14%Cr-0.1%Sn coating. The company said that it had received over 2,000 customer enquiries about the new product since its launch and that “ after almost 100 years since the invention of stainless steel, NSSC FW1 is expected to be counted as a candidate for a third representative grade.”

As further development of this technology, Nippon Steel has commercialized another grade of high-corrosion resistance, high-purity ferritic stainless steel, NSSC FW2 (Forward Two, 16%Cr-0.3%Sn), launched in December 2010.