Our Hiflex™ is a martensitic chromium strip steel grade with a very high fatigue resistance. It has been designed to meet the tough demands on compressor valves brought about by trends within the compressor industry for smaller, highly energy-efficient compressors.
Advanced mechanical properties
Compared with other products in the market, our Hiflex™ compressor valve steel provides compressor manufacturers with a valve steel that can withstand a higher number of valve cycles. It also has higher fatigue strength under bending and impact stress, higher damping capacity as well as an ability to operate at elevated ambient temperatures (above 150ºC/302ºF).
The combination of these properties is expected to play a very important role in the next generation of compressors by influencing efficiency, output and noise levels.
The properties of our Hiflex™ are achieved by fine tuning of the micro-metallurgy and close control of the manufacturing processes which means that this grade outperforms all other compressor valve steels and is the optimum material choice. Our Hiflex™ is particularly suitable for high end compressors (rotary and reciprocating) in fully hermetic AC and cooling systems for domestic- and commercial applications.
Main characteristics of our Hiflex™ compressor valve steel
- High tensile strength and good ductility
- Extremely high fatigue strength under bending and impact stress
- Very high compressive residual surface stress
- Good wear resistance
- Suitable for use at elevated ambient temperatures (above 150°C/302ºF)