Stainless Mesh Grade for Wood Pellet Baskets

Cast iron is traditionally used for the grates of coal-fired boilers.

I know that, these baskets are light weight and burn wood pellets in the common wood stove . Thanks for the comment.

This may help. It's from:

Table 1. Maximum service temperatures in dry air, based on scaling resistance (ref: ASM Metals Handbook)

Thanks for the info .

OTOH, how reliable is the table? Some of the continuous ratings are higher than the intermittent ratings, which doesn't compute. Nonetheless, three of the alloys are clearly better. Cross check with another source or two, and compare costs....

Yes, I noticed that, but it came from what I believe to be a reliable source. I'm not a metallurgist though.

Milo will know.

I am not an engineer but I do a lot of machining & fabricating and anytime you need something to stand up under heat use 310 SS - the fancy chart the other guy posted clearly shows it way ahead of most of the other grades. I have personally worked with 310 and it's not much harder to work with than 316 and has much better heat resistance. I believe that the L on the 316 is for low temp rating not high am I right? Usually bar stock comes as 316/316L dual certified so I am unclear as to what practical difference the L makes.

The L means that the carbon content is controlled(as in low) and I believe that this means enhanced high temperature performance, as you indicate.

Chemical resistance is better, too I believe.

Milo will know.

You MAY wish to try a corrosion resistant coating on whatever material you decide upon. This way you could get away with a cheaper base material.

Diamond films are traditionally the hardest coating material and extremely resistant to corrosion - while also providing superior thermal conduction.

One provider is called Industrial Hard Carbon, LLC but there ARE more.

Why not carbon steel, the material typically used to construct fossil fuel fired boilers? I don't believe the density (weight) will be all that much different than that of any of the austenitic grades listed above.

Thank you all , I will look into the 310 and the other ideas .

It depends on the the failure mechanism you are experiencing. Coating the basket with a high temperature coating such as ceramic, may help. I also suggest trying high temperature alloys such as inconel.

Inconel might get a bit pricey for a home wood stove eh welderguy? We make industrial mesh strainer elements from 304 (L) and 316 (L) and they are pricey...I can only imagine whay incoloy or inconel would be!!

You might be right, but OP hasn't suggested a cost constraint. I remember when a crazy engineer suggested the use of platinum in catalytic converters. The consensus was that it was not only too pricey for a car eh guest, but that the engineer was nuts.

Point taken welderman.....an engineer....nuts? surely you must be joking!!

Hello Tom, Brian Grady here I bought a welder from you are you still out there . I asked about weld heads a year or two ago . Thank you .Brian

Inconel might be pricy initially but if you're having to replace material that is not working all the time, then the price of the good stuff will pay for itself.

Yea, Inconel may be a bit too pricey but Diamond films, made from methane gas, can cost pennies per square ft to apply. Depends on your supplier.

I would recommend going with something other than stainless, regardless of its rating due to the high corrosive atmosphere. Relatively cheap, abundant and very tolerant of what you are describing would be alumina-ceramic mesh that would take the heat and the corrosion well in stride. Industrial ceramics are the way to go.

I think that ceramics is the way to go also. Very good tolerance to heat and stress from diffusing chemicals from the unburned contaminants.

For the application you are trying I would suggest RA330 This is what I am using in an application that requires high temp holding of products.

You might consider aluminized steel....

The pellet baskets have to be cast.

As a minimum the base, we leave you an example,

see in https://www.pelletaran.com/?lang=en