Report on Meeting

Abstract

The applicability of austenitic stainless steel for anchoring farade panels has been studied. It is shown that under certain conditions the possibility of stress corrosion in austenitic stainless steel fixings must be taken into account. Stress corrosion will occur only at a particular combination of stress, chloride concentration and temperature, and in practice the probability of serious damage has always been low. On the basis of ‘low-temperature’ stress corrosion tests in the laboratory, it has been decided in the Netherlands to allow the use of austenitic stainless steel for façade anchors only in conditions where the maximum anchor temperature does not rise above 50°c.

Dutch views on the applicability of austenitic steel as anchor material for façade panels are discussed.