GRADE GUIDE · SA387 GR22
SA387 Grade 22 is 2.25Cr-1Mo pressure-vessel plate — the step above Grade 11 for the hottest, hardest refinery duty. Doubled chromium and molybdenum buy higher creep strength and much better resistance to high-temperature hydrogen attack, which is why hydrocrackers and hydrotreater reactors specify it.
Also listed as: ASME SA387-22 · A387 Gr.22 · 10CrMo9-10 (near) · 1.7380 (near)
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Grade 22 exists for the service conditions that retire other steels: hydroprocessing reactors where hot, high-pressure hydrogen would eat Grade 11, steam piping and headers pushing past its creep limits, and vessel walls that must hold strength for decades at temperature. The 2.25Cr-1Mo system is one of the most-studied alloys in pressure-vessel history precisely because so much refinery capital rides on it.
It shares Grade 11's fabrication discipline and raises the stakes — preheat, matching consumables and post-weld heat treatment are effectively mandatory, and code work tracks the plate's heat-treatment history closely. Off-cuts from vessel fabricators serving the region's refineries are certified, traceable drops; for test coupons, nozzles, and repair patches they are a far cheaper source than a fresh mill order.
At high temperature and hydrogen partial pressure, hydrogen diffuses into steel and reacts with carbides, blistering and weakening it from within. Higher chromium stabilises the carbides — the Nelson curves show Gr22 holding safe far beyond Gr11's envelope.
Somewhat — more alloy means more hardenability in the weld zone, so preheat and post-weld heat treatment windows are tighter and code oversight stricter. Both grades are routine for shops equipped for chrome-moly; neither is casual work.
Yes, when sold with the mill certificate — heat number on the plate ties the drop to its original documentation. MTC-badged listings on the platform release the certificate after purchase.