Answer:
The answer you are looking for is very broad, best left to the expertise of material science engineers. As an example, in vessel and piping design, many variables come in to play, such as material grade, pressure, temperature, fluid chemistry, flow rate, thermal and mechanical stresses in the material, etc.. To give one scenario, certain high temp. & pressure hydrogen rich processes will result in severe stress corrosion cracking of stainless steel, where as lower grade carbon steel will hold up. There are a great deal of situations in which s/stl is not the best option for corrosion resistance. It would help to be more specific in the situation you have.