There is a lot of overlap in the grades. The big difference is that N80 may be normalized, normalized and tempered, or quenched and tempered where L80 must be quench and tempered. Since it is quenched and tempered, L80 can be suitable for some sour environments, particularly if the hardness is kept below 23 HRC. Because of the higher yield to tensile ratio in the Q & T condition, the tensile strength of L80 is dropped a little compared to N80.
Historically, N80 was introduced first. Some users preferred the quenched and tempered version. They didn't want to change the grade to require Q & T since the normalized product was popular (and a lower cost), so they introduced the L80 grade.
Since most performance calculations are based on minimum yield, they can often be interchanged. Many high-end users will require L80 only, however.
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