Stainless Steel Properties, Grades and Applications

Stainless steel, a material renowned for its corrosion resistance and durability, finds applications across a range of industries, from medicine and food processing to architecture and automobile manufacturing. Its unique properties, such as high tensile strength, excellent thermal conductivity, and low coefficient of thermal expansion, make it an ideal material for a variety of uses. In this article, we will explore stainless steel properties, its grades, and its applications in detail.

Stainless Steel Properties, Grades and Applications:

Grade: 301
301 Stainless Steel Properties: Compared with 304 steel, it has lower Cr and Ni content, and its tensile strength and hardness increase during cold working. It is non-magnetic, but magnetic after cold working.
Applications: used in trains, aircraft, conveyor belts, vehicles, bolts, nuts, springs, screens, and other applications.

Grade: 301L
301L stainless steel properties: Based on 301 steel, it reduces C content to improve the resistance of the weld seam to intergranular corrosion; it adds N element to compensate for the strength loss caused by the reduction of C content, ensuring the strength of the steel.
Applications: used as frame and external decorative materials for railway vehicles.

Grade: 303
303 stainless steel properties: It adds S to the composition of 304, which has good cutting performance but poorer corrosion resistance than 304.
Applications: It is suitable for occasions that require easy cutting and high surface finish, especially suitable for automatic lathes. It can be processed into bolts and nuts, etc.

Grade: 303Cu
303Cu stainless steel properties: It adds Cu to the basis of 303, which has better cutting and forming properties than 303.
Applications: The same as 303. It is suitable for occasions that require cutting and surface finish for automatic lathes.

Grade: 304
304 stainless steel properties: The most common steel grade in stainless steel. It has good corrosion resistance, heat resistance, low-temperature strength, and mechanical properties. It has good hot workability, such as stamping and bending, without heat treatment hardening phenomenon (non-magnetic, using temperature -196℃~800℃).
Applications: It is widely used in many fields, such as household goods, automotive parts, medical equipment, construction materials, chemicals, food industry, agriculture, ship parts, etc.

Grade: 304L
304L stainless steel properties: As a low-C 304 steel, its corrosion resistance is similar to that of 304 steel under normal conditions. However, after welding or stress relief, it has excellent resistance to intergranular corrosion. It also maintains good corrosion resistance without heat treatment, and the using temperature is -196℃~800℃.
Applications: It is used in chemical, coal, oil industry equipment, construction materials, heat-resistant parts, and parts that are not easy to heat treat due to the need for high resistance to intergranular corrosion.

Grade: 304Cu
304Cu stainless steel properties: It adds Cu to the basis of 304, which improves antibacterial properties and formability, and is beneficial for environments that require hygiene and deep processing products.
Applications: Thermos bottles, kitchen sinks, pots, pans, lunch boxes, door handles, textile processing machines.

Grade: 304H
304H stainless steel properties: It increases the carbon content based on 304 steel, which improves the strength during cold rolling processing.
Applications: It is mostly used for wire materials and fishing hooks.

Grade: 304N
304N stainless steel properties: It adds N to the basis of 304, which improves the strength of the steel.
Applications: It is suitable for occasions that require high cold-forming performance, such as pump shafts and ship shafts.

Grade: 316
316 stainless steel properties: It adds Mo to the composition of 304, which has excellent corrosion resistance, corrosion resistance to atmospheric conditions, and high temperature strength. It can be used in severe conditions with excellent processing hardenability (non-magnetic).
Applications: Equipment used in sea water, chemicals, dyes, paper making, grass acid, fertilizers and other production equipment; photography, food industry, coastal facilities, ropes, CD rods, bolts, nuts and other applications.

Grade: 316L
316L stainless steel properties: As a low-C version of 316 steel, it has the same characteristics as 316 steel in addition to excellent resistance to intergranular corrosion.
Applications: Products that require special resistance to intergranular corrosion in the applications of 316 steel.

Grade: 321
321 Stainless Steel Properties: It adds Ti to 304 steel to prevent intergranular corrosion and is suitable for use at temperatures ranging from 430℃ to 900℃.
Applications: Aircraft, exhaust pipes, boiler drums.

Grade: 309S
309S stainless steel properties: It has good high-temperature oxidation resistance and high-temperature durability. The heat resistance temperature can reach 900℃. Under no-load conditions, the maximum heat resistance temperature can reach 1000℃.
Applications: Heat treatment furnaces, heating furnaces, power plant boiler heat exchangers, flue gas exhaust systems and other high-temperature environmental equipment.

Grade: 310S
310S stainless steel properties: It has good high-temperature oxidation resistance and high-temperature durability. The heat resistance temperature can reach 1000℃. Under no-load conditions, the maximum heat resistance temperature can reach 1100℃.
Applications: Heat treatment furnaces, heating furnaces, power plant boiler heat exchangers, flue gas exhaust systems and other high-temperature environmental equipment.

Grade: 410
410 stainless steel properties: A representative steel of martensite structure. Although it has high strength, it is not suitable for harsh corrosion environments. It has good processing properties, hardens after heat treatment, and is magnetic.
Applications: Blades, mechanical components, oil refining equipment, bolts, nuts and other applications.

Grade: 416
416 stainless steel properties: It increases the S content on the basis of 410 to enhance cutting performance. It can be strengthened by heat treatment. The strength and cutting machinability of 416 are better than those of 304 and 316, and its coefficient of friction is small, but its corrosion resistance is not as good as that of 304 and 316.
Applications: It is widely used in CNC automatic lathes for the production of electromagnetic valves, micro-motors, and electrical components.

Grade: 420
420 stainless steel properties: A high-carbon version of 410. It has good hardness after quenching, corrosion resistance, and magnetic properties.
Applications: Blades, pipe tips, valves, ruler, cutlery (scissors, knives).

Grade: 431
431 stainless steel properties: This is a kind of steel with good strength and toughness among martensitic stainless steels. It has good corrosion resistance to oxidizing acids, most organic acids, and aqueous solutions of organic salts.
Applications: Aircraft parts, bolts, wiper arm bearings, springs, bearings and other applications.

Grade: 440A, 440B, 440C
Properties: High chromium content and good toughness. It can be heat-treated to achieve high hardness.
Applications: Knives, bearings and other applications.

Grade: 430
430 stainless steel properties: As a representative steel of ferrite, it has low thermal expansion rate, good formability, and good oxidation resistance.
Applications: Heat-resistant appliances, burners, household appliances, tableware, kitchen sinks, etc.

Grade: 430F
430F stainless steel properties: It increases the S content on the basis of 430 to improve the cutting performance.
Applications: Heat-resistant appliances, burners, household appliances, tableware, kitchen sinks, etc.

Grade: 630 (17-4PH)
Properties: It is an improved type of 431. It is a precipitation-hardening type. The hardness can be easily adjusted through heat treatment. The cold working hardening is obvious.
Applications: Gears, shafts, valves, etc.

Grade: 631 (17-7PH)
Properties: It is an improved type of 301. It is a semi-austenitic precipitation-hardening type. The forming processing at room temperature is good.
Applications: Aircraft structural materials or precision mechanical springs, etc.

Grade: 2205
Properties: It is a duplex stainless steel that combines the advantages of ferrite and austenite. It has high strength and toughness. The stress corrosion resistance and pitting resistance are higher than that of 316L.
Applications: Oil and gas, petrochemicals, fertilizers, bridges, buildings, and chemical tankers, etc.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading our article and we hope it can help you to have a better understanding of stainless steel properties, grades and applications. If you want to find more information about stainless steel, we’d advise you to visit Sino Stainless Steel for more information.

As a leading supplier of stainless steel products, Sino Stainless Steel provides customers with high-quality stainless steel products such as polished stainless steel plates, etched stainless steel sheets, stainless steel bars, stainless steel coils, and stainless steel tubes at a very competitive price.