Stainless steel is applied largely in various sectors such as construction, transport, energy or medical sectors. Mainly for its characteristics like corrosion-resistance, light-weight, durability, sustainability, cost-efficiency and much more. However, stainless steel grades must be chosen carefully for the best results. There are many stainless steel suppliers in South Africa, but you must select the grade that will provide the best quality stainless steel at a competitive rate in order to maximise the lifespan.

You can choose the perfect stainless steel grade by considering these facts:

Resistance level: The biggest advantage of stainless steel is its high corrosion resistance. For maximum corrosion-resistance, you need to choose austenitic or duplex alloy which means you need grades like 304, 304L, 316, 316L etc. Austenitic grades are also a great choice for temperature-resistance. Find a grade that contains a large amount of silicon, chromium, nitrogen as these elements enhances its resistance to high temperatures, for example, grades like 310 etc. for low-temperature resistance. You can choose grades with high nitrogen and low carbon proportion, such as 304, 310, 316 etc.

Welding capability: If you need to weld your stainless steel, then you must choose grades that will not have problems like stress corrosion cracks, intergranular corrosion and hot cracks. Low carbon grades are great for welding, for example, 304L, 316, 347, 430, 439 etc. grades would be great for welding.

Strength factor: You should only use strong stainless steel to ensure everyone’s safety as well as its durability so that no material or money is wasted. How strong of a stainless steel you need depends on your use case. For normal strength, you may consider using duplex steels. Austenitic grades are great for moderate strength, such as the 316 grade. However, in the construction and transportation industry where you need strong materials, martensitic and precipitation hardening grades are best.

Tolerance to heat treatment: Stainless steel structures need to undergo heat treatment for shaping and sizing. It is very crucial to choose the proper grade that can withstand this heat treatment, or the characteristics of stainless steel will change drastically before and after this treatment which is not preferred. In this case, it is better to avoid ferritic and austenitic stainless steels as they cannot be hardened once heat is applied. Martensitic or precipitation hardening steel is always a good choice.

Machining tolerance: Stainless steel is not difficult to machine but the problem is that there might be some unwanted results. For example, the welding capacity, formability or corrosion resistance of the material can be reduced. So, you need to find a suitable grade that can balance between machinability and resistance so that you can perform various machining and fabrication on the stainless steel structures without any worries. Grades that are great for this are 303, 416, 430 etc.

Keeping these points in mind will help you choose the correct stainless steel grades for different purposes.