Stainless Steel Materials

Stainless steels contain a minimum of 10.5% chromium, which forms a self-healing passive chromium oxide layer providing corrosion resistance. The five families—austenitic (304, 316), ferritic (430), martensitic (410, 420), duplex (2205), and precipitation-hardening (17-4PH)—each offer distinct balances of corrosion resistance, strength, formability, and cost. Austenitic grades (300-series, non-magnetic) dominate at ~70% of stainless production for food processing, chemical, and architectural applications. PREN (Pitting Resistance Equivalent Number) is the key metric for chloride environment selection.

34 materials cross-referenced. Showing page 1 of 2.