A short passage tells the difference between 304 stainless steel and 316 stainless steel
Stainless steel has always been a reputation of excellent multi-functional materials, and since human use so far, stainless steel products, decorative pieces, pipes and other related products are constantly being developed, now in life, as long as casually glance two eyes can see the figure of stainless steel, then the question comes, the same as food grade stainless steel 304 stainless steel and 316 stainless steel where the difference?
Stainless steel is an alloy steel, by adding all kinds of trace elements to ordinary steel, such as: molybdenum, nickel, chromium, manganese and other elements, thereby improving the strength of the material itself, hardness, toughness, corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance, etc., since the invention of stainless steel, the world's known stainless steel models have reached more than 100 kinds.
It has been proved that the nickel content of 304 is less than 316, in theory, the higher the nickel content, the better the corrosion resistance of the material, the nickel element has good ductility, excellent corrosion resistance makes it one of the more important alloying elements of stainless steel.
In the industry, the content of alloying elements in the material is usually used to determine whether the product is passed; Such as 304 stainless steel, it is generally believed that as long as the nickel content is greater than 8%, the chromium content is greater than 18%, it can be identified as qualified, so 304 stainless steel is also called 18/8 stainless steel.
Compared with 304, 316 stainless steel obviously adds molybdenum element, can obtain better corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance, it can be said that 316 can do 304 can do 316, 304 can not do 316 can also do; To put it bluntly, 316 stainless steel is an enhanced version of 304 stainless steel.
So these two types of steel together, 304 stainless steel in addition to the price advantage, the rest are slightly inferior to 316 stainless steel, standing in the consumer's point of view, whether it is to do food machinery, kitchen utensils, medical equipment, there is no doubt that the choice of 316 stainless steel is the best, but only if you can accept the high price of 316; From the point of view of the manufacturer, for cost considerations, 304 stainless steel is the only choice, but also in line with the national production standards for related stainless steel products, kill two birds with one stone.
So the answer does not need to say much, 304 stainless steel and 316 stainless steel in addition to the alloying elements are not the same (316 containing molybdenum), the application field is also different, some with weak corrosion or more harsh environment or have to use 316 stainless steel, 304 stainless steel is just a little cheaper.
