316 and 316L stainless steel
In recent years, 316 stainless steel because of its ultra-high temperature, super corrosion resistance, ultra-high strength, ultra-easy processing and other advantages gradually applied in the field of decorative welded pipe, I will be part of the member companies have begun trial production orders This steel pipe. So, what is the difference between 316 and 316L?
316L is widely used in the chemical industry due to its excellent corrosion resistance. 316L is also a derivative of 18-8 austenitic stainless steel with 2 to 3% Mo addition. On the basis of 316L, also derived a lot of steel, such as adding a small amount of Ti derived 316Ti, adding a small amount of N derived 316N, increasing Ni, Mo content derived 317L.
Most of the existing 316L on the market is produced according to the American Standard. For reasons of cost, steel mills generally try to lower the Ni content of the product as far as possible. American standard, 316L Ni content of 10 to 14%, the Japanese standard provides, 316L Ni content of 12 to 15%. According to the lowest standard, the American standard and the Japanese standard have 2% difference in the Ni content, reflecting that the price is still quite huge, so customers still need to see when choosing the 316L products. Whether the products refer to ASTM or JIS standards.
316L Mo content makes the steel has excellent resistance to pitting corrosion, can be safely used in halogen-containing Cl- and other environments. Because 316L is mainly used for its chemical properties, steel mills require a slightly lower surface inspection (relative to 304) for 316L, and require more surface inspection for customers with higher surface requirements.
As 316L and 304 have a considerable price gap, some bad traders will 304 pretend 316L for sale. Because 304 does not have anti-pitting ability, if there is pitting and puncture will cause leakage, which in the chemical industry will result in a major safety accident, it is recommended to purchase customers to do chemical composition analysis of the product to ensure safety.
There are seldom 316 steel grades on the market, with the C content of 316 at 0.08% upper limit and the 316L C content at 0.03% upper limit. Due to the current refining technology is already very mature, the steel mills can be very good to reduce the C content, and the market demand for 316 is not large, so the general only 316L steel mills, if you need 316 steel mills ordered orders.
316 and 316L due to the different C content, there is a gap in performance. The higher the C content, the easier it is for intergranular corrosion, as in welding. The higher C content will also increase the tensile and yield strength of 316L. 316 tensile and yield strength upper limit were 515,205MPa, 316L tensile and yield strength upper limit 485 and 170MPa, respectively, while the elongation and hardness American standards are the same, respectively, 40% and HB217.
As can be seen from the above data, if customers need to be welded stainless steel, we recommend the use of 316L. If you do not need welding, but the higher the strength of stainless steel, you can use 316.
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