Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Practical identification of stainless steel 304 vs 316
Q. Dear sir,
I am a scrap dealer and would please to know if there is any most practical and reliable method to identify grades of stainless steel among 304, 316 and others.
With regards
Wagon TeohElectrical Engineering - Singapore
2004
A. Common trick used by myself and a few other blacksmiths for recognizing high, mid, and low carbon steels. Take it to a bench or angle grinder ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , high carbon will produce lots of sparks, mid will do less, and low will produce very little.
Take a steel you know the carbon content of and use that as a gauge.
Good luck
Marc Banks- Elizabeth City, North Carolina
2004
A. I remembered something that may help you a bit more in identifying steel compositions. www.iforgeiron.com/Blueprints/BP0002Junk_Yard_Steel/BP002_Junk_Yard_Steel.htm. This will give you a basic idea as to what steel you are working with, I have found similar tables published in a few other blacksmithing references as well.
Marc Banks- Elizabeth City, North Carolina, USA
2004
Q. I have a pipe running along the ceiling of the factory, where I work, that I need to identify for my employer. I need to definitively identify whether the pipe is 316 stainless steel or not. And the pipe is about 10-12 ft high. How would I best go about doing that?
Any help would be much appreciated!
Thank you!
- Leonia, New Jersey, USA
November 20, 2012
A. Hi Mark. A portable x-ray fluorescence alloy sorter / scrap sorter ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] seems to me may be the most practical way to know in this instance. Good luck.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
November 21, 2012
Q. Thanks Ted.
The x-ray fluorescence equipment I researched is very expensive, even
to lease. Can you recommend an economical alternative to verify
Stainless Steel 316?
- Leonia, New Jersey, USA
November 29, 2012
A. Hi Mark. We like to explain things here with barnyard examples
and barnyard metaphors because our international and
English-as-a-second language readers then have no trouble following
the discussion. It's easy to sort chickens from horses by simply
counting the legs on the animal; but if someone throws some cows into
the mix now you have a problem.
Similarly, there are inexpensive chemical tests to distinguish
316 stainless steel from 304 stainless steel by, for example, looking
for molybdenum in the stainless. There are spark tests as well. These
tests are fine for sorting known materials. But the only way to know
for sure that something is 316 stainless steel rather than anything
else in the world is if it matches the chemical analysis for 316
stainless; so I don't know a way to be really sure that an unknown
material is 316 stainless except with a scrap sorter x-ray
fluorescence machine. But, yes, if the pipe passes a simple 316 test,
it is most likely 316.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
A. I found a Koslow kit, online, that looks like a good bet. Thank you very much for your help!
- Leonia, New Jersey, USA
December 23, 2012
adv.
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