What is the Difference Between Stainless Steel 304, 304L, 316, and 316L

Steel: iron is the main element, carbon content is generally less than 2%, and contains other elements.

Iron: a metal element, atomic number 26. Iron materials have strong ferromagnetism and good plasticity and thermal conductivity.

Stainless steel: resistant to air, steam, water and other corrosive medium or stainless steel. The commonly used steel grades are 304, 304L, 316 and 316L, which are 300 series steel of austenitic stainless steel.

Performance introduction of 304 stainless steel:

304 stainless steel is the most common steel. As a kind of widely used steel, it has good corrosion resistance, heat resistance, low temperature strength and mechanical properties; stamping, bending and other heat processing properties, no heat treatment hardening.

Scope of application of 304 stainless steel:

Household products (cabinets, indoor pipelines, water heaters, boilers, bathtubs)

Auto parts (windshield wipers, mufflers, mouldings)

Medical appliances, building materials, chemistry, food industry, agriculture, marine parts

The performance of 304L stainless steel (L for low carbon):

As a low carbon 304 steel, its corrosion resistance is similar to that of 304 in the general state, but after welding or removing the stress, the corrosion resistance of the grain boundary is excellent. Under the condition of no heat treatment, it can also maintain good corrosion resistance and use the temperature of -196 to 800.

Application range of 304L stainless steel:

Open-air machines used in chemical, coal and petroleum industries with high requirements for grain boundary corrosion resistance, heat-resistant parts of building materials and parts with difficulty in heat treatment.

Performance introduction of 316 stainless steel:

316 stainless steel is especially good for its corrosion resistance, atmospheric corrosion resistance and high temperature strength because of the addition of molybdenum. It can be used under harsh conditions; it has excellent working hardening.

Scope of application of 316 stainless steel：

In the sea water use equipment, chemical, dye, paper, oxalic acid, fertilizer and other production equipment; image, food industry, coastal area facilities, rope, CD rod, bolt, nut.

The performance of 316L stainless steel (L for low carbon)：

As a low carbon series of 316 steel, it has excellent resistance to grain boundary corrosion except for the same properties as the 316 steel.

Application range of 316L stainless steel:

The product that has a special requirement against the corrosion of the grain boundary.

Comparison of performance of 316 and 316L stainless steel:

316 and 316L stainless steel are molybdenum containing stainless steel. The molybdenum content of 316L stainless steel is slightly higher than that of 316 stainless steel. Because of molybdenum in steel, the overall performance of the steel is superior to 310 and 304 stainless steel. 316 stainless steel also has good chloride corrosion properties, so it is usually used in marine environment. The maximum carbon content of 316L stainless steel is 0.03, which can be used for annealing and maximum corrosion resistance after welding.

Corrosion resistance of 316 and 316L stainless steel:

316 the corrosion resistance of stainless steel is better than that of 304 stainless steel. It has good corrosion resistance in the production process of pulp and paper. Moreover, 316 stainless steel is also resistant to erosion of the marine and corrosive industrial atmosphere.

Generally speaking, 304 stainless steel and 316 stainless steel have little difference in chemical corrosion resistance, but there are differences in some specific media.

Initially developed stainless steel is 304, in specific cases, this material is more sensitive to Pitting Corrosion. An extra 2-3% of molybdenum can reduce this sensitivity, which is 316. In addition, these extra molybdenum can also reduce the corrosion of some hot organic acids.

316 stainless steel has almost become a standard material for food and beverage industry. Due to the worldwide shortage of molybdenum and more nickel in 316 stainless steel, 316 stainless steel is more expensive than 304 stainless steel.

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