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Understanding Stainless Steel Grades

Westlock Controls manufactures a number of control transmitters, network systems, control


and position monitors in stainless steel to provide enhanced corrosion or oxidation-resistance
in tough industrial environments.
Stainless steel derives its properties from its chemical composition, of which there are three
key elements:
Chromium: Stainless steel contains a minimum of 10.5% chromium because this level causes
the spontaneous formation of a stable, transparent, passive, protective film. Increasing the
level of chromium enhances corrosion resistance.
Nickel: Adding nickel improves toughness, ductility and, where appropriate, weldability. Nickel
increases resistance to oxidation, carburization, nitriding, thermal fatigue and strong acids.
Molybdenum: Improves resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion in environments containing
chloride and corrosion by sulfuric, phosphoric and hydrochloric acids. It also improves
mechanical properties at elevated temperatures.
Stainless steel designations
There is a broad variety of designations for stainless steel grades by different international
testing and standards organisations worldwide. Each is based on the materials chemical
composition and the most widely used is ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials
International).
There are different designations for materials to be used for castings, such as enclosures, than
those for components manufactured from bar/forged material, typically shafts and fasteners.
Although the cast and bar versions are commonly used in combination because they provide
similar performance, there are some chemistry differences, primarily to improve castability
and soundness. Therefore, when specifying material for cast components it is inappropriate to
use a designation such as type 316, when the correct specification would be type CF8M.
The table below shows the comparative designations for the most commonly used stainless
steels.
Typical stainless steel grades

Key
Castings
UNS

Bar/Forging

Generic Description

ASTM

DIN

18Cr - 8Ni

A351 CF8

1.4308 J92600

SCS13A A276 304

18Cr - 8 Ni - LC *

A351 CF3

1.4306 J92500

SCS19A A276 304L 1.4306 S30403 SUS304L

18Cr - 9Ni - 2Mo

A351 CF8M 1.4408 J92900

18Cr - 9Ni - 2Mo - LC* A351 CF3M 1.4404 J92800

JIS

ASTM

SCS14A A276 316

DIN

UNS

JIS

1.4301 S30400 SUS 304


1.4401 S31600 SUS316

SCS16A A274 316L 1.4404 S31603 SUS 316L

* Carbon less than 0.03%

Stainless steel in Westlock Controls


Type CF8M is the most widely used for Westlock Controls enclosures as, with its bar
equivalent type 316, it provides a good balance of corrosion resistance, availability, strength and
cost. It also has excellent corrosion resistance in normal atmospheric conditions, including
coastal exposure. It resists most water and brines at ambient temperature although seawater
may cause pitting corrosion.
Other variations of stainless steel are used for certain applications where a small
compositional difference gives better performance to meet specific needs. Material with a low
carbon content is generally used to avoid corrosion problems caused by welding and so is not
relevant to cast components.
Stainless steel has several properties that can affect the application of the material,
specifically:
Fasteners
Westlock Controls use fasteners made from various stainless steel materials with 304 being
the most common and 316 being used to complement the CF8M stainless steel versions of our
products.
Magnetism
Although stainless steel 304, 316 and CF8M grades are normally viewed as non-magnetic, they
will all experience some degree of magnetism as a result of cold working or machining of the
various components.

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WESBUL-09080-US-1302

ASTM: American Society for Testing and


Materials International
DIN: Deutsches Institut fr Normung
UNS: Unified Numbering System
JIS: Japanese Industrial Standards

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