A large variety of stainless steel sheet metal is available in the hardware market for serving a huge number of purposes, in diverse sectors and industries. These are available in different grades of stainless steel having different shapes and sizes, to fit the varied needs of people. Some of them have such brushed finish that they are used for decorative applications also. The selection of the grade of steel sheets therefore, should be made depending entirely on the purpose of any work and its specific usage. Considering the purpose of work, one should decide over which alloy of stainless steel sheet will be the best for that particular use. The correct choice of alloy of stainless steel sheet not only gives better durability, but It also makes any work related to fabrication or construction much easier. This obviously increases the standard of work done and it further ensures a better result as a whole.

Gradation of stainless steel sheet 

There are a lot of alloys of stainless steel that are used to make metal sheets. They differ from each other in their chemical components and their physical properties. While some of them are corrosion-resistant, the others are wieldable. While some of them are highly resistant to scaling at high temperatures, others have machine-ability and wield-ability. Some of the most popular grades of stainless steel sheets are T-304, 316, 301, 302, 310, 321, 347, 410, 430, 15-5, 17-4 and 17-7. Each of these grades of stainless steel is available in the market in forms of sheet, to choose from, according to the specific work to be done on it.

• The most commonly used stainless steel in the world is the T-304 grade. It has multiple properties like, weildability and machinability with the right techniques, it is a considerably good corrosion resistant material and it can be hardened by cold work. However it is not good to be used in salt water environments. This grade of steel alloy is found in everything starting from forks and knives to things like backsplashes.
• T-316 is known as marine grade stainless steel having a superior corrosion resistance and higher yield strength than T-304. It cannot be bent easily and is hardened by cold work.
• T-301 and T-302 are alloy sheets having a bright shining surface and are used for ornamental applications. Both of them have good yield strength and they are also corrosion-resistant.
• T-310 is ideal for works that needs high resistance to scaling at temperature of 2000 degree F.
• Though T-321 has many similar properties like T-304, but, it is more machine-friendly because of its titanium content that limits the carbide precipitation.
• T-347 stainless steel is similar to T-321 but has Niobium and Tantalum contents to limit the carbide precipitation. All the above mentioned alloys are hardened by cold work.
• While T-410 alloy is hardened by cold work, the T-430 alloy is not hardened by either by cold work or by heat treatment. T-430 alloy is a magnetic grade of stainless steel, which has less corrosion resistance and weak wield- ability than common alloys of 303 or 304.
• Some alloys of stainless steel that are known as PH or precipitation-hardening grade and are highly suitable for aircraft industries, are the alloys like, T-15-5, T-17-4, and T-17-7. They are all known for their strength and the wide range of heat treatments that can be applied to reach a specified hardness or other properties. T-17-4 is slightly more magnetic since it has more ferrite. T-17-7 is the most formable PH grades and has the highest strength and hardness.

After reading this blog you have all the necessary details about stainless steel sheet metal. Get in touch with us to get few more information.