types of steel
10-24-2009, 01:04 AM
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types of steel mild steel, carbon steel, stainless steel....
i know what mild is but, whats the difference between carbon steel and stainless?
i know what mild is but, whats the difference between carbon steel and stainless?
10-24-2009, 09:37 AM
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Stainless is a blend that resists corrosion/rust among other things. There are varying degrees and qualities of stainless, which can go from cheap to speciality metals such as Monel and Hastalloy. Generally stainless is graded by number systems, indicating what blend of metals they have in them. You have a 400 which is anything designated as 400, such as 402 stainless, 405 stainless or whatever. The 300 grades are generally regarded as higher qualities, such as 316 surgical stainless and such. I have seen the 400 grades of stainless actually start rusting fairly quick, I always try to get 300 grades if possible. Carbon steel is basically mild steel with a higher carbon content. We used carbon steel in welding school to learn to weld on. Its fairly common in the welding world.
10-24-2009, 07:34 PM
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Carbon steel basically only has carbon as it's alloy. Stainless is going to have nickel and chromium as the main alloys, namely chromium. The numbers simply refer to the different alloys that are in the steel.
Some places will actually call any steel that's not stainless carbon steel, but there are lots of different types of carbon steel as well based on the weight percent of carbon that's in them. The more carbon you have the harder the steel becomes, but the more brittle it tends to get.
With stainless, basically there is enough Chromium in the steel to where the Chromium is what oxidizes, not the iron, so there's no rust. Chromium oxide forms layers that are too thin to see, and it resists water and air. Also, the 400 stainlesses are usually ferric and have less resistance to corrosion, but are easier to weld and usually more formable and wear resistant.
Just realized how much I wrote.
In a word, the difference between carbon steel and stainless steel is: Chromium.
Some places will actually call any steel that's not stainless carbon steel, but there are lots of different types of carbon steel as well based on the weight percent of carbon that's in them. The more carbon you have the harder the steel becomes, but the more brittle it tends to get.
With stainless, basically there is enough Chromium in the steel to where the Chromium is what oxidizes, not the iron, so there's no rust. Chromium oxide forms layers that are too thin to see, and it resists water and air. Also, the 400 stainlesses are usually ferric and have less resistance to corrosion, but are easier to weld and usually more formable and wear resistant.
Just realized how much I wrote.
In a word, the difference between carbon steel and stainless steel is: Chromium. 