The Properties of Stainless Steels
In economic terms stainless steels can compete with higher cost engineering metals and alloys based on nickel or titanium, whilst offering a range of corrosion resisting properties suitable for a wide range of applications.
They have a better strength than polymer products such as GRP. Stainless steels can be manipulated and fabricated using a wide range of commonly available engineering techniques and are fully "recyclable" at the end of their useful life.
In addition to their corrosion resistance, stainless steels also offer other useful properties, depending on their "family".
The austenitics, in the fully annealed heat-treated condition, are:
- Fracture tough at cryogenic temperatures
- Para-magnetic with relative magnetic permabilities around 1.05
The martensitic and precipitation hardening families are hardenable by heat treatment. The duplex stainless steels are stronger than the austenitic in the annealed condition and so can be used in thinner sections to save weight and cost. The ferritics are lower cost stainless steels.
