Stainless steel is considered one of the most common types of metal and is used in many industries. For specific purposes, various types of steel are produced, marked according to domestic and foreign nomenclature.
The main property of stainless steel is its almost complete resistance to corrosion under the influence of natural oxidation and aggressive environments. This feature of steel is manifested due to the increased chromium content in the original alloy. Also in the composition of stainless steel there are impurities of nickel and various elements accompanying smelting and giving additional properties: carbon, manganese, phosphorus, silicon, titanium and others. Depending on the percentage of additives, the steel grade is determined, which is recorded in accordance with Russian or foreign standards.
Stainless steel marking according to GOST
The CIS countries have the most intuitive marking scheme for stainless steel. In accordance with the state standardization of production, any grade of stainless steel has a general form: 00X11H22M3, where each letter denotes a chemical element, and the number following it denotes the content of this element in the alloy. That is, steel grade 03X17H14M2 contains about 17% chromium, 14% nickel and 2% molybdenum. In addition to these substances, there are other components in steel, the exact content of which can be specified in a special table.
Stainless steel grades according to AISI
The American standard does not always indicate the composition of the alloy in the name of the brand, but only defines the group and family of stainless steels or the product code. The stamp entry is as follows: AISI 304 or AISI N08904. The exact correspondence of steel grades and their composition can be established using a special table. In any case, general-purpose brands consist of three digits, and those starting with an alphabetic prefix N or S are special compounds that have no analogues in the domestic designation system.
German marking of stainless steel
The German manufacturer assigns to the products the code names of the stainless steel grades that are closest to the CIS standard. The notation system is called DIN, and the general form of the mark is approximately the following: X3CrNiMnMoNbN 23-17-5-3. That is, at the beginning of the designation the type of stainless steel is indicated, then the chemical elements that are present in the alloy in the form of impurities are listed, and at the end the content of these elements is indicated in the same order in which they were listed.
Stainless steel with European markings
In European countries, steel grades are designated 1.4301. The specified steel grade, for example, is analogous to 08X18H10 in the notation system of the CIS countries. In Europe, it is customary to indicate only the digital code of the alloy, and the exact chemical composition and purpose of the metal is determined by a tabular method.
