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Mark Heffernan Qld Pty. Ltd offers an extensive range of 316 Stainless Steel, adapters, connectors, couplings and accessories for Australia and abroad. 316 Stainless Steel is best suited to naval, marine, mining, oil and gas and corrosive environment applications.
If a job requires greater corrosion resistance than grade 304 can provide, grade 316 is the 'next step up'. Grade 316 has virtually the same mechanical, physical and fabrication characteristics as 304 with better corrosion resistance, particularly to pitting corrosion in chloride environments.
Grade 316 (UNS S31600) is the second most popular grade in the stainless steel family. It accounts for about 20% of all stainless steel produced.
Grade 316 has excellent corrosion resistance for a wide range of appliacations. Its main advantage of 316 Stainless Steel over grade 304 is its increased ability to resist pitting and crevice corrosion in warm chloride environments. It resists ordinary rusting in virtually all architectural applications, and is often chosen for more aggressive environments such as sea-front buildings, marine mining, shipping, gas and oil works and fittings on wharves and piers. It is also resistant to most food processing environments, can be readily cleaned, and resists organic chemicals, dye stuffs and a wide variety of inorganic chemicals.
Like other austenitic grades, 316 in the annealed condition is virtually non magnetic (ie very low magnetic permeability). While 304 can become significantly attracted to a magnet after being cold worked, grade 316 is almost always virtually totally non-responsive. This may be a reason for selecting grade 316 in some applications.
Stainless steels have higher resistance to oxidation (rust) and corrosion in many natural and man made environments; however, it is important to select the correct type and grade of stainless steel for the particular application.
High oxidation resistance in air at ambient temperature is normally achieved with additions of a minimum of 13% (by weight) chromium, and up to 26% is used for harsh environments. The chromium forms a passivation layer of chromium(III) oxide (Cr2O3) when exposed to oxygen. The layer is too thin to be visible, meaning the metal remains lustrous. It is, however, impervious to water and air, protecting the metal beneath. Also, this layer quickly reforms when the surface is scratched. This phenomenon is called passivation and is seen in other metals, such as aluminium and titanium. When stainless steel parts such as nuts and bolts are forced together, the oxide layer can be scraped off causing the parts to weld together. When disassembled, the welded material may be torn and pitted, an effect that is known as galling.
Please contact Mark Heffernan for a full list of 316 Stainless Steel products, or download our product listing here.
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