Know your metal · Myth 01

Your magnet doesn’t know much about stainless steel.

For decades people have walked into stainless-steel businesses carrying a magnet as though it’s a handheld laboratory.

Magnet sticks?
“Cheap stainless.”
Magnet doesn’t stick?
“Proper stainless.”

If only metallurgy were that easy.

Stainless isn’t stainless because of nickel

The element principally responsible for stainless steel’s corrosion resistance is chromium.

Nickel is enormously useful and is an important part of familiar grades such as 304. But nickel isn’t the magic ingredient separating real stainless from the impostors.

Which brings us to 430.

Clunk.

Put a magnet against Type 430. It sticks.

430 is ferritic stainless steel. It is magnetic because of its metallurgical structure. Not because somebody forgot to put the stainless in.

Magnetic ≠ inferior.

Different material. Different properties. Different applications.

Then nickel went through the roof

A commodity price changed the argument.

LME nickel price, 2004 to 2010 Nickel traded around US$14,000 a tonne in 2004 and 2005, climbed through 2006 and peaked in May 2007 at roughly US$54,200 a tonne, then fell back below US$10,000 by the end of 2008. 10k20k30k40k50k2004200520062007200820092010 MAY 2007 ≈ US$54,200 / TONNE 2004–05: AROUND US$14,000 DEC 2008: BELOW US$10,000 US$/T
LME nickel price, 2004–2010. Plotted from published monthly highs and lows for each year; the path between those points is indicative. The May 2007 monthly average was about US$52,000 a tonne, with the spot peak around US$54,200.

Nickel prices exploded. 304 became increasingly expensive. Customers started looking for alternatives.

And the stainless-steel industry had a problem. If stainless became too expensive, customers didn’t necessarily buy another stainless steel. They could move the application to aluminium, coated carbon steel, plastics or something else entirely.

So ferritic stainless suddenly received enormous attention.

430 hadn’t suddenly become a good stainless steel.

We suddenly had a very good financial reason to explain why it had been good all along.

Funny what a commodity price can do for metallurgy.

Meet the family

Five worth knowing.

304

The all-rounder

Austenitic

The famous 18/8. Excellent general-purpose stainless. Formable, weldable and widely used in food, kitchen and industrial applications.

316

When things get nasty

Austenitic · with molybdenum

Additional corrosion resistance, particularly valuable in chloride, marine and more aggressive environments.

430

The misunderstood one

Ferritic · magnetic

Low or no nickel. An excellent material in the right indoor, appliance, decorative and heat-related applications.

409

The worker

Ferritic

Associated particularly with automotive exhaust applications. Heat, oxidation resistance and economics can matter more than maintaining a beautiful polished appearance.

3CR12

The South African

Corrosion-resisting utility steel

A South African-developed steel occupying useful territory between ordinary carbon steel and higher-alloy stainless steels.

So which is best?

Wrong question.

Best for what?

  • A restaurant worktop?
  • A coastal balustrade?
  • An exhaust?
  • An extractor?
  • A bakery trolley?
  • A braai grid?
  • A flame tamer?

Different jobs. Different environments. Different materials.

The right metal. The right place. For the right reason.

Still don’t believe us? Bring your magnet. We’ll put the kettle on.

Get a price

Not sure which grade you need?

Tell us where the part will live, what it will touch and how it will be cleaned. We will tell you what we would make it from.

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Upper Elsies River, Cape Town

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