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Great deep drawability, resistance to stress-corrosion cracking, and good ductility. Here’s a closer look at the ferritic family of stainless steel.
Today there are roughly 200 different grades of stainless steel, all of which fall within one of the five families of stainless steel:
- Austenitic
- Ferritic
- Martensitic
- Duplex
- Precipitation Hardening
In previous blogs we explored austenitic and martensitic stainless steels, detailing where to use some common grades and why. Here, the focus is on ferritic stainless steels.
All stainless steels are iron-based alloys containing at least 10.5% chromium. The rest of the makeup is defined by various alloying elements, which control the microstructure of the alloy. For ferritic stainless steels, that make up includes nickel and titanium.
Characteristics: High in chromium, magnetic stainless steels that have low carbon content. Known for good ductility, resistance to corrosion and stress corrosion cracking. Commonly used in automotive applications, kitchenware, and industrial equipment.
Now let’s take a closer look at four ferritic grades to see which are best suited for what applications – and why.
Where to use it: Automotive exhaust systems, applications that demand weldability
Why: Good resistance to oxidation and corrosion and creates opportunities to economically improve the performance of a wide range of parts where surface appearance is not important. Great formability and weldability allow this to be used in many applications.
Where to use it: Industrial and consumer products like fridge panels, chimney liners, dish washer linings, and automotive trim.
Why: This grade combines good corrosion and heat resistance with good mechanical properties. It also has excellent stress corrosion cracking resistance as well as resistance to organic acids and nitric acid.
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Where to use it: Automotive exhaust systems, residential furnace heat exchangers, and commercial food equipment.
Why: The addition of titanium as a stabilizer helps this grade avoid the loss of ductility after welding and can also be annealed, cold formed, or in a welded condition.
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Where to use it: Kitchen catering equipment, automotive-exhaust components, elevator panels, wall panels, and heat exchangers.
Why: This grade is dual stabilized with both titanium and columbium which lessens the prevalence of titanium stringers. It also has great weldability and oxidation and corrosion resistance due to the addition of titanium and niobium stabilization.
