How Can I Identify 304 Stainless Steel?

[carlos59]

There is a way to identify 304sst

Thank you

[Jim Wynne]

In Reply to Parent Post by carlos59

There is a way to identify 304sst

Thank you

Welcome to the Cove. I moved your post to a more appropriate forum. You're looking for a way to identify 304 stainless steel?

For starters, have a look at Stainless Steel--Sorting and Identifying

[Wes Bucey]

I've worked with stainless and non stainless steels almost continually for more than fifty years, starting as a sheet shear operator working nights to make money in college.

There are a number of "quick and dirty" ways to tell stainless from nonstainless, but I'm not aware of any sure fire way to distinguish between various grades of stainless without a chemical assay/analysis or chromatography.

One of the reasons some industries using such products put such a heavy emphasis on traceability and bona fide certificates of analysis for each lot is mainly because of an absence of a reliable field test.

[harry]

This one from The Engineering Toolbox looks practical too - Identification Tests for Stainless Steels

[Mikishots]

In Reply to Parent Post by carlos59

There is a way to identify 304sst

Thank you

Is there anyone near your place of business that uses an XRF gun, like a metal recycler or sorting facility? We use a Niton XRF handheld, and it will identify that material in approx. 2-3 seconds.

[Wes Bucey]

In Reply to Parent Post by Mikishots

Is there anyone near your place of business that uses an XRF gun, like a metal recycler or sorting facility? We use a Niton XRF handheld, and it will identify that material in approx. 2-3 seconds.

I hadn't thought of the relatively new hand-held technology. One company does short term rentals (http://www.skyrayxrf.com/xrf-rentals.php)

Read about what the device does here (http://www.skyrayxrf.com/portable-xrf.php)

HANDHELD XRF APPLICATIONS

Most Popular for:
Hazardous Substance Testing
Various regulations include RoHS, CPSIA, etc
Reads below the required ppm levels
Affect multiple industries; jewelry, toy, packaging, etc
Additional Uses:
Analysis of Paint for contaminents
Alloy Verification:
determine steel grades, copper and aluminum alloys
Geological/Mining Applications
Sorting Scrap Metals
On-Line Testing: Quality Control, incoming/outgoing inspections
Environmental (lead in soil, etc)

Software Configurations (contact for single element interest)
P330 for Hazardous Substance Detection
P530 for Alloy/Steel Verification
P730 for Mineral and Geological Testing
P930 for Precious Metals Analysis

[raghu_1968]

In Reply to Parent Post by carlos59

There is a way to identify 304sst

Thank you

You can search for "Molybdenum Test" which is used to identify the SS-304 and also to differentiate SS-316.