As a result of the versatility of stainless steel, there are many fabricating techniques for the same. Despite having high work hardening rates and tensile strength, stainless steel is a precious raw material. It can be bent, welded, folded, spun or deep drawn. Marine engineering Malaysia does stainless steel fabrication. Here, the focus will be on three standard methods of stainless steel fabrication:

• Work hardening
• Welding
• Machining

Work hardening of stainless steel

work hardening refers to the process used to strengthen the material via deformation. Compared to the other steel varieties, stainless steel is known to work hard very quickly. However, the exact rate of work hardening will depend on the alloy grade used. If the austenitic stainless steel family is being used, it will have a higher hardening rate than carbon steel. This is why austenitic stainless steel is most often used for grade series in the process of fabrication.

One must also understand that the steel hardening of a specific family of steel should only be done by the treatment that it is well suited for. For example, austenitic stainless steel only gets hardened via the cold working process. Therefore, a thermal treatment process is better suitable for other grades.

Machining of stainless steel

Specific grades of steel like 416, 410, 303, 430 have shown chipping resistance when they have been alloyed with a compound like manganese sulfide. As a result of corrosion resistance and reduced ductility that happens when manganese sulfide is added, these grades have limited application in machining. To overcome machining limits in certain stainless steel types, some companies have added steel melting techniques to increase the machinability of some common austenitic grades. The specialized processes are expected to increase machining efficiency and add to a longer life. If you want to get stainless steel fabrication done, check out Stainless Steel Fabrication Malaysia.

Welding of stainless steel

Most grades of stainless steel can undergo welding. However, the efficiency of welding would depend on the specific stainless steel grade. For example:

Austenitic:

Most of the austenitic family grades except grade 303 can be used for weddings. However, the grades of the Austenitic family are susceptible to intergranular corrosion and sensitization in the case of thick products.

Martensitic

These grades are also good for the welding purpose is but are cracking prone. To reduce fracture susceptibility, these materials should be preheated and post heated. Alternatively, supplementary austenitic filler rods can be used.

Ferritic stainless steel

These are not suited for welding. However, certain stabilized ferritic grades like grade 409 may be used. They have problems like low ductility, sensitization, and high grain growth. These problems can be overcome via using austenitic fillers or by heating the material that has been welded.

Duplex

The grades of this set are known to work well in case of low thermal expansion and are suitable for welding. Some of the welding rates like grade 2205 contain higher levels of nickel to improve the strength, ductility, and corrosion resistance.