In our daily life, stainless steel is a very common product material. Stainless steel pots and pans are often used in daily life. The use of stainless steel is very wide, ranging from small stainless steel objects to stainless steel building materials, but stainless steel is just a general term for a class of materials. Generally speaking, the most common stainless steel varieties are stainless steel 304 and stainless steel 316, but what is the difference between the two? Is there any way to distinguish the two?

The first thing to talk about is the issue of food grade. In life, people often encounter humanities who buy stainless steel items. Is 304 food grade? According to the material, stainless steel 304 has indeed reached food grade. There are three common types of food grade in the market, namely 304, 316 and 430 stainless steel. 304 is usually small household appliances or water cups, 316 is used in medical equipment, and 430 is stainless steel used as knives. But one thing worth noting is that the so-called food grade not only means that the material has reached food grade, but also includes the standard of its production process.

The second thing to talk about is the problem of corrosion resistance. For the different stainless steel materials, there must be a certain difference in corrosion resistance, otherwise it will not appear that 304 can only be used for daily household appliances, while 314 can be used in medical equipment. So is 306 or 314 stainless steel better in corrosion resistance? In general, there is no big difference between them, but if the content of chloride ions in the medium is very high, 316 stainless steel will be better than stainless steel. 304 stainless steel is slightly better and more suitable. This is why 316 stainless steel is chosen to be added to medical devices.

So what method can identify the type of stainless steel?

1. Distinguish from the color

The surface color of stainless steel that has been acid cleaned is silvery white, and it is very smooth, while the color of stainless steel that has not been acid cleaned is a little darker, and the colors displayed by stainless steel of different materials are not the same.

2. Use magnets to identify

Because stainless steel contains chromium, it can be attracted by magnets in any state; but stainless steel with high manganese content is non-magnetic; Therefore, different types of stainless steel are still very easy to distinguish.

From this we can know that the ingredients contained in different types of stainless steel are different, not exactly the same, and the occasions used by different types of stainless steel are not the same, and the functions they have are also very different.