2024-11-22
Stainless steel-Is Stainless Steel Magnetic?
If you ask someone “is stainless steel magnetic?,” you are likely get a wide range of responses. Some people believe that stainless steel is a completely non-magnetic material. Others believe that stainless steel must be magnetic because it contains iron.So, do magnets work on stainless steel? Yes and no. Like most things in life, the answer lies in the grey zone, in that murky in-between. The fact is, there are many types of stainless steel alloys, each with magnetic and non-magnetic variants. There is no correlation between magnetism and corrosion resistance.We can determine whether a piece of stainless steel is magnetic most often by observing its chemical composition.When alloyed, ferrite and iron crystal structure give stainless steel magnetic properties. High austenite levels offset the ferrites, rendering these stainless steel alloys non-magnetic. And even in these cases, non-magnetic grades can become magnetic once worked on (i.e., bent, deep drawn or formed into a tube).Still other stainless steel alloys gain partial magnetism after forming or undergoing heat treatment.And then there are the category of stainless steels which are highly resistant to corrosion and carry a magnetic field (such as 420 and 430 grades). The inverse also holds true – some are corrosion-resistant but non-magnetic (such as 316).Depending on your requirements, some types of stainless steel are better suited than others for specific applications.