304 vs 304L Round Bar
In general, 304 stainless steel round bars are used in a variety of applications, including aerospace, food and beverage, machinery, architecture, chemicals, and cryogenics. One of the most popular stainless steels on earth is 304 stainless steel, which provides great strength and good corrosion resistance outside of marine and highly acidic environments.
304 Stainless Steel has an excellent forming as well as welding characteristics, and it is suitable for use with all standard welding methods, both with and without filler materials. The 304 Stainless Steel Hollow Bar can be welded using all standard welding techniques. The Stainless Steel Flat Bar can however require a post-weld annealing process if it is heavy welded. This will ensure maximum corrosion resistance to the flat bar.
It must be noted that the 304 SS Flat Bars have been extremely durable in both a wide range of atmospheric environments as well as corrosive media. It has been proven that bars manufactured from grade 304 stainless steel are resistant to potable water containing 200 mg/L chloride at ambient temperatures, when the water is not treated with chlorine. In a temperature setting of 60 degrees Celsius, the corrosion resistance of the 304 stainless steel round bar drops to about 150 mg/L.
I would like to emphasize that the stainless steel 304 round bar has a good oxidation resistance while in intermittent service at a temperature level of 870 °C and when used continuously at 925 °C. There is no need to continuously use stainless steel grade 304 between the temperature range of 425°C — 860°C when it comes to subsequent aqueous corrosion resistance. If you have any applications where the bar is going to be heated to the temperature range mentioned above, then the low carbon content version of the SS 304 Square Bar would be a better option since it would be less likely to precipitate carbide precipitation.
The Grade 304H Stainless Steel Bar is more durable than other steel grades at elevated temperatures due to its higher strength, so it can often be used to contain pressure as well as structural components at temperatures as high as 800°C. In spite of the fact that stainless steel grade 304H will become sensitive between the temperatures range 425 °C and 860 °C, this can result in a reduced resistance to aqueous corrosion, even though this may not be a problem for high temperature applications.
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