Type 304 stainless steel is the most common austenitic chromium-nickel stainless steel and is a variation of the classic 18-8 stainless. Its properties provide corrosion resistance to a wide range of atmospheric, chemical, textile, petroleum, and food industry exposures.

Type 304L is an extra low-carbon variation of Type 304. This helps in eliminating carbide precipitation due to welding.

Stainless is created by extracting chromite from underground mines. The chromite is crushed to produce a chromite concentrate. The chromite concentrate is melted in an electric furnace with other raw materials (iron ore, manganese, nickel, etc.) use for the specific stainless type.

After melting the material is formed into slabs and sent to a hot rolling mill. The rolling mill reduces the thickness of the steel and is cooled by water. The now coil is transferred to a cold rolling mill.

When the material arrives at the cold rolling mill it is covered in black scale. It is sent through an annealing and pickling line to remove the scale.

To find out which of our locations process and stock 304 stainless steel download our line cards.