This chapter discusses the processes involved in heat treating of stainless steels, providing information on the classification, chemical compositions, and corrosion resistance of stainless steels and the effect of specific elements on the characteristics of iron-base alloys. Five groups of stainless steels are discussed: austenitic, ferritic, martensitic, precipitation-hardening, and duplex grades. The chapter also describes the heat treatment conditions that should be maintained for processing of stainless steels.

Steels with chromium contents above 12% show high resistance to oxidation and corrosion and are generally designated as stainless steels. This chapter discusses the compositions, microstructures, heat treatments, and properties of martensitic, ferritic, austenitic, ferritic-austenitic (duplex), and precipitation hardening stainless steels. It also describes solidification sequences and explains how chromium carbides may segregate to grain boundaries at certain temperatures, making grain boundary regions susceptible to intercrystalline or intergranular corrosion.

Steels that resist corrosive attack from normal atmospheric exposure and contain a minimum of 10.5% Cr and 50% Fe are generally classified as stainless steels. Their special qualities lie in a chromium-rich oxide surface film that quickly regrows when damaged. This chapter discusses the classification, composition, properties, treatments, and applications of austenitic, ferritic, martensitic, duplex, precipitation-hardening, powder metallurgy, and cast stainless steels. It also reviews the history of stainless steels and provides information on alloy designation systems.

Stainless steels derive their name from their corrosion-resisting properties first observed in 1912. Two groups, working independently, concurrently discovered what came to be known as austenitic and ferritic stainless steels. Martensitic and precipitation-hardened stainless steels would be developed later. This chapter discusses each of these four major types of stainless steel and their respective compositions, properties, and uses. It explains how alloying, heat treating, and various hardening processes affect corrosion performance, and includes a detailed discussion on the optimization of martensitic stainless steels for cutlery applications.

This appendix discusses the general characteristics, composition, phase transformations, and properties of commercial stainless steels used for making high-quality knives.

This chapter is a brief account of the composition, microstructures, heat treatment, deformation mechanisms, mechanical properties, formability, and special attributes of austenitic stainless steels.

This chapter discusses the classification, composition, properties, and applications of five types of stainless steels: austenitic, ferritic, duplex, martensitic, and precipitation-hardening steels. It discusses the process involved in argon oxygen decarburization that is used to refine stainless steel. The chapter also provides information on the classification and composition of stainless steel castings. It concludes with a brief description of the Schaeffler constitution diagram which is useful in predicting the type of stainless steel as a function of its alloy content.

This article covers the metallurgy and properties of stainless steels. It provides composition information on all types of ferritic, austenitic, martensitic, duplex, and precipitation-hardening stainless steels, including proprietary and nonstandard grades, along with corresponding property and performance data. It also discusses the effect of various alloying elements on pitting, crevice corrosion, sensitization, stress-corrosion cracking, and oxidation resistance.

This chapter discusses the compositions, mechanical properties, phase structure, stabilization, corrosion resistance, and advantages of austenitic stainless steels. Austenitic alloys are classified and reviewed in three groups: (1) lean alloys, such as 201 and 301, which are generally used when high strength or high formability is the main objective; (2) chromium nickel alloys used for high temperature oxidation resistance; and (3) chromium, molybdenum, nickel, and nitrogen alloys used for applications where corrosion resistance is the main objective.

This chapter provides information on the structure, design aspects, mechanical properties, forming, machining, and corrosion resistance characteristics of duplex stainless steels. The different types of corrosion covered are general corrosion, pitting corrosion, crevice corrosion, and stress corrosion cracking.

This chapter discusses the alloy composition, metallurgy, mechanical behavior, stabilization, texture, anisotropy, high-temperature properties, and corrosion and oxidation resistance of ferritic stainless steels.

This chapter discusses the metallurgy, phase structure, thermal processing, and applications of martensitic stainless steels. The phenomenon of martensite formation is explained. A table listing the compositions of martensitic stainless steels is also presented.

This chapter discusses the composition, alloying characteristics, mechanical properties, corrosion resistance, advantages, limitations, and applications of martensitic, semiaustenitic, and austenitic precipitation-hardenable stainless steels.

This chapter takes a practical approach to the problem of stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) in stainless steels, explaining how different application environments affect different grades of stainless steel. It describes the causes of stress-corrosion cracking in chloride, caustic, polythionic acid, and high-temperature environments and the correlating effects on austenitic, ferritic, duplex, martensitic, and precipitation hardening stainless steels and nickel-base alloys. It also discusses the contributing effects of sensitization and hydrogen embrittlement and the role of composition, microstructure, and thermal history. Sensitization is particularly detrimental to austenitic stainless steels, and in many cases, eliminating it will eliminate the susceptibility to SCC. The chapter includes an extensive amount of data and illustrations.

Stainless steels derive their name from their exceptional corrosion resistance, which is attributed to their finely tuned compositions. This chapter discusses the alloying elements used in stainless steels and the some of the processing challenges they present. One of the biggest challenges is that stainless steels cannot be hardened by heat treatment. As a result, they are highly sensitive to processing-induced defects and the formation of detrimental phases. The chapter explains how alloy design, phase equilibria, microstructure, and thermomechanical processing can be concurrently optimized to produce high-quality austenitic, ferritic, and duplex stainless steels.

This chapter describes the most effective ways to improve the corrosion resistance of sintered stainless steels, including increasing alloy content, optimizing the sintering process, and the use of surface treatments and modifications.

This appendix provides property data, including strength, tensile properties, elastic constants, and hardness, for 300-series powder metal stainless steels.

This appendix provides property data, including strength, tensile properties, elastic constants, and hardness, for 400-series powder metal stainless steels.

This chapter discusses the composition and classification of stainless steels and focuses on the processes involved in heat treatment and applications of these steels. The wrought and the cast stainless steels covered are ferritic, austenitic, duplex (ferritic-austenitic), martensitic, and precipitation-hardening. In addition, information on special considerations for stainless steel castings is also provided. The heat treatment processes explained in the chapter are preheating, annealing, stress relieving, hardening, tempering, austenite conditioning, heat aging, and nitride surface hardening. Finally, some special considerations for stainless steel castings are discussed.

This chapter presents the early classes of stainless steel. These include martensitic alloys, austenitic alloys, and ferritic alloys. It also presents stainless steel trade names. The chapter describes standardized designation for type 304 stainless steel by various specification organizations.