Effects of stainless steel chemical elements
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- Carbon:The higher the carbon content is,the higher the steel hardness is,but the poorer its plasticity and tenacity are.
- Sulfur: It is a hazardous impurity in steel. Steel with a high sulfur content will easily crack when subject to pressure processing at high temperatures,which is generally called hot brittleness.
- Phosphor: It prominently reduces steel plasticity and tenacity, and is severer at low temperatures. Such phenomenon is called cold brittleness. Sulfur and phosphor should be strictly controlled in high quality steel. But from another perspective, the high content of sulfur and phosphor in low-carbon steel will make it easily cut off, and is beneficial to the improvement of steel machinability.
- Manganese: It can improve steel strength, impair and eliminate bad effects of sulfur and increase steel hardenability. High-alloy steel (high manganese steel) with a very high manganese content has good anti-wear performance and other physical properties.
- Silicon: It can improve steel hardness, but reduce plasticity and tenacity. Steel for electrical use contains a certain amount of silicon,which can improve its soft magnetic performance.
- Tungsten: It can improve steel red hardness and heat resistance and enhance steel anti-wear performance.
- Chrome: It can enhance steel hardenability,anti-wear performance, and improve steel anti-corrosion and anti-oxidation performance.
- Vanadium: It can thin steel grain structure, improve steel strength,tenacity and anti-wear performance. When melted into austenite at high temperatures, it can increase steel hardenability. Contrarily, when existing in the form of carbide,it will lower steel hardenability.
- Molybdenum:It can prominently increase steel hardenability and heat resistance,avoid temper brittleness and improve remanent magnetism and coercivity.
- Titanium: It can thin steel grain structure, thus improving steel strength and tenacity. In stainless steel,titanium can eliminate or reduce steel intergranular corrosion.
- Nickel: It can improve steel strength, tenacity and hardenability. When its content is high, it can obviously change some physical properties of steel and alloy and improve steel anti-corrosion performance.
- Boron: When steel contains a tiny amount of boron （0.0010.005%), its hardenability will be increased by many times.
- Aluminum:It can thin steel grain structure and restrain low-carbon steel ageing. In addition to increasing steel tenacity at low temperatures, it can also enhance steel anti-oxidation performance and improve steel anti-wear performance and fatigue strength.
- Copper: Its outstanding effect is to improve atmospheric corrosion resistance of ordinary low-alloy steel, and is more obvious when used in combination with phosphor.
