Among all the stainless steel casting grades, 316 stainles steel, the equivalent grade is CF8M stainless steel, is the common grade used in investment casting process. As the leading stainless steel casting company in China, we would like to share the benefits of using 316 stainless steel castings in below:
Corrosion Resistant Properties
Due to the addition of molybdenum,316 stainless steel castings are more corrosion resistant than 304 stainless steel castings. This reduces pitting from chemical environments and allows grade 316 stainless steel castings to be used in highly acidic and caustic environments that would otherwise eat away at the metal. For instance, grade 316 stainless steel castings can withstand caustic solutions and corrosive applications.
These properties also make grade 316 stainless steel castings ideal for food machinery and medical applications. Since sterilization processes in these industries combine both strong disinfectants and or with high temperatures to prevent contamination, a resistant alloy such as grade 316 is ideal.
Marine Applications
Seawater and salt air can be especially damaging to metals. Besides the rough environment of the sea and marine applications, chlorides, such as salt, can eat away at even the toughest metals. Salt will even compromise the protective oxide layer of grade 304 stainless steel castings, resulting in rust. For marine applications, or processes involving chlorides, grade 316 stainless steel catstings are ideal.
Grade 316 stainless steel castings has especially better resistance to salt and chloride pitting. Pitting corrosion can occur when stainless steel castings, such as grade 304 stainless steel castings, come into contact with salt-rich sea breezes and seawater. Chloride resistant metal parts, like grade 316 stainless steel castings, are essential to use for naval applications or anything involved with chloride.
Lasting Durability
316 stainless steel castings both tough and versatile, which makes them ideal for custom stainless steel components built to last for years of use. This grade of stainless steel can be used to make investment castings designed to even survived repeated exposure to high impact processes. For instance, CFS Stainless Steel Foundry customizes 316 stainless steel castings for different applications.
CFS Forge has been in investment casting industry over 25 years, and is quite experienced in making 316 stainless steel castings, just pls contact us if you have an inquiry!