The Role Of Alloying Elements On The Fabricability Of Austenitic Stainless Steel

How many times have fabrication problems developed when a new coil or a new heat of steel is put in production? The problems can be tearing, cracking, scratching, poorer weld penetration, poor electropolished surface or a host of other problems. The usual procedure to determine the source of the problem is a hardness test, tensile test, and metallographic cross section and to review the mill test reports. Sometimes the source of the problem is spotted, but most often nothing out of the ordinary is found. In these cases the problem lies in the composition of the steel even when the alloy is within the specified composition of the steel.