How to Buy Stainless Steel Sheets

For most people once you have decided that using a Stainless Steel Sheet for your given project is desirable or in some cases borders on necessity due to environmental requirements, if we exclude the more exotic products and grades, you are only left with three considerations. Before we look at these considerations let's quickly tackle some common misconceptions, first and foremost the material in any grade is not stain-proof, it can corrode, stain and rust! That said in most commercial or home applications its wonderfully heavy resistance to these factors will be more than surfactant. Another misconception is over what a sheet actually is, the golden rule is a simple one, if the product you need is 3mm thick or more, then it's not a sheet you are looking for.

Grade - For most people and applications one of two grades will suffice, Grades 304 and 316. Both are beautiful, versatile and although tough are easily formed and fabricated, with excellent welding characteristics being a key point. Grade 316 has a number of advantages over 304 and is known as Marine Grade due to its higher resistance to corrosion in general or salt water and chloride in particular; However both 304 and 316 will suffer pitting and crevice corrosion (316 to a lesser degree) in a warm salt water or chloride environment. Grade 316 is also referred to as Food Quality and is used in the handling of food and pharmaceutical products, as an example in a kitchen or restaurant on a surface where food is prepared 316 should be used, however as a splash back you could use 304's main advantage over 316, that being it's price.

Size - Stainless Steel Sheets are normally between 0.4mm and 2.5mm thick, less than this and you would normally be referring to a foil and from 3mm and above it's a plate. Off the shelf from 0.4mm to 0.9mm thick you will normally only have two sizes to choose from 2000 x 1000mm and 2500 x 1250mm, from 1mm to 2.5mm thick you should also find 3000 x 1500mm readily available. However once you have chosen your preferred thickness having the product cut to size and even formed should be relatively inexpensive. As an example a laser cutter can inexpensively cut the most abstract and wonderful designs out of your sheet with incredible ease and accuracy. If you loved this article and you would like to get additional information relating to stainless southampton kindly check out our web-page.

Finnish - When a sheet is produced it is first rolled to size and thickness, annealed, pickled and passivated with an additional pass through highly polished rollers so a final finish can then be applied and although commonly used in this condition there are a myriad of finishes and patterns available, lets cover the basic three. The most common is brushed finished this gives the metal a pattern of very fine lines made up of small scratches all running in the same direction, satin finished is the process of soft scratch-brushing to to produce a soft sheen and finally mirror polishing gives the sheet a highly polished reflective finish. Plastic Coating is then used to protect the finish on the sheets, a thin protective plastic film is bonded over one or both of the surfaces, between rollers.