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Quarter-Hard 304L Stainless Steel

Quarter-hard AISI 304L is AISI 304L stainless steel in the quarter-hard temper. It has the second highest strength and second lowest ductility compared to the other variants of AISI 304L stainless steel.

The graph bars on the material properties cards below compare quarter-hard AISI 304L to: wrought austenitic stainless steels (top), all iron alloys (middle), and the entire database (bottom). A full bar means this is the highest value in the relevant set. A half-full bar means it's 50% of the highest, and so on.

Mechanical Properties

Brinell Hardness

300

Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus

200 GPa 29 x 106 psi

Elongation at Break

11 %

Fatigue Strength

320 MPa 46 x 103 psi

Poisson's Ratio

0.28

Rockwell B Hardness

79

Shear Modulus

77 GPa 11 x 106 psi

Shear Strength

590 MPa 85 x 103 psi

Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS)

980 MPa 140 x 103 psi

Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof)

580 MPa 84 x 103 psi

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion

290 J/g

Maximum Temperature: Corrosion

420 °C 790 °F

Maximum Temperature: Mechanical

540 °C 1000 °F

Melting Completion (Liquidus)

1450 °C 2640 °F

Melting Onset (Solidus)

1400 °C 2550 °F

Specific Heat Capacity

480 J/kg-K 0.11 BTU/lb-°F

Thermal Conductivity

16 W/m-K 9.2 BTU/h-ft-°F

Thermal Expansion

17 µm/m-K

Electrical Properties

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume

2.4 % IACS

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific)

2.7 % IACS

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Base Metal Price

16 % relative

Calomel Potential

-80 mV

Density

7.8 g/cm3 490 lb/ft3

Embodied Carbon

3.1 kg CO2/kg material

Embodied Energy

44 MJ/kg 19 x 103 BTU/lb

Embodied Water

150 L/kg 18 gal/lb

Common Calculations

PREN (Pitting Resistance)

20

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work)

96 MJ/m3

Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience)

840 kJ/m3

Stiffness to Weight: Axial

14 points

Stiffness to Weight: Bending

25 points

Strength to Weight: Axial

35 points

Strength to Weight: Bending

28 points

Thermal Diffusivity

4.2 mm2/s

Thermal Shock Resistance

21 points

Alloy Composition

Iron (Fe)Fe 65 to 74
Chromium (Cr)Cr 18 to 20
Nickel (Ni)Ni 8.0 to 12
Manganese (Mn)Mn 0 to 2.0
Silicon (Si)Si 0 to 0.75
Nitrogen (N)N 0 to 0.1
Phosphorus (P)P 0 to 0.045
Carbon (C)C 0 to 0.030
Sulfur (S)S 0 to 0.030

All values are % weight. Ranges represent what is permitted under applicable standards.

Followup Questions

Further Reading

ASTM A666: Standard Specification for Annealed or Cold-Worked Austenitic Stainless Steel Sheet, Strip, Plate, and Flat Bar

ASTM A182: Standard Specification for Forged or Rolled Alloy and Stainless Steel Pipe Flanges, Forged Fittings, and Valves and Parts for High-Temperature Service

ASTM A276: Standard Specification for Stainless Steel Bars and Shapes

Welding Metallurgy of Stainless Steels, Erich Folkhard et al., 2012

ASTM A959: Standard Guide for Specifying Harmonized Standard Grade Compositions for Wrought Stainless Steels

Corrosion of Austenitic Stainless Steels: Mechanism, Mitigation and Monitoring, H. S. Khatak and B. Raj (editors), 2002

Pressure Vessels: External Pressure Technology, 2nd ed., Carl T. F. Ross, 2011

Austenitic Stainless Steels: Microstructure and Mechanical Properties, P. Marshall, 1984

ASM Specialty Handbook: Stainless Steels, J. R. Davis (editor), 1994

Advances in Stainless Steels, Baldev Raj et al. (editors), 2010