Do you know the industrial materials that you think are very strong like iron actually brittle at very low temperatures? Not -4 degree temperatures, but way below that like -100. You may not be aware, but many industrial processes happen at -100, -200-degree temperatures like, for example, sand casting companies run operations at such low temperatures.
At such low temperatures, iron, tungsten, and chromium become less ductile and more brittle, but materials like gold, nickel, copper, silver, and austenitic stainless steel remains strong
Because of this, austenitic stainless steels are perfect for cryogenics. Austenitic stainless steels do not become brittle even at -196 degree temperatures.
Fun fact: Helium and hydrogen liquefy at such low temperatures.
The Properties of Austenitic Stainless Steel
Austenitic stainless steel is non-magnetic steel. They are widely used for their tenacity and durability. These types of stainless steel have a higher composition of nickel and chromium, and at the same time has a lower percentage of carbon.
Austenitic Stainless steels cannot be subject to heat or treated to heating methods to increase its tenacity. Cold methods have to be used to improve the strength of this type of stainless steel.
They have a face-centered cubic crystal structure, which is short for FCC. The stainless steel is characterized by an atom at both corners of the stainless steel and one right in the middle.
Advantages of Austenitic Stainless Steel
Austenitic stainless steels have far more advantages than any other type of stainless steel like ferritic stainless steel. Here are some of the advantages of austenitic stainless steel:
- Non-magnetic
- Low yielding stress
- Durable
- Resist corrosion
- Weldability
- Formability
- Toughness
Apart from these above-mentioned advantages, austenitic stainless steels also have one drawback--they are costly. Sand casting companies use austenitic stainless steel in a lot of their processes.