What are ferritic stainless steels?

Ferritic stainless steels contain Chromium, as the fundamental alloying element, in very high concentration and little carbon.

Characteristics and use

This kind of steels (mg2) are like martensitic stainless steels with only Chromium. Otherwise cannot raise their mechanical properties by heat treatment. Ferritic stainless steels exhibit good machinability by plastic deformation both hot and cold, and in sulfur-added versions they give good guarantees of machinability. The main characteristic from the physical point of view is ferromagnetism. They are attracted to the magnet; this behavior makes ferritic steels immediately recognizable from austenitics, which, it should be remembered, are non-magnetic.

The most famous ferritic stainless steels

The most famous ferritic stainless steel is aisi AISI 410S / 1.4000. It has good forging characteristics and excellent resistance to hot oxidation. They are suitable for making self-tapping screws, scissors, gun barrels, dial gauges and parts of measuring instruments. The other is the heat-resistant AISI446 / 1.4762 stainless steel with alloyed addition of high percentages of Silicon and Aluminum that optimize corrosion resistance characteristics. It is suitable for parts subject to high temperatures of use but low mechanical stress such as oven drawers, muffles, oven components, etc.

Freely excerpted and translated from https://www.steelmaster.it/