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304/304L Stainless Steel Strip

304 stainless strip can achieve high hardness and strength through cold working. In the annealed condition, type 304 stainless steel strip is very ductile and can be cold worked easily through operations like roll forming, deep drawing, bending, and other common manufacturing processes. Stainless steel 304 strip is often specified for these characteristics given its high ductility, excellent drawing, forming, and spinning properties. The alloy work hardens rapidly, but in-process annealing is sometimes necessary to restore desirable ductility characteristics and lower hardness.

The 304 grade of stainless steel is known to have better corrosion resistance than Type 302. In regards to magnetic properties, 304 stainless steel is essentially non-magnetic, and only becomes slightly magnetic when cold worked. It has resistance to moderately aggressive organic acids is a result of the 9 to 11% nickel that the 304 alloys contain. Type 304 stainless steel strip also has resistance to corrosion in oxidizing environments is a result of the 18 to 19% chromium that the 304 alloys contain.

304L has oxidation resistance to a maximum temperature of 1650° F (899° C) continuously without appreciable scaling. The maximum temperature for intermittent exposure is 1500° F (816° C). Since 304L is an extra low-carbon variation of 304 it can often be used in the "as-welded" condition (without annealing), even in severe corrosive conditions, except for applications specifying stress relief. 304L has good welding characteristics and can be welded by all standard methods but attention needs to be paid to avoid weld "hot cracking". Welding may be followed by annealing to relieve stresses during severe forming or spinning. 

Application
304/304L stainless steel is used for a variety of household and industrial applications such as screws,machinery parts, car headers, and food-handling equipment. 304 stainless steel is also used in the architectural field for exterior accents such as water and fire features. It is also a common coil material for rebuildable vaporizers.