What are the differences between mild steel and stainless steel?
Steel is the most commonly used metal in the world, it is everywhere around us. There are over 3500 different grades of steel, each with properties designed for specific applications, plus new steels are continuously being developed.
The main division of grades of steel is into two categories; mild steel and stainless steel, but what are the properties of these two main categories?
What are the differences between mild steel and stainless steel?
Steel is the most commonly used metal in the world, it is everywhere around us. There are over 3500 different grades of steel, each with properties designed for specific applications, plus new steels are continuously being developed.
The main division of grades of steel is into two categories; mild steel and stainless steel, but what are the properties of these two main categories?
The main difference between any grades of steel is the chemical composition.
All grades of steel are an alloy of iron and carbon with a maximum carbon content of 2.1%. Mild steel contains carbon as the main alloy and stainless steels contain a minimum of 10.5% chromium, improving corrosion resistance and strength.
Some alloying elements act as hardening agents, these prevent dislocations from occurring inside the iron crystals allowing the lattice layers to slide past each other. This is why steel is harder than iron, and mild steel – which contains less carbon than stainless steel – is more ductile.
Laser cut steel
- 93% of the parts we laser cut in 2020 were steel
- 79% were mild steel
- 14% were stainless steel
What are the key properties of stainless steel?
The term stainless steel describes a family of around 200 steel alloys with excellent heat and corrosion resistance provided by their chromium content. This oxidises in air or water to create a very thin chromium-rich oxide layer which is inert. This layer means that light scratching and surface damage ‘repairs’ itself, acting as a shield against further corrosion, making stainless steel very resistant to corrosion under normal working conditions.
Most stainless steels are non-magnetic, or austenitic, because of the nickel content. Some grades with less nickel content are weakly magnetic.
Stainless steel is highly resistant to odour and discolouration and it contains no pores, cracks or open spaces for bacteria to embed itself in. It doesn’t transfer and is generally inert to most acids and alkalis, so it doesn’t contaminate substances that come into contact with it. Hi! It’s very flattering that you like our article, but it’s rude to copy, write your own content please!
What are the key properties of mild steel?
79% of all of the material we cut in 2020 was mild steel, because it is so widely used. It is used extensively in construction and engineering because mild steel is malleable, making it very versatile. Mild steel is excellent for bending, shaping and welding. And while it may not be as corrosion resistant as its stainless steel counterpart, it can still be protected through processes such as painting, powder coating or anodising.
Mild steel is magnetic, it is mostly composed of iron which is the most magnetic metal.
A major advantage of mild steel is that it is considerably cheaper than stainless. Hi! It’s very flattering that you like our article, but it’s rude to copy, write your own content please!
What is carbon steel?
All steel, both stainless and mild contains carbon, but carbon steel has between 0.05 to 3.8% carbon content by weight. In simplistic terms, the higher the carbon content, the harder the steel, but it also becomes more brittle and more difficult to cut, bend and weld.
What can stainless steel be used for?
The corrosion resistance of stainless steel makes it useful for environments where there is a lot of moisture. Many household appliances that deal with water are made of stainless, as are many storage tanks for foodstuffs, water chemicals and gases.
Architectural uses for stainless steel are often decorative, for places where metal work will be visible such as panelling, signage and handrails.
The automotive industry loves a bit of stainless for performance exhausts, heat exchangers and, in high end and performance cars, for panels, fastenings and substructures.
There are some fairly obvious uses for stainless steel for applications where hygiene is important including food preparation, chemical applications, medical equipment. Perhaps a less obvious but increasingly important use is in busy, fast paced environments where regular deep cleaning isn’t possible, such as stations and shopping centres.
We laser cut 15 grades and finishes of stainless steel in 16 different thicknesses from as thin as 0.5mm up to as thick as 20mm.
What can mild steel be used for?
Mild steel is popular for mechanical engineering and general purpose fabrication because it is malleable, meaning that it bends, rolls and welds very well. Its combination of strength and malleability makes it an excellent choice of metal for the construction of panels, frames, fencing and other applications where it will not be subjected to high stress.
The category of mild steel includes various grades of structural steel, some of which are used in the most demanding environments such as offshore structures, power plants, mining and earth-moving equipment.
We laser cut six grades of mild steel in 16 different thicknesses from as thin as 0.7mm up to as thick as 25mm.
Laser cutting steel
Laser cutting is a versatile process suiting one-off items, batch production and high volume production. It is a fast and cost-effective way to obtain very accurate mild steel and stainless steel components.
Our turnaround times and no minimum quantity policy* mean that you can quickly put together prototypes for testing and product development until you perfect your product.
It is also the perfect process for high volume production of identical, precision metal components. The high tolerances of laser cutting mean that the last component off the machine will be identical to the first.
If you need either mild steel or stainless steel components for your next project, check out our materials pages to see the grades and thicknesses we supply. Send your order info to our sales team for a fast, straightforward quote.
*although a minimum order cost applies of £75+ VAT to cover processing
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