The impression that austenitic 304 stainless steel is very high-grade is thanks to Xiaomi, which has transformed a decades-old common daily necessities package into a new technological product.

In the daily environment of a restaurant kitchen, the corrosion resistance and safety of 304 are sufficient. 304 stainless steel rods used in chemical plants, medical treatment and other industries use higher-grade 316 (0cr17ni12mo2), which has more stable chemical properties and is more corrosion-resistant.

  Austenitic 304 steel has low strength and is generally used in kitchen utensils, while CNC blades use harder austenitic stainless steel (420, 440), and the national standard stainless steel rods have poorer anti-rust capabilities.

In the past, it was thought that 304 stainless steel round rods might be difficult to produce, mainly magnesium-containing stainless steels such as 201 and 202. 201 and 202 stainless steel are low-end products among stainless steels. 201 and 202 were developed and designed to replace some of the 304 stainless steel. The reason depends on the relative nature of nickel, manganese is much cheaper. Chromium-nickel-manganese austenitic stainless steels like 201 and 202 are half the price of 304 steel.

Of course, 304 steel itself is not as expensive as there, it is about 6 or 7 yuan per catty, and 316 steel is about 11 yuan per catty. Naturally, raw material prices are often not the main factor in final product quotations. Imported stainless steel woks are so expensive not because they are made of good materials.

The price per ton of pig iron for making iron is only 1/25 of that of chromium and 1/50 of that of nickel. Among the costs other than the annealing process, the raw material cost of austenitic stainless steel is obviously much higher than that of austenite without nickel. and metallographic structure of stainless steel. In terms of raw metal value, 304 steel is ordinary but not humble.