Why Is 304 Stainless Steel Weakly Magnetic

304 stainless steel is an austenitic stainless steel and is in principle a non-magnetic product. However, in actual production and use, it may be found that 304 stainless steel has a certain weak magnetism. This is mainly due to the following factors:

1. Phase transformation during processing and forging: During the processing and forging process of 304 stainless steel, part of the austenite structure may transform into a martensite structure. Martensite is a magnetic structure, which will cause the appearance of 304 stainless steel weak magnetism.
2. Influence of elements during the smelting process: During the smelting process, due to the influence of environmental elements and the control of solid solution temperature, some martensite elements may be mixed into austenitic stainless steel, resulting in weak magnetism.
3. Cold working deformation: During the mechanical cold working process, 304 stainless steel will gradually develop a certain degree of magnetism due to bending, deformation, and repeated stretching and flattening.

Although 304 stainless steel has certain weak magnetism, this does not affect its main characteristics as austenitic stainless steel, such as corrosion resistance, processing performance, etc. If it is necessary to eliminate the magnetism on 304 stainless steel, it can be achieved through high-temperature solution treatment.