On Wed, 6 Mar 2002, Ray Bell wrote:
> Any real stainless steel is non magnetic. This is the simplest test.
>
Not true. For example, 304(austenitic) in it's annealed state is
virtually non-magnetic, however after being cold worked it can become
extremely magnetic. The three families of stainless steel are ferritic,
austenitic and martensitic. I beleive that all ferritic's are magnetic,
and a variety of alloys from the other families are sometimes magnetic as
well.
The fundamental reality is that there is no real way to identify metals
beyond general best-guesses. Not even metallurgists can do it.
---
Paul Anderson
geeky1!paul
"Nature has been kinder to us than we had any right to expect.
--- Freeman Dyson
