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Posted: 4/15/2024 10:13:16 PM EDT
Needed nuts and bolts to replace a couple for mounting my motor to my boat. Went to Lowe's grabbed a couple, paid for them, and when I got home I didn't have time right away to install them. So I put them in a magnetic parts dish. They slid around the dish freely. Struck me as odd so I lifted them out....zero resistance. The magnet wasn't doing anything to hold the bolts. Figured maybe something was wrong with the dish so I tried a different one. Same result.
Any idea why stainless bolts wouldn't be magnetic? Never encountered such a thing before. Thanks! |
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That's normal. Depending on grade, stainless steel ranges from "a little magnetic" to "not magnetic at all".
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Many stainless steels are non-ferrous. Figured this was common knowledge...
ETA: I was corrected further down the thread regarding using 'non-ferrous' in this case. We aren't talking aluminum or copper here... |
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Yes and no. Different types of stainless have different levels of magnetic attraction.
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As previously stated stainless in general is only slightly magnetic.
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Non-magnetic stainless steel has a high nickel content, which causes it to be non-magnetic.
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I like stainless fridge doors for that reason.
No crappy magnets with notes will stick to it. And my fridge is in a cubby hole so the sides aren't accessible. I too thought it was common knowledge of the characteristics of stainless steel. |
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Martensitic stainless alloys are magnetic, austenitic are not. It has to do with the crystal structure. If you want a magnetic SS it has to be a martensitic alloy. Nickel is actually magnetic, so some of the previous comments aren’t totally accurate. All stainless alloys are ferritic (containing iron), the more important property regarding magnetism is crystal struture.
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Quoted: Martensitic stainless alloys are magnetic, austenitic are not. It has to do with the crystal structure. If you want a magnetic SS it has to be a martensitic alloy. Nickel is actually magnetic, so some of the previous comments aren’t totally accurate. View Quote I use a lot of Aebl stainless which is martensitic. In an annealed state it is very magnetic, once it is hardened it becomes much less magnetic. I often have to use super glue to help keep small part on the magnetic chuck for surface grinding. It's really weird what alloying creates sometimes. |
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300 series is not normally magnetic, but can get that way by cold working. 400 series is normally magnetic. Still, not very strongly magnetic. |
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Quoted: Martensitic stainless alloys are magnetic, austenitic are not. It has to do with the crystal structure. If you want a magnetic SS it has to be a martensitic alloy. Nickel is actually magnetic, so some of the previous comments aren’t totally accurate. All stainless alloys are ferritic (containing iron), the more important property regarding magnetism is crystal struture. View Quote ^^^ that's the answer. Also about 70% of SS production is austenitic, so odds are really good you'll get it and not something else. |
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Quoted: Many stainless steels are non-ferrous. Figured this was common knowledge... View Quote You have iron-nickel stainless alloys, with chrome too, as well as other stuff in there. They are usually mostly iron,with chrome then nickel being no2 and 3 in %. These are generally your austenitic 3xx grades Then there is the Iron-chrome which is mostly ferritics. This would be like 439 stainless. Non ferrous is no Fe, so could be nickel alloys, cobalt, Al, titanium... Well they're going to have some Fe, but Any iron would be very small % Not all 400 type stainless steels are martensitic. Some are ferritic, like 409, 430, 441. And then there's duplex alloys This wiki article is pretty good and covers all the stainless types and properties https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_steel |
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Some stainless steel is a little magnetic, some is not.
Stainless is a blend of metals and sometimes some carbon, not much carbon. One of my dive knives does not rust but doesn't take a good edge. Another dive knife holds a good edge but can rust a bit. This one probably has some carbon to make it take a good edge. |
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Quoted: Martensitic stainless alloys are magnetic, austenitic are not. It has to do with the crystal structure. If you want a magnetic SS it has to be a martensitic alloy. Nickel is actually magnetic, so some of the previous comments aren’t totally accurate. All stainless alloys are ferritic (containing iron), the more important property regarding magnetism is crystal struture. View Quote Thank you. |
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Quoted: Many stainless steels are non-ferrous. Figured this was common knowledge... View Quote This isn't true. Ferrous means iron. Steel is always an alloy of iron and some other trace materials. Therefore it's not possible to have a non-ferrous type of steel, stainless or otherwise. My best guess is that the multiple people in this thread saying stainless steel is non-ferrous think non-ferrous means non-magnetic, which it doesn't. Sorry, I'm kind of surprised at how much this annoyed me. |
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Them dang stainless steel tool boxes and fridges gets everyone confused being magnetic.
Stainless hardware is non magnetic. If you go to your steel supply store, they're going to have 304, 316 on hand and that's non magnetic - very commonly used for manufacturing. Look up "stainless steel hardware galling" before using your nuts and bolts in the case you might want to take your parts apart again someday. |
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Quoted: This isn't true. Ferrous means iron. Steel is always an alloy of iron and some other trace materials. Therefore it's not possible to have a non-ferrous type of steel, stainless or otherwise. My best guess is that the multiple people in this thread saying stainless steel is non-ferrous think non-ferrous means non-magnetic, which it doesn't. Sorry, I'm kind of surprised at how much this annoyed me. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Many stainless steels are non-ferrous. Figured this was common knowledge... This isn't true. Ferrous means iron. Steel is always an alloy of iron and some other trace materials. Therefore it's not possible to have a non-ferrous type of steel, stainless or otherwise. My best guess is that the multiple people in this thread saying stainless steel is non-ferrous think non-ferrous means non-magnetic, which it doesn't. Sorry, I'm kind of surprised at how much this annoyed me. My day job involves me being very pedantic, so I get it. That said, the main thing I know of that uses stainless steel is boating, what else might? I know I stay away from stainless steel hardware on purpose, supposed to be way worse in many respects, and any science classes I didn't sleep through are long ago. Not many are interested in the nitty gritty of my pedantic computer work. Which might explain my own lack of enthusiasm for working on computers at home. |
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Lol, really? Who didn’t know non ferrous metals aren’t magnetic?
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Higher the corrosion resistance = higher chromium = less magnetic
Some SS is magnetic, some isn’t |
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Quoted: My day job involves me being very pedantic, so I get it. That said, the main thing I know of that uses stainless steel is boating, what else might? I know I stay away from stainless steel hardware on purpose, supposed to be way worse in many respects, and any science classes I didn't sleep through are long ago. Not many are interested in the nitty gritty of my pedantic computer work. Which might explain my own lack of enthusiasm for working on computers at home. View Quote |
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Quoted: Kinda weird since pure nickel is magnetic. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Non-magnetic stainless steel has a high nickel content, which causes it to be non-magnetic. Kinda weird since pure nickel is magnetic. Nickel affects the Crystaline structure of stainless in a way that makes it non-magnetic. There are magnetic alloys of stainless steel. |
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Quoted: Anything high temp, low temp, corrosive, sanitary, or needing abrasion resistance....off hand. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: My day job involves me being very pedantic, so I get it. That said, the main thing I know of that uses stainless steel is boating, what else might? I know I stay away from stainless steel hardware on purpose, supposed to be way worse in many respects, and any science classes I didn't sleep through are long ago. Not many are interested in the nitty gritty of my pedantic computer work. Which might explain my own lack of enthusiasm for working on computers at home. Well shit, that's why. I'm pretty much only concerned with "ranchy" fixes, and sketchy vehicle shit. I know to stay away from it with old jap bikes for sure. Otherwise I'm just getting galvanized for general home use. |
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I Just cleaned out my garage and went through all of my containers of mixed nuts, bolts screws, and washers. I can confirm that some stainless is truly not magnetic and some is partially.
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Quoted: You serious Clark? What grade is not magnetic at all? Typically stainless bolts are glued to magnetic parts dishes. View Quote Ummm... lol At a previous job, I worked with lots of Stainless steel that wasn't magnetic. A lil annoying since we mainly used magnetic lifting blocks on our hoists haha |
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Quoted: I like stainless fridge doors for that reason. No crappy magnets with notes will stick to it. And my fridge is in a cubby hole so the sides aren't accessible. I too thought it was common knowledge of the characteristics of stainless steel. View Quote This. My wife loves magnets of all kinds so she can have the fridge covered in shit. I got tired of it and suggested we buy a new stainless fridge. She loved the idea. I took a magnet with me to make sure they wouldn’t stick to it. Came home with the new fridge. She immediately tries to put shit on it and nothing stuck. She was pissed. After a little online research she figured it out but never blamed me. Next house we moved to several years later she made damned sure that it would attract a magnet. |
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i am always in awe of the knowledge concentrated in this forum.
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Quoted: Needed nuts and bolts to replace a couple for mounting my motor to my boat. View Quote Is your boat made of aluminum? https://crafter.fastenal.com/static-assets/pdfs/Corrosion_rev_2017-02-21.pdf |
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