![]() On the other hand, if you have magnetic products and a strongly magnetic basket would be a hindrance, causing parts to “stick” and slowing down production, then you wouldn’t want a magnetized basket. If you have an automated system that relies on magnetic detection to “see” if a basket is in place for starting a process, then the magnetism of that basket would be a very important factor in your process. Magnetism and Temperatureįerritic steel alloys can lose their magnetism if heated to a sufficient degree.Īs stated by the Scientific American article, “all ferromagnetic alloys, when heated to a high enough temperature-their Curie temperature-the ferritic stainless steels lose their ferromagnetism and become paramagnetic-that is, they do not retain their own magnetic field but continue to be attracted to external ones.” Why Would You Care? bent, at room temperature, it will partially transform to the ferritic phase and will be partly magnetic, or ferromagnetic.” In other words, the act of reshaping steel can deform the molecules, changing them so that they can be magnetized. However, as pointed out by the Scientific American article, “if the alloy is mechanically deformed, i.e. The fcc structures prevent the alloy from magnetizing. Some austenitic steel alloys, such as grade 304 stainless, have both an fcc crystal structure and a bcc crystal structure inside of them. This magnetizes the alloy, and the alloy may retain some magnetism even after being removed from the magnetic field. This is changed when the alloy is exposed to a very strong magnetic field, such as from an electromagnet or a rare earth magnet.Ī powerful enough magnetic field overrides the direction of the magnetic domains in the ferritic alloy, orienting all of them to a single direction. In short, countless tiny pieces of the alloy might be magnetic, but because they aren’t aligned, there is no magnetic pole in the alloy. As a result, the sum total of all the domains gives the piece zero magnetic movement.” ![]() How Exposure to Magnetic Fields Affects Stainless Steel MagnetizationĪs stated by the Scientific American article, this is because “in its natural state ferritic steel consists of small regions called magnetic domains, which are fully magnetized, but in general the direction of magnetization is different in each domain. This arrangement of atoms prevents the molecules in the austenitic steel from aligning in a unified direction, preventing it from developing magnetic domains that can generate what Scientific American refers to as “magnetic movement,” or magnetism.įerritic and Martensitic alloys, on the other hand, are magnetic in nature, possessing a “body-centered (bcc) lattice… with one atom at each of the eight corners and a single atom at the geometric center of the cube.” This structure allows for magnetization of the alloy, although ferritic alloys might be unmagnetized when first made. The unit cell of an fcc crystal consists of a cube with an atom at each of the cube’s eight corners and an atom at the center of each of the cube’s six faces.” Why is this?Īccording to an article by Scientific American, the reason why the austenitic steel alloys aren’t magnetic is that “the metallic atoms in an austenitic stainless steel are arranged on a face-centered cubic (fcc) lattice. ![]() Each of these alloys will fall into one of three categories:Īustenitic alloys are not innately magnetic. There are many different alloys of stainless steel, such as grade 304, grade 316, and grade 330 stainless, among the many other alloys on the market. ![]() Here’s how: Stainless Steel Alloys and Magnetism How do each of these factors impact the magnetic properties of a stainless steel alloy basket?
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