Martensitic stainless steel Martensitic stainless steel Martensitic stainless steel is a specific type of stainless steel alloy. Stainless steels may be classified by their crystalline structure into three main types: "austenitic", "ferritic" and "martensitic". Martensitic stainless steels can be high- or low-carbon steels built around the Type 410 composition of iron, 12% chromium, and up to 1.2% carbon. They are hardenable by heat treatment (specifically by quenching, or by quenching and tempering). The alloy composition, and the high cooling rate of quenching enable the formation of martensite. Tempered martensite gives steel good hardness and high toughness; used largely for medical tools (scalpels, razors
SAE 304 stainless steel by SAE International as part of its SAE steel grades. Outside of the US it is commonly known as A2 stainless steel, in accordance with ISO 3506 for fasteners. In the commercial cookware industry it is known as 18/8 stainless steel. In the unified numbering system it is UNS S30400. The Japanese equivalent grade of this material is SUS304.. It is also specified in European norm 1.4301. 304 stainless steel has excellent resistance to a wide range of atmospheric environments and many corrosive media. It is subject to pitting and crevice corrosion in warm chloride environments and to stress corrosion