17-4 stainless steel for 17-4 include components which require high hardness and/or corrosion resistance at temperatures of up to . Specific applications for 17-4 include the petroleum and chemical industries, as well as use in aircraft parts. 17-4 stainless steel SAE type 630 stainless steel (more commonly known as 17-4; also known as UNS 17400) is a grade of martensitic precipitation-hardened stainless steel. It contains approximately 15–17.5% (17) chromium and 3–5% (4) nickel, as well as 3–5% copper. 17-4 can be heat treated to high levels of strength and hardness, and features corrosion resistance and machinability comparable to austenitic 304 stainless. Being martensitic,
Stainless steel Becket were industrializing ferritic stainless steel. In 1912, Elwood Haynes applied for a US patent on a martensitic stainless steel alloy, which was not granted until 1919. In 1912, Harry Brearley of the Brown-Firth research laboratory in Sheffield, England, while seeking a corrosion-resistant alloy for gun barrels, discovered and subsequently industrialized a martensitic stainless steel alloy. The discovery was announced two years later in a January 1915 newspaper article in "The New York Times". The metal was later marketed under the "Staybrite" brand by Firth Vickers in England and was used for the new entrance canopy for the Savoy Hotel