Jul. 07, 2025
Stainless steel alloys are popular for applications big and small across numerous industries.
There’s a good chance that there is a stainless steel product or piece of stainless steel equipment within a short walk of where you are right now.
But if you’re looking to design a system, create stunning designs, or fabricate parts and equipment, you’ll have to start with basic stainless steel products and work from there.
In this guide, we’re going to look at the most common stainless steel shapes and sizes you’ll encounter and the considerations you should make when determining the ideal product for your next project.
HWHG Product Page
Before we dive into the various characteristics of alloys, finishes, and other more metallurgic details, we should explore the different shapes and formats in which stainless steel is sold today.
Each will offer different benefits depending on your intended use.
As such, understanding your options can help you to find a format that is most closely matched to your needs and avoid additional costs and time spent on further processing before you can use your stainless steel.
Stainless steel sheet is the most flexible option in most cases–both in terms of sizing and shape and in your ability to form it to fabricate products or meet your design specifications.
Depending on your needs, you’ll find stainless steel sheets in thicknesses up to around 6mm.
Products above this thickness tend to fall into the plate form instead.
If you’re sourcing your sheet from the U.S., you might also find this thickness listed by gauge instead of in millimeters.
In most cases, the stainless steel supplier will offer a range of standardized sizes.
Common sizes include 48-inches-by-120-inches (roughly 122-centimeters-by-305-centimeters), 60-inches-by-120-inches (roughly 152-centimeters-by-305-centimeters), and 72-inches-by-120-inches (roughly 183-centimeters by 305-centimeters.)
However, many suppliers can also offer metal cutting services using plasma cutters, waterjet cutters, and other tools to provide a product that precisely meets your ideal size and shape.
Sheet is ideal when you plan to shape or cut the base stainless form to create lighter-weight parts and equipment.
Most sheets are delivered in an annealed state, providing an excellent balance of strength and malleability.
This means you can often take stainless steel sheets directly from shipping to the press for shaping or welding table for fabrication with minimal preparation or pre-processing.
Since the sheet is often cut into standardized sizes, it’s also easier and more space-efficient to store than some other forms.
However, if you plan to stack or store stainless with a mirror or high-gloss finish, be sure to consider any precautions to avoid marring your product's finish before use.
Stainless steel sheet is commonly used in the chemical, construction, food service, marine, transportation, and textile industries.
Stainless steel plates can share many similarities with stainless steel sheets.
However, it starts at higher thicknesses in most cases and is often smaller in overall surface area.
Plate is also available in standard sizes, though these tend to start smaller–around the 12in-by-12in (or 30cm-by-30cm) range and topping out around 48-inches-by-120-inches (roughly 122cm-by-305cm.)
However, like with sheets, you can also order these with custom cuts and sizes to fit your intended application or any special needs you might have.
Keep in mind that thicker pieces will typically mean greater weight when compared to stainless steel sheets of comparable size.
However, this also means increased strength depending on the need.
Stainless steel plate is commonly used in the chemical, construction, food service, marine, transportation, and textile industries.
Unlike stainless steel plate or sheets, stainless steel bar comes in various shapes, including round, square, hex along with angle and flat bar and hollow bar.
Their names essentially refer to their shape, giving an easy way to start limiting choices to find your ideal bar type.
Like plate and sheet, stainless steel bars are available in various thicknesses (or diameters depending on the shape.) Standard sizes range from 3mm to 25mm.
Flat bars are often used to help form base plates and brackets or reinforce key areas where plate might otherwise be a poor choice.
Round stainless steel bars (sometimes referred to as stainless steel rounds) are very popular in machining for creating fasteners, threaded tubes or shafts, and other items.
Hexagonal and hollow bars are often used in weight-bearing scenarios and the fabrication of many common structural beam elements–including I beams, H beams, and C beams. However, hexagonal bars can also have machining uses similar to stainless steel rounds, allowing for rapid production of nuts and other fasteners.
Square bars fit well into both categories, providing excellent structural and load-bearing support while also being an ideal shape and format for machining and fabricating various fasteners.
Of course, when choosing the ideal stainless steel product for your needs, the actual format is just a part of the overall decision.
You also need to determine the best stainless steel alloy, ideal finishes, and other traits that might impact your components' service life and overall fit for your budget.
Most plate, sheet, or bar products will be available in a range of alloys, including those in the 200, 300, and 400 series.
However, you might also find that specialized grades are available for specific uses.
300-series stainless steel will provide an excellent balance of cost, weight, fabrication ability, and corrosion resistance in most cases.
However, 400-series steel is popular in food service applications, medical environments, or when looking for a ferritic stainless option.
If you’re looking for more information regarding the various stainless alloys and their traits, be sure to consult our guide to stainless steel grades and families.
Finishes are another consideration that can impact overall costs and better align your stainless steel with your intended use.
For example, mirror finishes (#8) might look impressive but quickly pick up fingerprints and show scratches and other wear easier.
As such, if they’re in a high-traffic or touch-heavy environment, you might spend an unreasonable amount of time maintaining that finish.
You’ll also need to take extra precautions when storing the steel or fabricating and assembling to avoid damage. In many cases, a protective liner is recommended to avoid mishaps.
By contrast, brushed finishes (#4)–popular in food service and appliance use–offer a clean, professional appearance with far fewer cleaning and maintenance requirements.
On the other hand, if you plan to do extensive fabrication or welding, you might find it best to apply a finish yourself.
In these cases, opting for a product with a 1, 2B, or 2BA finish could reduce costs and allow greater flexibility.
For more information, including typical uses and any considerations to keep in mind, be sure to consult our guide to stainless steel finishes.
This final consideration touches on points related to virtually everything considered so far.
If you’re planning to cut, weld, rivet, or modify the steel in any way, be sure to consider any stresses applied to the steel and potential treatments which might be required to return the steel to an ideal state.
For example, extensive welding or the heat of plasma cutting might require you to consider pickling, electropolishing, or other heat treatments to ensure that the passive layer is effectively restored and promote optimal corrosion resistance.
Riveting or fastening will require you to consider any hardware used to minimize galvanic corrosion risks.
Tapping or threading stainless steel bars and other parts will likely require attention to machined areas to ensure complete restoration of the passive layer and avoid corrosion risks.
Stainless steel is one of the most commonly used machining materials. Stainless steel machining creates products and tools for every sector out there.
Stainless steel machining is not as easy as materials like wood. Stainless steel has a high hardness and tensile strength. Therefore, machining stainless steel requires understanding the different metalworking processes that work well on this material.
This article will discuss the different grades of stainless steel and the methods to machine them. It will also provide several tips to make stainless steel machining the easiest metalworking process.
Stainless steel is an alloy of Iron and Chromium. Other elements like Carbon can also be added to get some particular properties. The amount of Chromium is at least 11%.
Iron has excellent physical properties like strength and durability. However, it is highly prone to corrosion and abrasions. Adding Chromium to iron adds the ability to resist corrosion and abrasions.
Yes, stainless steel can be machined. In fact, there are many different ways of stainless steel machining. Machining stainless steel can be quite easy once you understand the properties of stainless steel and the right machining methods to use.
Stainless steel is a wide class of a number of materials. Many believe that stainless steel is one particular alloy, which is wrong. There are more than 150 grades of Stainless Steel. These different stainless steels are divided into various classes.
Let us explore the five classes of stainless steels one by one:
Austenitic stainless steel is the most popular variety among all stainless steels. These steels are named so because they have an Austenite structure. Austenitic stainless steels are non-magnetic in nature. Additionally, they cannot be hardened by heat treatment. These properties are derived by elements like Nickel, Manganese, and Nitrogen.
Austenitic stainless steels are divided into two subgroups: AISI 200 and AISI 300. Sometimes, molybdenum is added to these steels to increase corrosion resistance.
Ferritic stainless steels were discovered early in history (). However, it wasn’t until the s that their popular applications took place. Ferritic stainless steels belong to the AISI 400 family.
Ferritic stainless steels don’t shine among other steels in terms of physical properties. However, they have exceptional quality in magnetic properties and chemical resistance. Ferric steel’s strength lies in its resistance to stress corrosion cracking.
Martensitic stainless steels are named after Adolf Martens. These steels are known for their exceptionally high hardness. Aging and heat treatments apply to these steels for high hardness and tempering. Martensitic stainless steels can have high carbon quality or low carbon quality.
Martensitic grades are used for surgical instruments, dental equipment, door beams, bumpers, firearms, cutlery, and ball bearings.
Duplex stainless steels have two structural components in their design. Duplex alloys are a combination of austenitic stainless steels and ferritic stainless steels. Duplex stainless steels improve the qualities of these two constituent structural elements. There are three grades in duplex stainless steel: standard duplex, super duplex, and lean duplex alloys.
Duplex stainless steels are used for heat exchangers, tubes, shells, columns, condensers, reactors, piping systems, and other commercial equipment.
Precipitation Hardening stainless steels are also known as PH stainless steel alloys. These alloys have slight additions of elements like titanium, copper, phosphorus, or aluminum. After the formation of alloy, these steels undergo age-hardening treatment. Precipitation hardening stainless steels can have 3-4x the yield strength of austenitic stainless steel.
The properties of PH hardened steels are highly variable and specially curated to get the desired results.
PH hardened steels find applications in extremely high strength requirements. Common examples are marine construction, aircraft, nuclear plants, and the chemical industry.
Stainless steel can undergo a range of different machining processes. Some of these processes are:
Milling is the most common primary stainless steel machining process. It uses high-speed rotating cutting tools for a stationary workpiece. Choosing the right tool when using milling machines on stainless steel alloys is important. Wrong tools or high speeds can result in rapid tool wear. Milling stain steel has a very high accuracy and a smooth cutting edge.
Turning requires a stationary cutting tool and a rotating workpiece. The tool comes in physical contact with the rotating workpiece to remove material. Turning is a common process for machining austenitic stainless steel. It is important to keep tool overhang minimum when machining stainless steels.
Are you interested in learning more about Custom Cut Stainless Steel Plate? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!
Drilling is a secondary machining process used in conjunction with other metalworking techniques. Drilling is done to create holes in the metal workpiece. Stainless steels are drilled for screw holes, secondary assembly, or aesthetics.
Threading is done on steel parts for mounting screws and fasteners. The threads can be inside a hole or the exterior of the workpiece. Threading on stainless steel are usually carried on pipes and tubes.
Laser cutting uses an amplified light beam for melting and removing stainless steel. This method only works for thin sheets of stainless steel. It is better than cemented carbide tools because tool wear doesn’t occur. However, it is very expensive and requires highly skilled labor.
Grinding is done to enhance the surface finish of the stainless steel. It can also make the workpiece more accurate by removing material in very low volume. Grinding rubs abrasive wheels against stainless steel workpieces. This process can also remove the burrs created due to welding. Grinding can help in creating a smooth cutting edge on stainless steel parts.
Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) uses electrical pulses to melt the metal. The electrical pulses have a very high voltage and frequency. This process is limited in terms of stainless steel cutting thickness.
Waterjet cutting uses the force of high-pressure water for material erosion and cutting. This process can cut thick sheets of stainless steel. However, if the particular stainless steel grade has low corrosion resistance, waterjet cutting can cause adverse effects.
Stainless steel can have some difficulties during machining. These difficulties are common in most machining processes. However, with certain precautions, the issues with machining stainless steel can be avoided.
The primary issue arises due to overheating of the steel surface. Overheating is commonly encountered during any machining process. In the case of stainless steel alloy, overheating compromises the corrosion resistance of the materials. However, overheating can be avoided by monitoring the workpiece. Stainless steel shows tinted colors on the surface when heated.
This heat reaction is fixed with the process of pickling. Pickling involves treating stainless steel with hydrochloric or sulfuric acid. The acid dissolves the oxidation layer from the steel, restoring the alloy’s corrosion resistance.
Some secondary difficulties that occur in machining stainless steel are:
Every steel variety can give a certain degree of trouble during machining. However, some steels are more problematic in this regard than others. Here are some of the difficult-to-machine steels and the trouble they give:
High carbon steels are difficult to machine due to their extremely high strength and hardness. Additionally, these steels contain carbide-grade materials in them. These factors wear out the tools quite fast.
Low-carbon alloys can also prove to be difficult to machine. This is because of the high softness of these steels. The softness results in the adhesion of steel chips to the cutting tools. This shortens the tool life as well.
316 stainless steel has one of the poorest machinability rating. It requires specialized cutting tools for machining. Therefore, 316 stainless steel is used for parts when no other option will work.
The problem with 304 stainless steel is work hardening. 304 shows properties of rapid work hardening during machining. This problem is resolved by adding sulfur to the workpiece.
416 stainless steel is the easiest to machine. In practice, machining of 400 series stainless steel grades is quite easy. On the other hand, machining 300 series stainless steel grades is difficult.
Stainless steel machining can be made easy by incorporating the following tips:
Use the best quality workpiece materials for the smoothest operations. There are many grades of stainless steel. Within each grade, there are multiple quality options. Spending a little extra early on can help in saving significant cost and tool breakage hassle.
Work hardening is the phenomenon where stainless steel gets harder during machining. This occurs due to the plastic deformation of stainless steel. Work hardening significantly increases the difficulty in machining stainless steels. However, hardening can be decreased by feeding coolant to the cutting tool.
The tool connections and the machine setup should be extremely tight. Any tool chatter gets amplified and results in poor machining. Additionally, the machine bed should not have excessive vibration after workpiece fittings.
Selecting the right tool material is essential to get a high-quality result. Two common options for making tools are cemented carbide and high-speed steel.
High-speed steel is commonly used in drill bits and power saws. These tools are made to handle high movement speeds. Cemented carbide tools are made with Tungsten Carbide, Titanium Carbide, or Tantalum Carbide.
Carbide tooling is faster than high-speed steels. In addition, carbide tools provide a better finish. This makes them ideal for mass production and high cutting speeds. However, high-speed steels are considerably cheaper.
Ensure that you have sharp tooling for consistent and precise machining. It is better to replace worn-out tools. Using blunt tools can cause tool breakage and even ruin the workpiece material. When working on steel, tools also require honing of the sharp edges.
Using a lubricant while machining stainless steels is essential. Lubrication serves multiple uses for machining. Firstly, it reduces the friction between the cutting tool and the metal. This increases tool life by reducing the wear of the tooling. Secondly, lubrication reduces the temperature during the machining process. This reduces the work hardening and overheating problems. Lastly, lubrication fluids also wash away the stainless steel residue from the workpiece and the tools.
Using stainless steel has a lot of benefits. The benefits significantly outweigh any difficulties faced in the machining process. Here are a few of these benefits:
There can be certain factors regarding stainless steels that can be disadvantageous to some users. These factors are:
Type 409 is the cheapest grade of steel. Steels belonging to the ferritic family are generally cheaper. This is because of the reduced chromium content in these steels. Chromium is the major driving factor in steel cost.
3ERP is the global leader when it comes to stainless steel machining services. It provides a range of stainless steel machining services. Some of the popular offerings of 3ERP are CNC machining, rapid tooling, and sheet metal prototyping.
The best part when working with 3ERP is the ease of production. You can provide your designs to 3ERP. 3ERP then creates the design with the in-house machinery. The machinery itself is the best in terms of quality and features. Therefore, you get advanced machining capabilities without paying for the equipment itself.
Stainless steel products are the preferred choice for many industries. Machine parts, in particular, are made using this material due to its rugged and corrosion-resistant nature. If you want to use stainless steel for your next project, get in touch with 3ERP to find the exact quotes.
Here are the answers to some common questions regarding machining stainless steels:
Stainless steel is not that hard to mill. However, it requires expertise and the right tool selection. The expertise helps in ensuring correct cutting speeds and tight setups.
Grade 304 is the most commonly machined stainless steel. It is because of the popular demand for this steel. Grade 304 steel has high corrosion resistance and durable nature. Additionally, it has a very ductile, tough, and weldable material. This leads to countless uses throughout different applications.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Stainless steel coil for construction.
If you are interested in sending in a Guest Blogger Submission,welcome to write for us!
All Comments ( 0 )