How to determine whether metal is 316 or 316L?
How to determine whether metal is 316 or 316L?
(OP)
We have a XRF alloy analyzer, but it is insenstive to carbon. Is there a simple test to measure carbon content that we can run to determine if a material is 316 vs 316L, or 304 vs 304L? We need to identify metals at incoming inspection and on our shop floor.
Thanks for your ideas!
Thanks for your ideas!





RE: How to determine whether metal is 316 or 316L?
- either send out a small sample of each shipment of material that is received in your shop to a metallurgical lab for chemical analysis OR
- consider purchasing a desktop emission spectrometer for your company. There are web sites that advertise these devices including the example shown below;
http://www.angstrom-inc.com/2500page.html
If your volume of testing is sufficient, it may be worthwhile to investigate purchasing this device.