Magnetic Effects of Stainless Steel

Magnetic Effects of Stainless Steel
The magnetic properties of materials are affected by their composition, metallic structure,
processing methods and physical condition. Ferromagnetic materials are strongly attracted
to a permanent magnet and may also be magnetised to act as a permanent magnet.
Permeability is the property used to measure how well a material concentrates the magnetic
field. It gives an indication of the strength of the attraction to a magnet. It is more usual to
refer to the relative permeability. This is measured relative to the value for air or vacuum
taken as 1.
Cold work
Wrought, austenitic stainless steels, such as 304 and 316, are generally regarded as non-
magnetic in the annealed condition, ie they are not attracted significantly by a magnet.
However, if they are cold worked they will be attracted to a permanent magnet. The change
occurs because the cold work deformation induces a transformation of the microstructure
from austenite to martensite. The effect is less marked in alloys with high concentrations of
austenite stabilisers such as nickel, nitrogen and carbon. Once the martensite is formed, it
may also become magnetised sufficiently to pick-up light objects such as paper clips.
Magnetic attraction effects are most often noticed in heavily cold worked fabrications such as
wire or the dished end of a pressure vessel. It is possible to remove the magnetic effects by
solution annealing and water quenching but this will also reduce the tensile properties and
may give rise to distortion.
Magnetic effects in annealed stainless steels

In contrast to the austenitic alloys, ferritic stainless steels such as 409 or 3Cr12/5Cr12 and
martensitic stainless steels such as 420, are strongly attracted to a magnet even in the
annealed state. The duplex and super-duplex stainless steels will also be strongly attracted
because they contain about 50% ferrite in their microstructure.
The electrical demagnetising treatments applied when it is necessary to avoid permanent
magnetic fields are fairly effective with magnetically soft materials such as ferrite. However,
the strain induced martensite in an austenitic stainless steel and the normal martensitic
structure of (say) a 420, are reasonably magnetically hard and, once they are magnetised, it
is difficult to electrically remove the permanent magnetic effect.
Heat treatment, welding and magnetic attraction

Poor heat treatment or high heat input welding of normal or high carbon austenitic stainless
steels will cause sensitisation, ie formation of chromium carbides. The formation of carbides
not only reduces the corrosion resistance of the stainless steel but also tends to form
martensite around the carbide. This martensite is magnetic and the more severe the
sensitisation, the stronger are the magnetic properties. This effect should not be confused
with the intentional formation of a few percent of magnetic ferrite in notionally austenitic
welds. This low ferrite concentration is required to give hot strength, ie to stop hot cracking
during welding. The magnetic effects of weld ferrite are usually insignificant because welds
are only a small part of a structure.
Castings
Castings have subtly different compositions than the "equivalent" wrought alloys. The
austenitic alloys typically have a few percent ferrite and are weakly attracted to a magnet, ie
they are ferromagnetic. Ferritic, martensitic and duplex casting alloys have similar magnetic
properties to their wrought counterparts.
Effect of cold work on austenitic stainless steels

The table below shows the relative permeability of 304 and 316 at a low magnetic field
strength and various cold reductions. Highly alloyed austenitics including the high nitrogen
grades do not develop low carbon martensite on cold work and so their relative permeability
typically remains below 1.02. The values may be compared with mild or carbon steel which
has a ferritic structure and a relative permeability of at least 200. Transformer steel has a
relative permeability of at least several thousand.
The effect of composition and degree of cold work (measured by the tensile strength) on the
permeability, and hence the strength of any magnetic attraction, is plotted below right for a
series of austenitic alloys. It shows that increasing the nickel content reduces the effect of
cold work on magnetic properties. Measurements were made on hot rolled sheet 2.4 to
3.2mm thick which was cold rolled to specific strength.

Magnetic Effects of Stainless Steel

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Magnetic Effects of Stainless Steel

Magnetic effects in annealed stainless steels

Heat treatment, welding and magnetic attraction

Effect of cold work on austenitic stainless steels

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