Stainless steel round bar products.
Bar is a solid round stainless product made by hot rolling, turning, cold drawing or grinding. Surface and tolerance condition determine its use: hot rolled (black) bar is the raw product for machining; cold drawn (bright, h9/h11) and ground (h6 - h9) bar is closer to ready-to-use, with tight tolerances.
It is used in turned work such as shafts, pins, fasteners, valve and pump parts. 304 and 316 are common for general work, 321 for welded parts exposed to heat, and martensitic 410 and 420 for hardenable, wear-resistant parts. The standards are EN 10088-3 and ASTM A276/A479; this is general reference information and the grades supplied are confirmed in the quotation.
Thickness, size and tolerance values vary by product form; exact values are confirmed during the quotation.
A selection guide based on general industry knowledge. Which grades are supplied is confirmed in the quotation.
General machine parts, pins, fasteners and food equipment.
Shafts and fittings exposed to chlorides in marine, chemical and pharmaceutical environments.
Welded parts operating at high temperature: titanium-stabilised grade.
Martensitic grades hardenable by heat treatment: shafts, valve parts and wear parts. Lower corrosion resistance than austenitics; magnetic.
Hot rolled (black) bar is a raw product with a rough surface and wide tolerance, usually used after turning. Cold drawn (bright) bar gives a smoother surface and tighter tolerance; ground bar tightens the tolerance further. Tolerances for bright products are defined in EN 10278.
Austenitic grades (304, 316) tend to work harden; they need sharp tools, adequate feed and coolant. Sulphur-bearing free-machining grades (for example 303) make machining easier, but corrosion resistance and weldability are lower.
Both are austenitic grades. 316 contains roughly 2 - 2.5% molybdenum, which raises resistance to chloride and pitting corrosion. 304 is common in general machine parts; 316 is preferred in marine and chemical equipment.
They are ISO tolerance classes: the letter h denotes a shaft tolerance with zero upper deviation, and the number denotes the tolerance width. The smaller the number, the tighter the tolerance. An h9 bar therefore offers a tighter size deviation than h11.
