Machining Stainless Steel 304

Main difficulties of machining stainless steel 304 materials:

1. Due to the high hardness of the material, large cutting force, and high temperature during processing

Stainless steel 304 has high strength, sizeable tangential stress, and large plastic deformation, resulting in a large cutting force. In addition, it has poor thermal conductivity, increasing by cutting temperature. And the high temperature is often concentrated in the narrow and long area near the cutting edge of the tool, which speeds up the tool’s wear.

2. Severe hardening during machining stainless steel 304

Austenitic stainless steels and some superalloy stainless steels are austenitic. There is a tendency for work to harden during cutting. The tool cuts in the work hardening area to shorten the tool life.

3. 304 stainless steel is easy to stick to processing tools

When stainless steel 304 is processed, the chip is solid and challenging, and the cutting temperature is very high. When the stable and rigid chunk flows through the rake face, it will produce sticking phenomena such as bonding and fusion welding, which will affect the surface roughness of machined parts.

4. Machining stainless steel 304 processing props wear fast

The above materials generally contain high melting point elements, high plasticity, and high cutting temperature, which accelerate the wear of tools and frequently grind and change tools, thus affecting the production efficiency and improving the cost of devices.