Why 304 stainless steel must be used in the kitchen

The extensive use of stainless steel products is a revolution in the kitchen. They are beautiful, durable, and easy to clean. They directly change the color and touch of the kitchen. As a result, the visual environment of the kitchen has been greatly improved, it is no longer dark and humid, and it is all black.

However, there are many kinds of stainless steel, and the difference between them is not small. Sometimes safety questions may be heard, and it is a problem to select them.

Especially when it comes to pots, tableware and other utensils that directly carry food, the materials become more sensitive.

In the daily environment of the kitchen, the corrosion resistance and safety of 304 are completely sufficient, and the more advanced 316 (0Cr17Ni12Mo2) is used in the chemical, medical and other fields, with more stable chemical properties and more corrosion resistance.

Austenitic 304 steel has low strength and is generally used in kitchen containers, while knives need to use harder martensitic stainless steel (420, 440), and their rust resistance is worse.

In the past, manganese-containing stainless steels such as 201 and 202 were mainly considered to be troublesome. 201 and 202 stainless steel are the lowest-end products in stainless steel. 201 and 202 were developed to replace part of 304 stainless steel. The reason is that compared with nickel, manganese is much cheaper. Chromium-nickel-manganese austenitic stainless steels such as 201 and 202 are about half cheaper than 304 steel.

Of course, 304 steel itself is not too expensive, about 6,7 yuan per catty, 316 steel 1 catty 11 yuan. Of course, material prices are often not a key factor in the final product price. Imported stainless steel cookware is so expensive, not all because of the good materials.

The unit price of steel-making cast iron is only one 25th of chromium and one 50th of nickel. In addition to the annealing process, the raw material cost of austenitic stainless steel is obviously much higher than that of martensite and iron without nickel. Body stainless steel. 304 steel, at least in terms of the value of the raw metal, is ordinary but not cheap.