Austenitic stainless steel has many positive characteristics driving demand; this category makes up approximately three-quarters of the global stainless steel market, which was valued at $93.69 billion in 2018 and is expected to show a CAGR of 5.2 percent by 2025. Austenitic stainless steel is
Strength at Temperature: Austenitic stainless steel can withstand extreme temperatures degrees, depending upon the grade up to approximately 1900F. Some grades start to see some deforming, softening, or loss of strength at 800 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cold Workability: Austenitic Stainless Steels cannot be hardened via heat treatment. Only cold working or reduction can increase the strength of austenitics. Cold working refers to shaping a metal without heating it, which can be done with austenitic stainless steel.. Austenitic stainless steels can be annealed before rapidly cooling or “quenching” the metal to bring it back to its original state. Cold rolled stainless steel comes with several advantages: improved surface finish which is beneficial because a steel with an improved surface finish will have a higher hardness which resists crack propagation, and improved strength.
Low Thermal Conductivity: Heat transfers slowly through austenitic stainless steel. Ferritic stainless steel, on the other hand, has higher thermal conductivity.
Formability: Austenitic stainless steel is highly formable, making it especially versatile for a wide variety of applications.
Cold working austenitic stainless steel increases its strength and decreases its ductility. Of course, different stainless steels have advantages in different applications, as well. Austenitic stainless steel is more susceptible to stress corrosion cracking than ferritics.
Austenitic stainless steel is usually not magnetic, while ferritic stainless steel usually is magnetic. You may have wondered why some refrigerators are magnetic while others are not: it's because they're made of different stainless steels.
We say these are each "usually" the way they are because there are exceptions. Certain processes or temperatures can cause the crystal structure to rearrange, giving the material magnetic properties.