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Up Topic Welding Industry / Technical Discussions / Grinding Pads for Stainless Steel
- - By Milton Gravitt (***) Date 06-03-2008 00:25
  I was told not to use a regular grinding pad for carbon steel for Stainless Steel because it would cause it to rust today I was told that the zirconia fibre discs wouldn't cause it to rust so I thought I would ask the experts is this true.
                    M.G.
Parent - - By Shane Feder (****) Date 06-03-2008 02:45
MG,
You are correct, you do not use ordinary carbon steel discs for grinding or sanding. You need to have discs classified as "iron free". There are a variety of discs you can use but the important thing to remember is keep them separated, do not use on s/s after you have used it on c/s, no matter what it is made of.
Regards,
Shane
Parent - - By jrw159 (*****) Date 06-03-2008 03:56
Thats what I wanted to say.

So, spot on shane! :-)

jrw159
Parent - - By Metarinka (****) Date 06-03-2008 17:27
Just wanted to emphasize that second point, Grinding disks, cut off wheels etc that have been used on carbon steel shouldnt' be used on stainless steel. It's in the AWS stainless code books, you're just asking for a world of trouble down the line when you wonder why your fancy stainless steel part is rusting at the welds.

That pretty much goes for any metal combination, nothing is worse than trying to weld on contaminated aluminum.
lets not even get into machining grade steels that contain lead or zinc...
Parent - - By G.S.Crisi (****) Date 06-03-2008 18:43
There's also another reason besides the one you gentlemen mentioned.
Grinding disks used for carbon steel are made of silicon carbide. When used for stainless steel, they leave traces of carbon on the stainless steel, which can lead to intergranular corrosion.
Grinding disks for stainless steel are made of alumina or zirconia, that are carbon free materials.
Giovanni S. Crisi
Sao Paulo - Brazil
Parent - - By DaveBoyer (*****) Date 06-04-2008 04:12
Giovanni: Here in the US aluminum oxide is used in grinding wheels & discs for use on steel, and everything besides cast iron, masonry and ocasionally aluminum, and silicon carbide is only used on these.
Parent - - By Milton Gravitt (***) Date 06-04-2008 12:20
So the bottom line is you can't use the zirconia fiber discs for Stainless Steel. Yes or No
Parent - By jrw159 (*****) Date 06-04-2008 12:27
IMHO, yes, as long as it has not been used on CS previously, which would result in cross contamination. :-)

jrw159
Parent - - By Kix (****) Date 06-04-2008 12:52
X 2     Go ahead and use em!!
Parent - - By Milton Gravitt (***) Date 06-04-2008 23:29
Thanks for everyones help on my question. I found some zirconia flaper discs that had for Stainless Steel on the box that was what I was looking for.
Parent - By DaveBoyer (*****) Date 06-05-2008 04:17
You have the right ones. As I think someone mentioned they are free of the materials that would cause problems on stainless. Others that are not specificly marked are a crap shoot.
Parent - By Plasma-Brain (**) Date 06-05-2008 21:39
I don't know if I should start another thread with this but I was wondering about this topic earlier today, what about titanium?
Which is worse for titanium, carbides or oxides?
Interjecting...
-Clif
Up Topic Welding Industry / Technical Discussions / Grinding Pads for Stainless Steel

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