You have to look at the spec sheet.  You can find one in a welding text with a stainless chapter, or you can find them at supplier websites.   I would try Lincoln or ESAB or Stoody.  You can also just put it directly into Google to see what you get.  Try "304 Stainless Weld Wire Tensile Strength".  There is not really any coding nomenclature that breaks it down.  The spec sheets list chemistry and tensile strength.

Hello waps75, ESAB has a filler metals handbook that covers most of the questions that you are asking, the Hobart pocket guide also has many bits of information that will likely apply. Stainless steel and other fillers besides steel electrodes have a rather unique numbering system and aren't readily identified for their strength by their numbers, E304, E316, E308, as you have already discovered. I am pretty sure that you can probably Google the various number combinations and you might be led to some of the information that I included above, alot of the time the E316 and others might be accompanied with a -16 or some other designator, these numbers often specify other specifics that describe characteristics of a particular rod. Good luck and best regards, Allan

I find Esab's website pretty easy to use: http://products.esabna.com/

Click on "Products" then on "Filler Metals" then on "Covered Electrodes-Stainless Steel", choose the alloy You are interested in,  then click on "Properties"

Despite what you find in the manufacturer's literature, if you actually test the deposited weld, you will find a considerable amount of variance.  I have found that deposition variables create large differences in YS and UTS.

the next question is:
what do you need the information for? unlike carbon steels there's less variation in tensile strength within the sub groups of stainless steels. On top of that generally a filler has closely matching properties to the base metal. when we designed welds we went under the assumption that the tensile strength was within the same group as the base metal.

Here's a quick reference:
http://www.fanagalo.co.za/tech/tech_grades.htm

In covered (or stick, as are sometimes called) stainless steel electrodes, the first three numbers designates the AISI stainless steel type they're made of. The last two have the same meaning they have for carbon steel electrodes.
Example: E 308-16, means that the electrode is made of AISI 308 stainless steel type, and 16 has the same meaning it has for carbon steel electrodes.
AISI is the American Iron and Steel Institute. AISI stainless steel standards just state the chemical composition, not mechanical properties. For these, the answers you have already received give enough information.
Giovanni S. Crisi
Sao Paulo - Brazil