308/L magnetic

Date 04-03-2011 14:03

It could be mis marked and it is not 308L. I have some 308L TIG wrie in my hand from two (2) different manufactures and it is not magnetic. I also checked a weld on 304L material welded with ER308L It is not magnetic. I would perform PMI to make sure what you have.

Jim

By CWI555

Date 04-03-2011 18:53

I doubt it's mismarked. It can in fact be attracted to a magnet. There is ferromagnetic, paramagnetic, and diamagnetic forces at play internally. People forget ~70 percent of the material is ferromagnetic. When welded properly and sometimes even when welded properly it retains some evidence of paramagnetism. (sticking a magnet)

Most of the time the individual magnetic domains within the material are prevented from aligning by the chemical composition and how/what order they solidify in.
Sometimes it simply doesn't align properly and it's left sticking a magnet.

By Mikeqc1 (****)

Date 04-03-2011 21:08

A In the annealed condition, 308L or 308Lsi is fully austenitic and therefore nonmagnetic. 308L and 3OSLSi are rather low-alloy austenitic stainless steels; and the cold working that occurs during drawing of the wire to final size can induce the austenite to transform in part to martensite. Martensite is ferromagnetic so it is attracted to the magnet. When the wire is melted in the arc the martensite disappears. The resulting weld metal will consist mainly of austenite with, usually, a small amount of ferrite to prevent hot cracking. that small amount of ferrite must cause it to be magnetic