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