The Difference Between Carbon Steel And Stainless Steel

What is the difference between carbon steel and stainless steel?

Stainless steel and carbon steel belong to one principle, both are steel. Steel that contains only the element carbon is called carbon steel, while stainless steel is steel that has a high content of alloys added to it to prevent rust. The differences between the two are detailed below.

Corrosion and Wear Resistance

Although there are iron elements in carbon steel and stainless steel, iron is relatively easy to oxidize, so the corrosion resistance of welded iron materials is relatively poor. In addition to iron, stainless steel also adds chromium, which can effectively increase the corrosion resistance of the material.

Malleable

Both them have a certain degree of ductility. However, stainless steel contains a large amount of nickel, so the ductility of stainless steel will also be better than carbon steel.

Price-cost margin

Stainless steel requires high corrosion resistance, so in the production process, it needs to go through more complex processing. And need to add other high alloy content, so in terms of production costs, stainless steel will be higher.

Mechanical Property

To identify the mechanical properties of the product, you need to determine the better quality carbon steel from the carbon content of the product. Carbon content should be less than 2%, and the production process will not add other elements of materials. So compared with stainless steel, carbon steel mechanical properties will be better.

Appearance

Because stainless steel contains more chromium and nickel metals, the appearance of the color is mostly silver bright, and the surface is smooth, with a strong metallic luster. Carbon steel is mainly an alloy of carbon and iron, other metal elements are less, the main color of the appearance will be much darker than the color of iron, and the surface is not as smooth as stainless steel.