Stainless Steel 4003 in the Transportation Industry

The world today sees a dramatic increase in the number of people and the quantities of articles/products which are to be transported. This results in an ever-increasing demand in the steels used in the transportation industry. Key factors are environmental regulations, safety, and life expectancy and product cost in determining which types steel to use. Especially the ferritic 12 % chromium stainless steels has seen a significant development and usage in recent years. Compared to typical carbon steels high strength/low alley steels and structural steels the 12 % chromium steels offers improvement in corrosion and wear resistance and weldabilty outlining advantages in light weight construction and an overall saving. The paper presents the chemical composition and mechanical properties of grade 4003 which is in - creasingly used world wide in areas of public transportation, rail transportation, mining industry and sugar industry, among others. The impact of corrosion and abrasion of this stainless steel versus the standard carbon grades and cost efficiency are discussed.