Testing to insure that stainless steel is Grade 304 and not below

A. Hi, Bob. Your inquiry sort of implies that numbers like 304 and 305 are a rating scale, with lower numbers being either "better" or "worse". I don't think that is the case, although some might argue that 347 is better than 316 which is better than 304. Actually each number is arbitrary but represents a specific formulation, and these formulations can be quite complex. So I doubt that there is any simple spot test that says an alloy is 304 and not 303 or 302 or 316.

If you have enough money though ($30 thousand and up), you can get a hand-held scrap sorter [on eBay or Amazon] X-ray fluorescence machine that will almost instantly identify the alloy.

Regards,

A. Hi Ismaila. Almost everyone simply trusts the labels, so yes, that is a reasonable approach for most of us most of the time. But if the label does not indicate the manufacturer's name on it, then I would be less trusting.

Regards,