Delta ferrite is ubiquitous in type 304 stainless steel: Consequences for magnetic characterization

Using a vibrating-sample magnetometer with a maximum field of 20.5 kOe, we have measured over 50 samples of annealed 304 stainless steel, which is usually considered to be non-magnetic. In almost every case, we observe the presence of a small, usually less than 0.01, fraction of a ferromagnetic phase, which we believe to be equilibrium bcc delta ferrite. The consequences of this observation for the measurement and specification of the magnetic properties of annealed 304 stainless are discussed. Our measurements also establish the most likely value for the magnetic permeability of the fcc austenitic phase in 304 stainless steel austenite as 1.0033 ± 0.0003.