What is the effect of carbon elements on 304 stainless steel tubes?

When it comes to carbon, we all think of diamonds, because the diamonds are all made up of carbon, which also proves the effect of carbon, so is it the same effect in the 304 stainless steel tube?

In fact, carbon is one of the main elements in industrial steel. The properties and microstructure of steel are largely determined by the content and distribution of carbon in it. The effect of carbon elements on the microstructure in stainless steel tubes is mainly manifested in two aspects, one is the stabilization of austenite elements, and the effect is about 30 times of nickel; and two is carbon and chromium. The affinity is relatively large, which will form a series of complex carbides with chromium, thus affecting the role of chromium in stainless steel. So the carbon element can improve the hardness of the stainless steel tube in the 304 stainless steel tube, but the corrosion resistance of the stainless steel tube decreases with the increase of carbon content, and the plasticity becomes worse. These two contradictory laws also make people choose stainless steel pipes with different carbon content from different requirements. Stainless steel pipes are mainly corrosion resistant in our daily life, and the carbon content is very low for some processes, such as easy to weld and bend.