What is M material group?
Stainless steel is often used in applications that place a limited demand on corrosion resistance.Despite being replaced by ferritic stainless steel for non-critical applications, austenitic stainless steel is the most common choice when corrosion is a concern. There is a wide range of austenitic grades optimized to resist corrosion in various environments. Increased contents of Cr, Mo and N tend to improve corrosion resistance but at the same time reduce machinability. Alloying additions of Ti may contribute to abrasive wear of tools.
Duplex stainless steels consist of approximately equal amounts of ferrite and austenite. They combine corrosion resistance with a higher strength compared to the austenitic grades, which means that less material can be used and weight can be reduced. They also contain less nickel than corresponding austenitic grades which is often a cost benefit.
The austenitic and duplex stainless steels cannot be hardened by quenching like carbon steels but instead they harden by deformation. Cold formed parts, sheared edges and machined or shot-blasted surfaces are therefore considerably harder than the bulk material. Additions of sulphur (exceeding 0.020%) may increase the machinability of these materials considerably but may also affect other properties like corrosion resistance, weldability and hot ductility. For this reason bar material is more often treated for improved machinability than e.g. plate material. Stainless steels with improved machinability often bear brand names like Sanmac, Prodec or Ugima.
Often used in applications that place a limited demand on corrosion resistance. The ferritic material is relatively low-cost due to the limited Ni content. Examples of applications are:
- shafts for pumps,
- turbines,
- steam and water turbines,
- nuts,
- bolts,
- hot water heaters,
- pulp and food processing industries, due to lower requirements on corrosion resistance.
Seco classifies the machinability of materials based on 5 important properties: abrasiveness, ductility, strain hardening, thermal conductivity and hardness.
Do you want to know more about this material?
Discover our STEP program
You already have an application in mind for this material?
Find the right tool within a minute with Suggest!
Basic guidelines for machining ISO M materials, e.g. stainless steel machining:
- High thermal loads and hard surface scales are your main concern (leading to complex flank and crater wear, notch wear, plastic deformation)
- Use big depth of cut and high feed
- Use cutting speed to balance tool life with economic considerations on the process, but avoid build-up edge window of cutting speeds
- Use dedicated carbide grades and appropriate cutting geometry to balance with selected feed
- Rich emulsion (8% – 12%) cooling is advised, JETSTREAM gives excellent results
ISO M Tab extract
Inline Content - Survey
Current code - 5fce8e61489f3034e74adc64
HOMERelated content
Manage Tool Wear with Stainless Steel
Balancing key factors in stainless steel machining
Stainless Steel / ISO M
Getting Technical - Machining Stainless Steel
Factsheet - JH730 Solid End Mills addition
JH730 Solid End Mills addition
Seco JS754 Stub Series Brings Versatility and Value When Milling Tough Materials
FEEDMAX -MS DRILL
Jabro barrel machining tools - JH734/JH736 & JH744/JH746
FINISH 3D PARTS FASTER WITH NEW BARREL FINISHING TOOLS DEDICATED TO ISO M AND S MATERIALS
STEP_Machinability_poster_DinA1.pdf
MEP takes the edge off aerospace part manufacturing
How new materials and new ideas will shape tomorrow’s aerospace manufacturing industry
Stainless Steels: Advances in Stainless Steels machinability
Octomill OO.T06 / OF..05/07 – 8 edges – KAPR 40°/43°
Challenges in titanium
Challenges in steel
Challenges in cast iron
Challenges in non-ferrous materials
Challenges in hardened steel