Formability of Cast 304 1

[enirwin]

I currently have an assembly that requires a swaging operation on a wrought 304 part. Because of the complexity of the part, I've been asked if it can be cast rather than machined from barstock. Can I expect the same formability from a cast 304 part as a wrought 304 part? I don't want to compromise the ability to swage the part.

 

[mcguire]

The minimum elongation in the stainless steel handbook for cast 304 is still over 50%. You don't often hear of major deformation done to form a casting (or why have a casting in the first place?) but it seems you should not have any worry.

Michael McGuire

http://stainlesssteelforengineers.blogspot.com/

 

[arunmrao]

Agree with mcguire. Why do you need to swage the casting when you have already cast it to shape? However,no problems even if you desire to swage it.

 

[kenvlach]

The casting version of 304 is CF-8. It has slightly higher [Si] (for fluidity, I think) and lower [Mn]. Minimum elongation is 35% (cf. 40% for annealed 304) according to MatWeb.
mac, might the higher elongation of 50% require a solutionizing heat treatment (as per ASTM A351)?

 

[mcguire]

Arun
Do you have typical elongation values from your foundries?

Michael McGuire

http://stainlesssteelforengineers.blogspot.com/

 

[arunmrao]

Yes I get 40-45% elongation and at times nearly 50% too. Hence I did not dispute your value of 50% elongation.

 

[EdStainless]

In the old days I did this all of the time. There were either features that we sized in presses or there were assemblies that were sweged.
You need to watch the annealing practice. Good anneals and you should not have any problems.

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[enirwin]

Thanks to all. In answer to the question, why swage a casting, the swaging is an assembly operation with a mating part. The casting is desired because the geometry of the part requires a lot of machining that would be eliminated by use of a casting.

Again, thanks to all for the responses.