I was wondering, if you people know of any cheaply made ferrous alloys with a reasonable resistance to oxidation (since commercial stainless steel is way beyond the scope of homemade products).
P.D: my homebrew kilns can easily melt iron and titanium.
Oxidation at what temp? At lower temps adding enough Si or Al to steel will get oxidation resistance.
Though you would be better off sticking to Fe-Cr martinsitic alloys. You may find that you don't need to go to 18%Cr, in many applications 5-9%Cr provided adequate corrosion resistance.
Are you going to be casting or forging? These require different chemistries..
"Oxidation at what temp? At lower temps adding enough Si or Al to steel will get oxidation resistance.
Though you would be better off sticking to Fe-Cr martinsitic alloys. You may find that you don't need to go to 18%Cr, in many applications 5-9%Cr provided adequate corrosion resistance.
Are you going to be casting or forging? These require different chemistries.."
I'll be casting (since I can melt iron). I'm not exactly sure how could it be done by forging (forgive my ignorance), you mean making a protective layer?
Hmmm... interesting, thats some good input. What percentages of: Si, Al or both, would provide good corrosion resistance? Can I, for example, cast a mixture of silica/aluminas with iron? Would it be that easy to make ferrosilicon/ferraluminum?
"I think OP is trying make an equivalent of stainless steel in their garage kiln"
well, not quite, with "reasonable" I meant that, it offered good protection to oxidation but, it doesn't have to be nearly on the level of stainless steel (though, if its possible to make that good (or better) of a DIY stainless steel, I'm all for it).