It all depends on the grade of stainless steel. All stainless steels will oxidize, it is not as visible in 316 or 304 steels, 409 stainless will oxide rapidly (most commonly known as muffler grade) but a little buffing and it will shine. You can scratch 304 and it will show rust in the scratch but again a little buffing and it will disappear. Actually it is the chromium content that give it rust resistance and the nickel will enhance it but the nickel is what gives it strength. All 300 series has 18% chromium and 8% nickel and commonly called 18/8 s/s. A slight variance with 316 s/s as it has a little less chromium (16%) and a little more nickel (10%) and 2% molybdenum added. I am not an expert on stainless steels but working with metals in the fertilizer industry got to understand it. We used 304 s/s for most of the product line but also used some 409 s/s. Lots of other 300 series grades of s/s and the use depends on the application and the other materials added to the steel.
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2014 Palomino Puma 25RS
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