Does 316 stainless exist?

[Tim Johnson]

The standard 316 stainless appears to have gone the way of the dodo bird and replaced by 316/316L material.
Does anyone know if the pure 316 stainless is still on the market?

[MIL-TFP-41]

By definition 316L is 316. However 316 is not necessarily 316L. Only difference being 316 can have a higher max carbon content than 316L (something like .08% vs .04%)
But we use tons of 316 (or 316L) round bar here. Usually purchase an entire mill run at a time.

[Tim Johnson]

By definition 316L is 316. However 316 is not necessarily 316L. Only difference being 316 can have a higher max carbon content than 316L (something like .08% vs .04%)
But we use tons of 316 (or 316L) round bar here. Usually purchase an entire mill run at a time.

That extra .04% carbon increases tool life 20% to 30% and you get better finishes. It appears that a mill run is the only way to get the good stuff but a 50+ year supply for instruments that may not exist in ten to twenty years is not good business.

[CNCAppsJames]

I picked some up last week when I was shopping for my Unicorn Fur jacket. 

[Tim Johnson]

I picked some up last week when I was shopping for my Unicorn Fur jacket.

The next time you need a new Unicorn Fur jacket pick me up some 316 sst and i'll pay for your jacket (and the 316 material).

One of our largest usage of 316 sst are block valves which are considered the heart of the instruments they reside in. The material is 2" x 2" x 2.65". The programs are around 2.75 meg with 35 tools so you can imagine the size of the tooling. With 316 we could get 8 parts off per cycle but with 316L we're happy to get 6. The operators are currently running 4 at a time.