As long as the quality is good enough, stainless steel is one of the safest materials.
But remember, the quality matters.
So, how do you know if the stainless steel coil you’ve got is good or not? Try out the below methods.
The theory of the “magnet test” is a rumour.
It tells you that you can test the quality of stainless steel with a magnet.
But the fact is that the magnet is to test whether the steel is austenitic, or whether the steel contains chromium and nickel.
There are three main types of structures in stainless steel: austenite, ferrite, and martensite.
When you see stainless steel with 18/8 or 18/10 marks, it tells you the amount of chromium and nickel.
So, both 18/8 and 18/10 are austenitic.
The “magnet test” is useful when you use it in the right way. And it’s easy to do by simply taking a magnet to your stainless steel coil.
If the magnet sticks, the coil is safe because it indicates no nickel in the steel. But if the magnet doesn’t stick, it means the steel contains nickel, so the coil is not safe for food usage.
This test is credible.
If a magnet is to stick to steel, it is not a nickel (austenitic) alloy.
There is a problem with this theory, however.
First of all, there are no stainless steel pans with magnetic inside and outside. It’s very difficult to find a fully magnetic stainless steel coil on the market.
That’s not surprising. The reason is that austenitic stainless steel which contains nickel is highly resistant to corrosion.
Corrosion resistance is very important to buy stainless steel coil, isn’t it?
If the coil is fully magnetic stainless steel, it would corrode and not last very long. Without nickel, the metal is not stable.
For this reason, it’s not necessary to buy stainless steel coils that are magnetic, nickel-free.
You will find magnetic stainless steel in the outer layer of some quality stainless steel.
It’s to make the coil compatible with induction stovetops in case you need it for cookware. The reason is, induction stovetops use an electromagnetic field to heat the cookware.
So, high-quality stainless steel cookware usually has three layers of metal. The interior is austenite stainless steel. The exterior is ferrite stainless steel. And the middle layer is aluminium.
It’s for good heat conductivity because steel itself does not conduct heat evenly. Stainless steel of poor quality usually has only one austenitic layer.
But there is still a difference in quality between different types of austenitic stainless steel.
Sometimes you will find that austenitic stainless steel is less magnetic. That’s because, during manufacturing, the steel is cold-processed to form ferrite and martensite.
This process makes it easier to corrode and leach.
The formulation of austenitic stainless steel cookware is careful to avoid this. And the result is a very stable austenitic alloy that resists corrosion and leaching of the metal.
So, A carefully-formed, highly-stable, non-corrosive, and nickel-containing stainless steel is safer than a pure magnetic stainless steel.
Pure magnetic stainless steel will break down and corrode over time. And it doesn’t even exist in the market!
To be honest, it’s hard to know whether your stainless steel is of the best quality unless you are a metal expert. Or unless you go to the factory and see how it’s made. Otherwise, you won’t know whether your stainless steel has corrosive materials.
Your best choice is to buy high-quality stainless steel from the start, choose a brand with a good reputation for quality, such as WJH premium stainless steel.
But still, there’s another way for you to determine whether the stainless steel coils you’ve got is potentially harmful.
What is all this stuff? They are the types/grades of stainless steel. No worries. We’ll tell you in detail in the following section after this.
Now let’s focus on how to make use of the tester.
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