1. Iron/steel: Is 3x heavier than aluminum. Will rust. Sticks to a magnet… is abundant. is strong
2. 304 stainless steel is an iron alloy with 18% chromium an 8% nickel. It WILL NOT draw a magnet. (Use the Spark test.)
3. 316 SS is non magnetic Is an iron alloy with 18% chromium and 10% nickel, but is worth up to 50 cents more per pound depending on the yard. To me and most scrappers, it looks exactly the same as 304 stainless. Look for a “316 SS” stamp or one similar to distinguish this. When spark tested, will have less “forks” at the end of streams.
4. 200 SS •Is an iron alloy with 17% chromium 4%Nickel and 7% Manganese
•Are much more corrosion resistant that 300 grade.
•In NON-MAGNETIC
•Are harder to sell to a scrap yard because they will not accumulate enough to find a buyer.
•A scrap yard could sell this with 300 grade stainless if they wanted to.
5. 400 GRADE STAINLESS STEEL has no nickel in it, and therefore IS magnetic. If it is magnetic, many yards will not pay stainless price for it. Is an alloy of 11% Chromium and ~1% manganese -
6.CUPRONICKEL
•a fancy way of saying copper/nickel alloy
•is worth much more that copper 1.
•Some yards will cheat and try to buy this stuff as brass or cheaper.
•is actually at least 30% Ni, sometimes up to 90%, which is 3 times as expensive as copper.
•Is often used in fake jewelry, silver plated dinnerware, ship making, salt water pipes, heat exchangers and condensers, musical instruments and more…
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7.
Aluminum:
•is quite light
•does NOT draw a magnet
•does NOT throw sparks when ground with an angle grinder.
•doesn’t rust.
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Spark Test here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFf_x97vcQ0