PRODEC® Type 316/316L Plate - AMS 5524, 5507

Physical Properties of PRODEC® Type 316/316L Plate

Machinable Advantages of PRODEC® Plate

Today’s manufacturers are on a constant search for savings.  While most manufacturers quickly turn to material costs as a primary means of lowering their price, these short-term accommodations are not always sustainable.  According to United Performance Metals, PRODEC® Plate has become one solution for tangible cost reduction that is maintainable in the long run. Produced exclusively by New Castle Stainless, PRODEC® Plate, which stands for production economy, is a premium quality of stainless steel designed for enhanced machinability and processed to provide uniform consistency of properties from plate to plate and heat to heat.

Meeting all the requirements of ASTM and ASME specifications, New Castle Stainless product literature states that PRODEC® grades maintain the same yield strength, tensile strength, elongation, hardness, and toughness as conventionally produced plate, while also providing corrosion resistance as good or better than conventional stainless steel. Advanced ladle metallurgy allows for fine adjustments of the composition, amount, size, shape and distribution of the nonmetallic inclusions normally occurring within standard stainless steel. The company also states that the enhanced chemistry and treatment methods enable PRODEC® Plate to maintain tighter dimensional tolerances and produce a superior surface finish. 

United Performance Metals suggests that compared with conventionally produced stainless steel, PRODEC® machinable stainless steel offers significant benefits to manufacturers beginning with faster machining, allowing higher speeds and feeds of at least 25% with carbide tooling.   

One San Francisco Bay supplier has been touting the benefits of PRODEC® for over a decade. United Performance Metals is the largest PRODEC® Plate distributor on the West Coast. 

“We have found tremendous success with this product. It’s absolutely sought-after in our market,” remarked Josh Gondkoff, Branch Manager of United Performance Metals in Benicia, CA. “We do quite a lot of business in the semiconductor market, mostly in Northern California, but we’re able to ship across the country with competitive prices typically in three business days.”

United Performance Metals’ Benicia facility carries PRODEC® Type 304/304L and PRODEC® Type 316/316L plate in thickness of 3/16” up to 4” and specializes in saw cut plate, using carbide tipped blades under flood coolant to produce a better edge. 

PRODEC® Type 304/304L is a versatile, general purpose stainless steel with good resistance to atmospheric corrosion, to many organic and inorganic chemicals, and to foods and beverages. It has also been used in vacuum processing equipment and specialized instruments where high integrity is essential. PRODEC® Type 316/316L provides improved resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion in environments containing chlorides and other halides. 

PRODEC® Plate is designed to cut more economically and with significantly better straightness and final surface quality. Both the edge quality produced and shape tolerance of PRODEC® Plate parts that are precision sawed are above average and maintain standard tolerance of +.060-.000 or better. The outcome equals considerably longer tool life, increased productivity, better chip breaking, better dimensional tolerances, superior machined surface quality, reduced scrap losses, and consistent performance which translates to a reliable production schedule. Find out more by contacting us at 888.282.3292 today!