There are countless variations of stainless steel that you could potentially use for a custom wire basket or tray. Each formulation of stainless steel alloy has its own unique properties for tensile strength, melting point, oxidation resistance, and corrosion resistance.

Picking the right grade of stainless steel requires knowing what your options are. To help you better understand your choices, here’s a quick explanation of the most common types of stainless steel and their properties:

The Five Main Categories of Stainless Steel

While there are thousands of different alloys of stainless steel, they can all be divided into three broad categories:

1. Austenitic Stainless Steels. These are the most frequently used types of stainless steels. Austenitic stainless steels tend to have a high chromium content compared to other steel alloys, giving them a higher resistance to corrosion. Another common characteristic of austenitic stainless steel alloys is that they tend to be non-magnetic—though they may become magnetic after cold working.
   
   
2. Ferritic Stainless Steels. The second most common form of stainless steel after austenitic alloys. As the name implies, ferritic stainless steel is magnetic. These alloys can be hardened through cold working. They also tend to be less expensive because of their reduced nickel content.
   
   
3. Martensitic Stainless Steels. The least common category of stainless steel alloy. Their corrosion resistance tends to be lower than either ferritic or austenitic alloys, but they have a high hardness. Martensitic stainless steel alloys are often ideal for applications requiring extraordinarily high tensile strength and impact resistance. When said applications also require corrosion resistance, these alloys may be used with a protective polymer coating.
4. Duplex (Ferritic-Austenitic) Stainless Steels. This category of stainless steel derives its name “duplex” from its composition; it is made of half austenite and half delta-ferrite. These stainless steel alloys have better corrosion resistance, especially against chloride pitting, and higher tensile strength than standard austenitic stainless steels. Due to their physical properties and chemical resistance, duplex stainless steels are used widely in the oil and gas industry for pipework systems or as pipelines and pressure vessels in the petrochemicals industry. 
   
   

5. Precipitation-Hardening (PH) Stainless Steels. This category of stainless steel is comprised of durable, corrosion-resistant alloys with exceptional strength. They can be treated to yield strengths three to four times that of standard austenitic stainless steel. They are most commonly used in the aerospace, nuclear, and oil and gas industries.