Comparison of cheap imported stainless steel samples with Indian-made samples and a crystalline phase based methodology for bench-marking them

In the emerging South Asian markets, from the commercial as well as engineering point of view, performance and quality of any local engineering product like steel structures vis a vis similar but imported, cheap materials is always an issue. In this paper, as a representative case, we discuss the composition, crystalline phase and microstructure of two most common stainless steel grades manufactured locally by the major government of India sponsored (GOIS) Steel maker and compare them with similar cheap imported items that some local private businesses prefer due to slightly lower costs but having similar materials usage parameters. We have also used wet etch based micrographic analysis to compare surface morphology and have also done composition analysis in our results. It is shown that even if ASTM standards of composition are followed, since their crystalline phase components are not the same, their performance and properties are never comparable. More stringent quality bench-marking of such alloy materials for checking repeatability of batches and processes using X-ray diffraction and Raman spectral data analysis is thereby proposed. (author)