Austenitic stainless steels offer improved weldability, resistance to a great variety of corrosives, good castability, machinability, weldability, and improved strength at elevated temperatures. Typical uses and applications include paper pulp solutions and nitric acids, hot sulfuric acids, dilute hydrochloric acid and hot chloride solutions, and nitric-hydrofluoric pickling solutions.

Martensitic stainless steels are resistant to atmospheric corrosion, mild organic media in mild service, and are hardenable through heat treatment. They have good impact resistance, offer improved elevated temperature strength properties, and have improved seawater corrosion resistance with additions of molybdenum. Common uses include pumps, compressors, valves, hydraulic turbines, propellers, and machinery components.

Duplex stainless steels are about twice as strong as regular austenitic or ferritic stainless steels, have a range of corrosion resistance, show good stress corrosion cracking resistance, and have lower nickel and molybdenum contents than their austenitic counterparts of similar corrosion resistance, resulting in lower cost. They are commonly used in applications that have exposure to chlorides and require crevice corrosion resistance.

Heat resistant stainless steels provide scaling resistance at high temperatures, high sulfur applications where high strength is not required, corrosion resistance at high temperatures (moderate strength), and resistance to thermal fatigue and shock induced by severe temperature cycling. Common applications include ore roasting furnace parts, rabble arms and blades, steel mill furnaces, salt pots, grate bars, tube supports and beams in oil refinery heaters, scaling resistance at high temperatures, radiant tubes, and oxidizing and carburizing atmospheres.

Precipitation hardened stainless steels offer excellent resistance to stress corrosion and cracking in substances containing chloride (e.g. seawater) and high resistance to sulfuric acid and nitric acids. They are commonly used where high strength and improved corrosion resistance are required, such as highly stressed machined castings in the aircraft and food processing industries, pumps, valves, and stressed components in the marine, chemical, textile, and paper industries.