I need a few hundred small parts made from 316L stainless. I’m looking at local suppliers and also overseas ones, including Made-in-China.com. The prices vary a lot, so I want to be sure the material is what it says it is.

The order is too small for expensive lab testing. Is a handheld XRF scanner good enough to spot 304 passed off as 316L? Or is it better to send a sample to a lab? Also, can I trust the mill test certificate from a supplier I’ve never worked with?

Would love to hear what has worked for you, or what went wrong.