316L is a stainless steel material grades, AISI 316L is the corresponding American standard, sus 316L is the corresponding Japanese standard. China's unified numerical code for S31603, the standard grade for 022Cr17Ni12Mo2 (the new standard), the old grade for 00Cr17Ni14Mo2, said mainly contains Cr, Ni, Mo, the number indicates the approximate percentage contained. The national standard is GB/T 20878-2007 (current version).

Corrosion Resistance
The Mo content of 316L gives the steel excellent corrosion resistance and allows it to be safely applied in environments containing halogen ions such as Cl-. Because 316L is primarily applied for its chemical properties, steel mills require slightly less surface inspection for 316L (versus 304).

Differentiation Identification
The two most commonly used stainless steel 304, 316 (or corresponding to the German / European standard 1.4308,1.4408), 316 and 304 in the chemical composition of the most important difference is 316 contains Mo, and generally recognized, 316 corrosion resistance is better than 304 in high-temperature environment more corrosion-resistant. So in high-temperature environment, engineers generally choose 316 material parts.