Does an Induction Cooking Pan Need to be Completely Ferrous?

[Loppyfoot]

I ask, "Does a ferrous pan for Induction Cooking need to be Completely Ferrous?"

In other words, could just the bottom of the pan be a ferrous material for good inductive heat induction?

Could I have a ferrous bottom, and ferrous sides that turn to a non-ferrous material after a couple inches?

I am trying to forge my own induction cookware, and I don't know if the entire pan should be ferrous, or if only a part of it needs to be.

 

[mfb]

Yes. The combination of different materials can have other challenges (different thermal expansion coefficients, electrochemical considerations, ...) but heating will work.

 

[Loppyfoot]

Do you think that a ferrous plate at the bottom would suffice though? Or would a completely ferrous pan be significantly better?

 

[mfb]

In terms of heating, it should not make a large difference. In terms of engineering, I don't know.

 

[siddharth23]

I think it shouldn't be a problem. But even if you use a non-ferrous material, it should be a good conductor of heat. What material are you thinking of using?

 

[Plasticman]

The pans my wife and I have for our induction cooktop have stainless steel bottoms bonded to copper, which is bonded again to stainless steel.

 

[Wes Tausend]

Many answers here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_cooking

I think some metals and elements/compounds other than iron have a very weak, insignificant eddy-current induction.

More info can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramagnetism and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetism .

Wes
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