18 Facts About Stainless steel

Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion.

Stainless steel can be rolled into sheets, plates, bars, wire, and tubing.

Biological cleanability of stainless steel is superior to both aluminium and copper, having a biological cleanability comparable to glass.

In particular, the electrical contact resistance of stainless steel arises as a result of the dense protective oxide layer and limits its functionality in applications as electrical connectors.

Nevertheless, stainless steel connectors are employed in situations where ECR poses a lower design criteria and corrosion resistance is required, for example in high temperatures and oxidizing environments.

Ferritic steel owes its magnetism to its body-centered cubic crystal structure, in which iron atoms are arranged in cubes and an additional iron atom in the center.

Sometimes, if austenitic steel is bent or cut, magnetism occurs along the edge of the stainless steel because the crystal structure rearranges itself.

Austenitic stainless steel fasteners are particularly susceptible to thread galling, though other alloys that self-generate a protective oxide surface film, such as aluminium and titanium, are susceptible.

Invention of stainless steel followed a series of scientific developments, starting in 1798 when chromium was first shown to the French Academy by Louis Vauquelin.

Whether stainless steel corrodes depends on the kind and concentration of acid or base and the solution temperature.

All types of stainless steel resist attack from phosphoric acid and nitric acid at room temperature.

However, if stainless steel fasteners are used to assemble aluminium sheets, galvanic corrosion will be much slower because the galvanic current density on the aluminium surface will be many orders of magnitude smaller.

Duplex stainless steel welding by electric arc is a common practice but requires careful control of the process parameters.

Stainless steel is used in a multitude of fields including architecture, art, chemical engineering, food and beverage manufacture, vehicles, medicine, energy and firearms.

Stainless steel used in projects often results in lower LCC values compared to other materials.

The higher acquisition cost of stainless steel components are often offset by improvements in operating and maintenance costs, reduced loss of production costs, and the higher resale value of stainless steel components.

For example, sulfurization, phosphorization, and nitridation treatments to produce nanoscale stainless steel based catalysts could enhance the electrocatalytic performance of stainless steel for water splitting.

Stainless steel welding is suspected of producing carcinogenic fumes from cadmium oxides, nickel, and chromium.