The Discovery of Stainless Steel in 1912.

The Underlying Principles of Stainless Steel

Stainless steel contains chromium which reacts with oxygen in the air to form a protective chromium oxide layer on the surface. This effect is called passivation and can also be observed in aluminium and magnesium.

To achieve passivation, the proportion of chromium in the alloy must be above 10.5%. A high amount of chromium leads to bad machining properties and high hardness. Nickel is added to reduce these unwanted effects.

Nevertheless its Processing can be Difficult

Machining of stainless steel is similar to machining of standard construction steel. It is important however, to prevent contact with other less noble metals. When stainless steel comes into contact with iron oxide, the passivation can be inhibited, leading to corrosion of stainless steel.Originally the width of stainless steel coils was limited due to the high deformation energy needed to roll wide sheets. With the introduction 20-high sendzimir mill clusters it became possible to roll sheets with widths above 1500mm.

INTERSTAHL offers many services for stainless steel. We can deliver many grades from stock and also offer machining.