Stainless Steel Discovered

There is a widely held view that stainless steel was discovered in 1913 by sheffield metallurgist harry brearley.

Stainless steel discovered. Harry brearley 18 february 1871 14 july 1948 was an english metallurgist credited with the invention of rustless steel later to be called stainless steel in the anglophone world based in sheffield his invention brought affordable cutlery to the masses and saw an expansion of the city s traditional cutlery trade. Over the last 100 years about 100 grades of stainless steel have been discovered and made commercially available. Robert bunsen discovered chromium s resistance to strong acids. Other elements may be added to increase resistance to corrosion and oxidation and impart special characteristics.

The most common answer to the question of who invented stainless steel is usually harry brearley however in reality the answer to this question regarding stainless steel may not be so clear cut. Adding titanium to the 18 8 hatfield is also credited with the invention of 321 stainless. Some enchanted tales of brearley recite him tossing his steel into the rubbish only to notice later that the steel hadn t rusted to the extent of its counterparts much like alexander flemings experience 15 years later. When was stainless steel discovered.

There has always been an on going race between people in order to uncover and announce brand new innovative techno logies. The circumstances in which brearley discovered stainless steel are covered in myth. The result was a crucible or cast steel. This austentic stainless would soon rise to become the most popular and widely used type of stainless steel.

However the picture is much more complex than this. In conjunction with low carbon content chromium imparts remarkable resistance to corrosion and heat. There is a widely held view that stainless steel was discovered in 1913 by sheffield metallurgist harry brearley. Ferritic and martensitic stainless steels are magnetic while austenitic stainless steels are non magnetic.

The 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 in the early 1800s james stodart michael faraday and robert mallet observed the resistance of chromium iron alloys chromium steels to oxidizing agents. When was stainless steel discovered. He was experimenting with different types of steel for weapons and noticed that a 13 chromium steel had not corroded after several months. These grades fall under four main family groups namely martenistic ferritic austentic and duplex.

Blister steel production advanced in the 1740s when english clockmaker benjamin huntsman while trying to develop high quality steel for his clock springs found that the metal could be melted in clay crucibles and refined with a special flux to remove slag that the cementation process left behind.