What is Stainless Steel?

What is Stainless Steel?

Stainless steel is the generic name for a number of different steels that are mainly used because of their corrosion resistance. All stainless steels share a minimum percentage of 10.5% chromium. Chromium is always the determining factor, although other elements are added to increase corrosion resistance, especially nickel and molybdenum. The success of the material is based on the fact that it has a unique advantage.

The chromium in stainless steel has a large interaction with oxygen and will form a chromium oxide film on the surface of the steel at the molecular level. The film itself is extremely thin, about 130 Angstroms and one Angstrom is one millionth of a centimeter. This layer has been defined as passive (does not affect or affect other materials), tenacious (adheres to the steel layer and is not transferred elsewhere), and self-renewing (if damaged, more chromium than steel will be exposed to air, forming more chromium oxide). This means that a stainless steel blade can literally wear out over the years in daily use and still remain stainless. Stainless steel in most cases is the most cost-effective solution.

While producing a component or fabrication in stainless steel is often more expensive than using ordinary steel due to the higher cost of stainless steel and the expertise required during machining, it is the better life cycle costs that make stainless steel such an attractive material.

Thanks to the use of stainless steel, a significantly longer service life and less maintenance costs for equipment can be achieved. Moreover, stainless steel is fully recyclable and has a high scrap value in decommissioning.

Cheminox offers great solutions on “Chemical Passivation in Stainless Steels”.

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