Stainless Steel
Alloys · Common · Modern
Steel with at least a tenth of chromium, which grows an oxide skin a few atoms thick; unlike rust, that skin seals instead of flaking. Scratch it and the scratch is covered again in seconds, saw through a bar and the cut face is rustproof before you have put the saw down. Salt and bleach will still beat it, given time and a surface nobody wipes.
Identity
- Source
- Modern alloy: iron, chromium, nickel
- Composition
- Iron, Chromium ≥10.5%, Nickel, Carbon
- Over time
- Type 304, the commonest grade, holds 18% chromium and 8% nickel; some grades carry no nickel at all.
- Also known as
- Inox, Rustless steel, Chromium steel
- Ores, before industry and since
- Goethite (Iron), Hematite (Iron), Limonite (Iron), Magnetite (Iron), Siderite (Iron)
- Ores of the industrial age
- Chromite (Chromium), Garnierite (Nickel), Limonite (Nickel), Nickeline (Nickel), Pentlandite (Nickel), Skutterudite (Nickel)
Physical Properties
- Appearance
- Bright silver-grey, mirror-like when polished, resists rust and staining indefinitely under normal conditions
- Luster
- Metallic
- Density
- 7.9 g/cm³
- Melting point
- 1400 °C
- Boiling point
- 2800 °C
- Lighter
- Iron
- Denser
- Atium
- Magnetism
- Non-magnetic
- Electrical conductivity
- Low
Mechanical Properties
- Mohs hardness
- 5.5
- Tensile strength
- 580 MPa
- Softer
- Orium
- Harder
- Celestial Siderite
- Workability
- Moderate
- Brittleness
- Tough
- Malleability
- Moderate
- Ductility
- High
Chemical Properties
- Corrosion resistance
- Very High
- Reactivity
- Low
Lore & Narrative
Harry Brearley found it in Sheffield in 1913 while looking for a gun barrel steel that would not wear out. The chromium samples he had thrown away as failures were the only ones in the scrap pile not going brown. Sheffield was selling stainless cutlery within five years, and Brearley spent a good part of the rest of his life arguing about who deserved the credit.
- Notable uses
- Cutlery, surgical instruments, food processing, architecture, automotive
- Forge uses
- Cutlery, medical instruments, food equipment, Architecture
- Worldbuilding traits
- hygienic, Modern, Ubiquitous, Corrosion-resistant
Sources
- Stainless steel, Wikipedia
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