History of Stainless Steel

Stainless steel development germination stage, about from the end of the 19th century to the early 1950s more than half a century. Stainless steel germination stage of the main achievements include: the discovery of chromium, stainless steel chromium passivation film principle of discovery, the invention of commercial stainless steel and naming, stainless steel metallurgical classification system construction, stainless steel application attempts and breakthroughs.

The discovery and naming of commercial stainless steel is generally believed to have been accomplished by Harry Brearley.Born in Sheffield, the metallurgical capital of the United Kingdom, Harry Brearley was a chemist at the Firth Company, an important local steel mill.On August 20, 1913, Harry Bearley organized the production of a furnace of stainless steel, with a chromium content of 12.8 percent and a carbon content of 0.24%. This was the first real commercial production of stainless steel, and in June 1914, Harry Brearley met Stuart, a knife maker, by chance and made a trial run of cheese knives, and Stuart first used the term “stainless steel”, which came to be widely used. Stuart first used the later widely used term 'Stainless Steel', and Firth Steel used the same name in a 1915 advertisement.

In the budding era of stainless steel development, due to the smelting technology concentrated in the hands of the early inventors and the earliest steel mills engaged in stainless steel production, and subject to the strict protection of the patent law, stainless steel production is mainly gathered in the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States of America three stainless steel birthplace. Harry Brearley from Sheffield, England invented martensitic stainless steel (cutting tool steel), and by Firth steel mill for the first production. Benno Strauss and Eduard Maurer from Germany jointly invented chromium-nickel austenitic stainless steel, and applied for a patent in 1912, and exhibited related products at the Malmö Exhibition in Sweden in 1914. Elwood Haynes from Como, Indiana, U.S.A. was granted a patent for martensitic stainless steel in 1919, and two other American scientists, Frederick M. Becket and Christian Dantsizen, are credited with inventing commercial ferritic stainless steel. In order to resolve the intersection and controversy over stainless steel patents, Harry Brearley, Elwood Haynes, and Firtth Steel, Bethlehem Steel, Carpenter Steel, Crucible Steel, and Midvale Steel formed the Patent Holding Company in Pittsburgh, Pa. in 1918 - the U.S. Steel Corporation - to administer the stainless steel patents. U.S. Steel Corporation to manage the licensing of stainless steel patents, charging steel mills a 20% royalty.

Stainless steel used to be one of the most difficult alloys to smelt and refine, and the overall cost of smelting the alloying elements of stainless steel in its embryonic stages was high in terms of overall production costs, which were 15 times higher than the price of ordinary steel. Therefore, in the early days, stainless steel is mainly used to produce the most exquisite and durable civil products, or special equipment and products that require special performance (aircraft engine exhaust valves, etc.). Patent protection and the high cost of smelting, resulting in global stainless steel production to 1950 only exceeded 1 million to

Before 1930, there were only three types of stainless steel: martensitic, austenitic and ferritic. Later, in order to solve the intergranular corrosion and stress corrosion problems of austenitic stainless steel, Sweden Avesta Ironworks (Avesta Ironworks) metallurgists invented both ferrite and austenite microstructures of duplex stainless steel, this stainless steel in the 1970s with the improvement of the stainless steel refining process is gradually popular.In the 1940s, in order to improve the strength of stainless steel In the 1940s, in order to improve the strength of stainless steel, Luxembourg and U.S. steel companies developed precipitation hardening stainless steel by adding molybdenum, titanium, tungsten and other alloying elements to martensitic and austenitic stainless steel.

Before 1930, there were only three types of stainless steel: martensitic, austenitic and ferritic. Later, in order to solve the intergranular corrosion and stress corrosion problems of austenitic stainless steel, Sweden Avesta Ironworks (Avesta Ironworks) metallurgists invented both ferrite and austenite microstructures of duplex stainless steel, this stainless steel in the 1970s with the improvement of the stainless steel refining process is gradually popular.In the 1940s, in order to improve the strength of stainless steel In the 1940s, in order to improve the strength of stainless steel, Luxembourg and U.S. steel companies developed precipitation hardening stainless steel by adding molybdenum, titanium, tungsten and other alloying elements to martensitic and austenitic stainless steel. In the early application stage of stainless steel, some adventurous entrepreneurs played a leading role. The founder of the U.S. Chrysler Automobile Company, Walter P. Chrysler (Walter Percy Chrysler) in 1928-1930, the organization built the world's tallest building at the time - the Chrysler Building, using Krupp's V2A alloy, containing 18% chromium, containing 8% nickel. The steel crown of the Chrysler Building, covered by 4,500 nickel-containing stainless steel plates, weighs a total of 27 tons. For more than 100 years, the Chrysler Building's stainless steel crown withstood the elements. In the manufacturing sector, Edward Gowan Budd, founder of the Budd Manufacturing Company, developed the fabrication and application of stainless steel in train cars, automobile bodies, airplanes, truck trailers, and other important products. Budd Manufacturing delivered the stainless steel-bodied “Burlington Breeze” to the Burlington Quincy Railroad in Chicago in May 1934, ushering in the era of stainless steel train bodies, which made trains safer from fire, lighter, stronger, more comfortable, faster, requiring less maintenance and repairs, and costing less to operate. Later, Bard expanded the stainless steel concept to include more modes of transportation.

In the budding era of stainless steel development, austenitic stainless steel containing 18% chromium and 8% nickel was the most popular grade because nickel-containing austenitic stainless steel is easier to smelt and produce, process and fabricate and weld, and has corrosion resistance in most environments.

After the 1950s, the stainless steel industry developed at a high speed:

After the Second World War, the development of stainless steel was greatly stimulated by the development of the fertilizer industry and the nuclear fuel industry, and due to the emergence of oxygen steelmaking, ultra-low carbon type stainless steel began to be commercialized in 1947. In 1951, the U.S. Allegheny Ludum developed 201,201L - manganese instead of nickel austenitic stainless steel, in order to cope with the Korean war period Nickel resource shortage during the Korean War.

In 1959, the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) established a five-digit numbering system for iron and steel materials, with the 1.40×× - 1.46×× number series for stainless steels and the 1.47×× - 1.49×× number series for heat-resistant steels and high-temperature materials. Also, chemical symbols were used to name each alloy with numbers indicating the percentage of the element. This nomenclature was later adopted by Europe, the International Organization for Standardization, Russia, China and others.

In the late 1960s, martensitic aging stainless steel, TRIP (Transformation Induced Plasticity) stainless steel, C+N≤150 ppm high ferritic stainless steel appeared one after another.

In 1977, South Africa Middelburg Steel and Alloys successfully refined 3Cr12 ferritic - martensitic stainless steel;

Since the 1990s, the stainless steel industry development breakthrough in Europe, America, Japan and other traditional markets, began to broader emerging markets. After more than 10 years of development, to 2002, global stainless steel production exceeded 20 million tons.

In recent years, by a variety of local corrosion damage accident, and the chemical processing industry continues to use new catalysts and new processes, in the existing stainless steel based on the development of stress corrosion resistance, pitting resistance, crevice corrosion resistance, corrosion fatigue and other specialized stainless steel, such as dual-phase stainless steel, high molybdenum stainless steel, high silicon stainless steel and so on. In order to adapt to the needs of deep-drawn molding and cold pier molding has also developed a special stainless steel varieties easy to form.

At present, the series of stainless steel grades is also in the process of continuous improvement. Since the late 1960s, a variety of production of stainless steel refining equipment and continuous casting equipment to reach production, the world has also been completed with titanium stabilized austenitic stainless steel to low-carbon, ultra-low-carbon austenitic stainless steel transition, the level of stainless steel production has been on a new stage.