WHAT IS STAINLESS STEEL?

Stainless steel is an alloy of iron and carbon with a 10 % minimum chromium content (generally in a range between %12 and 20). Chromium provides durability and resistance to the material against corrosion and heat. Some other elements may also be added into the alloy in order to obtain special quality stainless steel types.

The most important type among such special stainless steel types is the 18-8 graded stainless steel which is prepared by adding nickel (18 percentage chromium and 8 percentage nickel). The other major components added into stainless steel are niobium, manganese, molybdenum, phosphor, selenium, silicon, sulfur, titanium and zircon.  These alloys are all prepared in electrical stoves within long periods in consequence of the fact that high temperatures and sensitive chemical inspection are required in the production of stainless steel.

In this method, the stoves are loaded with scrap materials which contain the elements to be included in the final product. In the recent times, a technique has been developed based on initially melting the materials in an electrical furnace, and then processing with oxygen in another pot. In order to normalize the reaction, the oxygen gas which is diluted by argon is pulverized either by the welding torch from above or through a hole at the bottom of the pot.

Stainless steels can be classified according to their chemical compositions and reaction to thermal processing: ferrite steels that can not be hardened, and which contain 15-30 percent chromium, and less than 0,2 percent carbon; martensite steels that can be hardened by means of quenching, and which contain 10-18  percent chromium, and carbon in variable percentages (more than 1 percent in some alloys); austenite steels which contain 16-26 percent chromium, 6-22 percent nickel, and less than 0,25 percent carbon. Austenite steels which can be hardened without quenching, are most resistant materials against abrasion.