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Stainless steel is the general name for a family of steels that are corrosion-resistant and contain a minimum of 10.5% chromium. The effect of this minimum level creates a chromium oxide layer on the surface, which is a self-healing oxygen barrier that stops further oxidation. Below 10.5% chromium, the oxide film is of insufficient durability to be self-healing.
Stainless steels are widely used in most industries, including: construction, marine, aerospace, automotive, and consumer goods. The material delivers high strength, durability, and resistance to corrosion, making it ideal for many cosmetic and open-environment components. Stainless steel is supplied in grades classed by their alloy content. The grade selected for an application depends on factors such as the environment in which it will be used, the required strength and durability, and the desired aesthetic standard. This article will define: What is stainless steel?, its composition, types, grades, properties, and applications.
Stainless steel is primarily made from medium and low-carbon steel. They are alloyed with a range of metals to alter the resulting properties. For example, chromium and nickel lend corrosion resistance and hardness. Other metals enhance malleability, toughness, ductility, tensile and shear strength, and other properties. Stainless steels are generally high strength, with some examples being among the highest tensile and yield strengths of all metals. They are also generally corrosion-resistant, with exceptional performance in particular environments according to grade/alloy type. Additionally, stainless steels are capable of high- and low-temperature performance, from cryogenic temperatures to 2,000 °C, depending on grade.
Depending on the definition, there are at least 60 and possibly over 100 distinct grades of stainless steel that continue to be developed for general and specific purposes. The study of stainless steel is among the most active areas in metallurgical research. These grades are covered by various national and international standards which are progressively becoming unified and generally define close or identical alloys/properties.
The history of stainless steel began in 1912, when Harry Brearley, an English metallurgist leading the Brown Firth Laboratories in Sheffield, was researching hard-wearing steels for gun barrel improvements. Some of his experimental alloys were observed to be highly resistant to corrosion, and he saw and understood the wider implications of his work. He began experimenting with different compositions of steel and found that it was the addition of chromium to the alloy that created the biggest influence on the resulting resistance to corrosion.
Brearley patented his new alloy under the name “rustless steel” (later modified to stainless steel) in 1915. The research lab owners were Sheffield steelmakers, whose primary reputation was in weapons and table cutlery. It was in this market that the first application for stainless steel was developed, making good use of the strengths of the new alloys. During World War I, stainless steel was also used in military applications such as aircraft engines and gun parts.
Stainless steel is now a primary material in most industrial sectors, including appliances, medical equipment, automotive parts, and construction materials. Its resistance to corrosion, as well as its strength and durability, increasingly make it a popular choice for many industries.
Stainless steels are made of alloying elements such as: chromium, nickel, molybdenum, and titanium to achieve specific properties like improved corrosion resistance, higher tensile strength, or improved ductility/malleability. The exact composition of stainless steel is a wide-ranging topic, with small changes in constituent metals potentially making significant adjustments in properties.
Stainless steel is manufactured by a range of smelting methods that are typical of most metallurgical processing. Three of the common processes are listed below:
Once the stainless steel has been melted and refined, it will generally be rough cast into billets. These billets are then formed into various shapes and sizes using a range of manufacturing processes, including:
After the stainless steel has been formed into its final shape, it may undergo additional processing to improve its properties, such as heat treatment, polishing, or coating.
Some of the characteristics of stainless steel include:
Stainless steels are naturally a uniform silver in color, although various companies offer proprietary “stainless coloring” processes that are analogous to anodizing. A range of bronze to golden colors can be achieved by heating stainless steel in an oven to around 700 °C in an oxygen atmosphere. This will result in the formation of iron oxides in the surface film, which will stain with shades of yellow, gold, and brown depending on temperature and time. Stainless steel will also develop hues of blue when heated to 250 °C in air, also by an oxidation process.
Stainless steel parts are often polished to a mirror finish by electropolishing. This results in a reflective and generally silver color, but can be colored as described above. Stainless steel components can also have various types and levels of texturing added—from sandblasting to shot peening, brush finishing to photo etching.
A brushed or linished finish is often used on street furniture and building cladding, to reduce the appearance degradation that results from scratches. Figure 1 below are examples of stainless steel:
Part I: An Introduction to the World’s Most Popular Metal
“Stainless” steel is actually a generic term referring to a variety of steel types. Like all other kinds of steel, stainless steel is made primarily from iron and carbon in a two-step process. What makes stainless steel different is the addition of chromium (Cr) and other alloying elements such as nickel (Ni) to create a corrosion-resistant product.
Steel corrodes because iron, the metal used to make steel, occurs in nature in combination with other elements. When iron ore is artificially manipulated into a pure form to make steel, it becomes unstable and will readily recombine with oxygen.
When chromium is added to steel, it forms chromium oxide, which acts as a protective surface to prevent air and moisture from causing rust, as happens with ordinary steel. Chromium is added in quantities ranging from 10.5 to 30%, depending on the application or environment in which the steel is to be used. There are more than 100 different grades of stainless steel but they can be grouped into five major types:
Austenitic is the most widely used type of stainless steel. It has excellent corrosion and heat resistance with good mechanical properties over a wide range of temperatures. Austenitic steel is used in housewares, industrial piping and vessels, construction, and architectural facades.
Ferritic stainless steel has similar properties to mild steel (the most common steel), but better corrosion, heat, and cracking resistance. Ferritic steel is commonly used in washing machines, boilers and indoor architecture.
Martensitic stainless steel is very hard and strong, though it is not as resistant to corrosion as austenitic or ferritic grades. It contains approximately 13% chromium and is used to make knives and turbine blades.
Duplex stainless steel is a composite of austenitic and ferritic steels, making it both strong and flexible. Duplex steels are used in the paper, pulp, shipbuilding, and petrochemical industries. Newer duplex grades are being developed for a broader range of applications.
Martensitic or semi-austenitic steels can also be classified as precipitation hardening stainless steels. These steels are made to be extremely strong with the addition of elements such as aluminum, copper and niobium.
Corrosion resistance is the main advantage of stainless steel, but it certainly isn’t the only one. Stainless steel is also:
In addition to chromium, stainless steels are made with alloys of silicon, nickel, carbon, nitrogen, and manganese. Nitrogen, for example, improves tensile properties like ductility. Nickel is added to austenitic steel to improve flexibility. These alloys are added in varying amounts and combinations to meet specific end-use applications, which is why it’s very important for stainless steel manufacturers to verify that the correct percentages of each alloy are being used. There are two technologies that provide the elemental analysis needed to produce high quality stainless steel: X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES).
Handheld XRF and LIBS are highly valuable technologies in the scrap metal market. Stainless steel is 100% recyclable and therefore a huge amount of stainless steel must be evaluated at the scrap yard. Handheld XRF analyzers bring immense value to scrap metal recyclers because it is a highly accurate, nondestructive testing technique that can analyze a metal sample in seconds with little to no need for sample preparation. With XRF, stainless steel scrap can be quickly analyzed and sorted according to grade and type. Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) is better for carbon analysis for metals and alloys.
OES is a robust, reliable, and widely-used technology for the analysis of metals and alloys in the lab. Compared with traditional combustion analyzers, OES provides faster elemental analysis with high precision and accuracy in iron and steel, aluminum, copper, magnesium, precious metals and other specialty metals/alloys. OES has demonstrated its capability to provide more efficient control of steel production by providing accurate sample analysis during the manufacturing process.
Additional Resources:
Editor’s Note: This article was previously published but has been refreshed and links updated.
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