Stainless Steel Types: What Makes Stainless Steel Stainless

When we talk about materials with wide applications in the construction business, home, power, and architecture, one material that comes to mind is stainless steel. No doubt, stainless steel has many applications in the modern world. However, there are many things people don’t know about it. We all can say that there are many cutleries made of stainless steel. However, not many people know about the different stainless steel types used in making many products used by people.

In this article, you will get to know about stainless steel. This will include the different stainless steel types, what is stainless steel made of, what makes stainless steel stainless, and other things.

What is Stainless Steel?

One of the common metals with different applications in many sectors is stainless steel Pipe . It has many properties that make it ideal for such a purpose. For example, it is anti-rust and anti-stain. Stainless steel was accidentally obtained due to the addition of Chromium to Iron. When compared to other metals and alloys such as Iron and Steel, it has other advantages. Here, you will know about the properties of the three, their relationship, and their differences.

Iron is a hard and ductile metal with chrome color. It has an atomic number of 26 and is classified as a ferromagnetic metal. Ferromagnetism is a condition exhibited by some metals which allows them to act as magnets and attract other metals.

Iron is obtained majorly from its ore hematite. Depending on the extraction and purification process, we have different iron types. There is pig iron which is the most impure form of iron. From pig iron comes other types, such as cast iron and the wrought iron. The differences between the three are based on the percentage of carbon present. Wrought iron is the purest form out of the three.

Steel is also made from cast iron. However, unlike the three types discussed under iron, steel is an alloy (a mixture of different elements). Iron is a natural element, and when combined with carbon, you have steel. Steel has about 2.14% of carbon which is responsible for its better strength and durability than Iron.

Unlike what most people know, stainless steel is not a single entity. Instead, it is a single broad entity that encompasses many things. Stainless steel is an alloy that contains at least 11% chromium. Due to this composition, stainless steel does not rust, and it is heat resistant. Depending on the stainless steel types, you can have other elements such as carbon (0.03-1.00%), nitrogen, silicon, sulfur, niobium, and molybdenum.