Industrial & Manufacturing Blog
Billions of people use stainless steel every day, whether it is in their vehicles on their way to work or in their kitchen when they prepare food. It is one of the most widely used metal alloys in the world, and yet as a whole, the population knows very little about it other than what its self-describing name tells them, which is a shame because the manufacturing process and subsequent uses for stainless steel is a testament to the triumph of human engineering. This article will explain how stainless steel is manufactured and why it remains relevant and special for us today.
Stainless Steel Manufacturing
As aforementioned, stainless steel is an alloy which means that it is composed of two or more chemical elements. In stainless steel these chemical elements are mainly iron, carbon (the two of which combined make steel) and chromium, which gives stainless steel is famous resistance to corrosion and rust. Along with this are trace amounts of silicon, nickel, manganese and nitrogen. The first process is to melt all those elements together and then pour that molten metal into molds of desired shapes like slabs or tubes.
Then the metal is heat treated (known as annealing), cleaned of scales that result from heat treatment, cut into more precise shapes and cleaned before it is shipped to either a warehouse or a fabricator who will turn the stainless steel into the parts we use it for in everyday life. There are many different grades of stainless steel that have different lengths in each of these processes and with varying level of each raw element, but the whole manufacturing process is relatively close for all stainless steel.
How Does This Make Stainless Steel Special?
Stainless steel is special because of its extreme versatility and durability. There are not many metals where basically the same finished product is being used in car exhaust pipes and food preparation. While that image might be unsettling to some, it really is a show of how fantastic the manufacturing and fabricating of stainless steel is to create such a ubiquitous product that we use every day without thinking.
It is also a testament to the old proverb that if something isn't broken don't fix it as stainless steel has been used around the world for decades and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Stainless steel is a tribute to manufacturing and a shining light of an invention that was built to last, and in an age where single-use products are at an all-time high, stainless steel provides proof that some things should be built to last.
For more information, contact your local stainless manufacturing company.
Share9 October 2018
Almost everybody engages with industry and manufacturing in some way or another. You may work in the manufacturing industry, you may source industrial goods for your business, you may buy housing materials, or you may simply use the products created by these industries. Regardless of how directly or tangentially you are connected to industrial and manufacturing concepts, I think there will be posts in this blog that appeal to you. Hi! My name is Jeb, and in this blog, I am going to cover virtually anything and everything about these two ideas. I hope you don't mind if I write whatever appeals to me on a day-to-day basis related to what I've been thinking of or what I've read in the news or trade journals.