The Discovery of Stainless Steel
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| Audience/Grade: | College Freshman - Continuing Education |
| Discipline(s): |
History of Science and Technology Manufacturing Engineering Materials Engineering |
| Learning Resource Type: | Reference - Article/Document |
| Media Type: | WWW |
| Author(s): | British Stanless Steel Association |
| Description: | Article on the discovery of stainless steel by Harry Brearley and related history. "The first point to note is that ‘inventor’ is a very ambiguous term. Is this the first person to think, to document, to patent, or to produce? The second point is that stainless steel wasn’t truly defined until 1911, so are we to cast aside those chromium-iron alloys that don’t quite meet the minimum requirement of 10.5% chromium? It seems like anyone and everyone has a different claim to being labelled the ‘inventor’ of stainless steel; from Britain, Germany, France, Poland, the U.S.A, and even Sweden. The cogs were set in motion by Englishmen Stoddard and Farraday circa 1820 and Frenchman Pierre Berthier in 1821. These scientists, among others, noted that iron-chromium alloys were more resistant to attack by certain acids, but tests were only carried out on low chromium content alloys. Attempts to produce higher chromium alloys failed primarily because of scientists not understanding the importance of low carbon content. In 1872 another pair of Englishmen, Woods and Clark, filed for patent of an acid and weather resistant iron alloy containing 30-35% chromium and 2% tungsten, effectively the first ever patent on what would now be considered a stainless steel. However, the real development came in 1875 when a Frenchman named Brustlein detailed the importance of low carbon content in successfully making stainless steel. Brustlein pointed out that in order to create an alloy with a high percentage of chromium, the carbon content must remain below around 0.15% Thus ensued two decades of stagnation for the development of stainless steel, and while many scientists attempted to create a low carbon stainless steel, none succeeded. It is at this point we introduce Harry Brearley, born in Sheffield, England in 1871, he was appointed lead researcher at Brown Firth Laboratories in 1908. In 1912 Brearley was given a task by a small arms manufacturer who wished to prolong the life of their gun barrels which were eroding away too quickly. Brearley set out to create an erosion resistant steel, not a corrosion resistant one, and began experimenting with steel alloys containing chromium. During these experiments Brearley made several variations of his alloys, ranging from 6% to 15% chromium with differing measures of carbon. On the 13th August 1913 Brearley created a steel with 12.8% chromium and 0.24% carbon, argued to be the first ever stainless steel. The circumstances in which Brearley discovered stainless steel are covered in myth; some enchanted tales of Brearley recite him tossing his steel into the rubbish, only to notice later that the steel hadn’t rusted to the extent of its counterparts, much like Alexander Flemings experience 15 years later." |
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| Keywords: | steel, stainless steel, steel processing, Harry Brearley |
| Is Component of |
About Stainless Steel |
| Usage Tip | |
| Use of Resource: | History of technology. |
| Difficulty: | Very Easy |
| Interactivity Level: | Very Low |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | 2008 |
| Platform/Format: | WWW |
| Cost: | Free |
| Download URL: | http://www.bssa.org.uk/about_stainless_steel.php?id=31 |
| Metadata: | IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
NEEDS
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