A Guide to Stainless Steel

40 Years Ago

By D. J. CROWE

Engelhard Ore & Base Metal Sales Limited, Johannesburg

(Reprinted by kind permission of the Metals Bulletin, London)

a guide to stainless steel

Combined tea pot and water jug in stainless steel. Designed by Magnus Stephensen and made by Geroge Jensen, Silversmith, Coppenhagen

Over the last 50 years the use of stainless steel has grown rapidly. Since the Second World War, stainless steel production has more than trebled. Nowadays, the mechanical properties of practically all non-stainless engineering steels can be reproduced in a stainless steel of appropriate composition. The current uses of stainless steels are many and various and, apart from economic considerations, the potential uses are virtually unlimited. Stainless steels are used in chemical engineering, food manufacture, aero engineering, surgery and medicine, architecture, automobile engineering and for jewellery, tableware and other household goods. These are the principal and accepted uses but there are many others currently under development.

The U.K. production of stainless steel last year was around 180,000 tons. The equation of this production to consumption gives a per capita consumption of about 8 lb. in 1961; the corresponding consumption in Sweden was 34 lb. and in the U.S.A. 12 lb. [The UK had a per capita consumption figure in 2014 of 16 lb., while Sweden was at 31 lb. and the USA at 14 lb. South Africa per capital consumption is currently around 8 lb. – ed.] It can be implied from these figures that there is a bright future for the U.K. stainless steel industry if, as we all hope, our standard of living continues to increase. The most rapid growth is likely to occur in chemical engineering, architecture and the automobile industry.

As soon as re-investment in chemical plant is encouraged, the demand for austenitic stainless steel of the 18 per cent chromium, 8 per cent nickel type–particularly in the ELC grades–will increase significantly. It is not difficult to foresee a two to threefold increase in the demand for the ELC austenitic steels during the next ten years.

In architecture, the potential expansion in the use of stainless steels is enormous; with the birth of many city re-development plans imminent the time is ripe for our designers and builders to catch up and overtake their American and European counterparts.

The use of stainless steel by the automobile industry could easily double or treble overnight; for this to happen, car manufacturers must be prepared to forsake their interests in chromium plating plants and stainless steel producers must be prepared to develop economic methods of rolling and pressing the more complex sections required.

There are several new uses to which stainless steel could be put. For example, it could be used for chain link fences, passenger train coaches, domestic and industrial radiators in central heating systems and cold water tanks. All these applications, however, are dependent on the price of stainless steel being low enough to compete with the existing materials, due account being taken of the increased life and lower maintenance costs resulting from the use of stainless steel.

With the continual development of improved fabricating techniques and surface finishes, stainless steel articles of today bear little resemblance to those of yesterday. The conservative Briton likes stainless steel and will readily accept it provided that it is not immediately recognisable as stainless steel. The development of the dull polishes and satin finishes have stimulated renewed interest in the ornamental use of stainless steel.

Currently, the quality of British stainless steel is high. The producers are the first to recognise that the maintenance and improvement of this quality are of vital concern, but it is cost rather than quality which holds the key to the increased usage of stainless steel. Thus developments in stainless steelmaking are being directed to lowering production costs by the use of larger furnaces, and the reduced use or perhaps elimination of the more expensive raw materials.