Stainless Steel is one of the most widely known metals, used today for its resistance qualities to things like rust and corrosion.

People started to discover Stainless Steel in the 1800’s, but it wasn’t made an official scientific discovery until the early 1900’s!

So, how was it accidentally discovered?

The beginning of the discovery.

Back in the early 1800s, scientists noticed that iron-chromium alloys resisted corrosion from acid. Later in the century, a scientist called Brustlein highlighted the importance of having a low carbon content for improving corrosion resistance. Two other scientists, Clark and Woods patented an acid-resistant alloy that contained chromium and tungsten.

The breakthrough.

In 1911, a major step forward came in making the official discovery when Philip Monnartz, a German scientist, published work on the corrosion resistance of chromium steels.

Two years later, the breakthrough happened when Harry Brearley discovered a rust-resistant steel alloy while trying to improve gun barrels. He was working in Sheffield, when he realised his alloy, with 12.8% chromium didn’t corrode when exposed to acidic substances.

How ‘Stainless Steel’ came to be.

After his discovery, Bearley recognised the value of the alloy being used for cutlery. With the help of his colleague Ernest Stuart, they created the term ‘Stainless Steel’!

Whilst Bearley was working on his discovery in England, American inventor Elwood Haynes was developing similar materials. The pair eventually joined forces and formed the American Stainless Steel Corporation!

Stainless Steel today.

Nowadays, Stainless Steel is a common choice worldwide, for things such as food processing, cutlery, pipework and even jewellery!

The metal’s resistance to corrosion is what makes it ideal to for use within food, beverage, pharmaceutical and cosmetic processing, as it prevents contamination, which is vital in hygienic applications!

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*E & OE. This is an informational page and all information is offered in good faith. Whilst we do our best to fact check all information, the purchaser should decide whether the information provided is relevant.