Introduction

Stainless steel is used in many everyday applications in the home, in industry, in hospitals, in food processing, in farming, in aerospace and in many other areas. This website is designed to acquaint the reader with some of the many uses of stainless steel.

Stainless steel is not just one alloy but a series of different compositions designed to provide specific properties and designed for different applications. There are over 150 different stainless steel grades, but about 15 or so are the most commonly used.

To be classified as a stainless steel, the material has to contain iron and must contain at least 10.5% chromium. Other alloying elements are added to increase the corrosion resistance, improve the fabrication properties, increase the high temperature performance, improve the machining characteristics, etc., which is why there are so many grades.