What’s The Secret To Stainless Steel?

secret to stainless steel

Hey, iScrappers!

Ever wonder why stainless steel is so much more money then normal steel? Well, that’s a great question that we have been asked by a scrapper over on our YouTube channel, and we want to go over it today. Inside stainless steel is a metal called Nickel, which is the secret to stainless steel.

Non-magnetic stainless steel was developed in the early 1900s and is officially credited to Pierre Berthier of France as one of the pioneers of stainless steel. Don’t forget that stainless is an alloy, meaning it is not a naturally occurring element like copper or iron. Stainless has to be made in a lab (for lack of a better term), and it has to be put together by merging multiple elements at a very high temperature.

Stainless is used in many fields, but the medical and food industries have really taken a lot of tools and equipment and turned them into stainless steel products mostly because of their durability, rust-proof and anti-oxidizing characteristics, as well as being an easy metal to keep clean and sterile in these environments.

Stainless steel is a very common metal that is used in a variety of industries. The secret to stainless steel and its value is in its nickel content. The nickel prevents the magnet from sticking, rusting and corroding. Hence, stainless steel is often used in the medical and food industries. Stainless steel comes in a variety of grades:

These grades are determined by the amount of nickel used in the material compared to the ratio of steel. Unless you can complete a successful spark test, the best way to get your stainless steel grade determined is with an analyzer. Many scrap yards have them to help classify the grade of stainless steel, among many other metals. Find a scrap yard in your area and ask them questions about grading stainless steel.

Hope this helps shed a little more light on a great metal, stainless steel!

-Tom

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