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🍴Origins & milestones

Stainless steel · Chromium passive films that keep kitchens, chemical plant and façades from rusting like carbon steel.

At a glance
Timeline

Milestones in order. This is history, not a weekly activity grid.

1821 Stodart–Faraday1872 Woods patent1913 Brearley 13% Cr1912–14 Strauss–Maurer 18/81924 Staybrite1930s Aircraft exhaust1960s 316 Mo1980s Duplex 22051990s Super duplex / 6Mo2010s Lean duplex
  1. Stodart–Faraday
  2. Woods patent
  3. Brearley 13% Cr
  4. Strauss–Maurer 18/8
  5. Staybrite
  6. Aircraft exhaust
  7. 316 Mo
  8. Duplex 2205
  9. Super duplex / 6Mo
  10. Lean duplex
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Quick answers

Is Stainless steel non-combustible?

Declared reaction class in this atlas: A1 metal. Assemblies still need resistance tests.

Does Stainless steel insulate?

Thermal mark 10/100 versus the atlas. Conductivity note: ~15 W/m·K (austenitic).

What is the density band?

~8.0 g/cm³

How is it made?

Origin story: 1913 Brearley / Strauss (Sheffield / Essen).

Can it be recycled?

Circularity mark 68/100 — editorial, route-specific.

Typical melting or failure heat?

~1400–1450 °C

heat 76 · fire 86

Start with this section - Origins & milestones

Stainless steel did not arrive as a finished commodity. 1913 Brearley / Strauss around Sheffield / Essen still explains who makes it and which tests it sits in.

Ten dated points, five eras and three milestones below are the spine — not a complete industrial history.

Where it began

1913 Brearley / StraussSheffield / Essen

Timeline

1821Stodart–Faraday

Early Cr-iron notes that did not yet make a market.

1872Woods patent

Chromium steels without the kitchen-brand fame.

1913Brearley 13% Cr

Sheffield gun barrels that did not rust — martensitic cutlery steel.

1912–14Strauss–Maurer 18/8

Krupp austenitics became the chemical-plant family.

1924Staybrite

UK marketing put stainless on tableware.

1930sAircraft exhaust

Heat-resisting grades entered aero.

1960s316 Mo

Molybdenum for chlorides in marine and pharma.

1980sDuplex 2205

Ferrite+austenite for offshore pipes.

1990sSuper duplex / 6Mo

Seawater systems and desalination.

2010sLean duplex

Ni-saving grades for construction tanks.

The eras

1913

Brearley 13% Cr

Sheffield gun barrels that did not rust — martensitic cutlery steel.

1924

Staybrite

UK marketing put stainless on tableware.

1960s

316 Mo

Molybdenum for chlorides in marine and pharma.

1990s

Super duplex / 6Mo

Seawater systems and desalination.

Milestones

Strauss–Maurer 18/8

1912–14

Krupp austenitics became the chemical-plant family.

316 Mo

1960s

Molybdenum for chlorides in marine and pharma.

Lean duplex

2010s

Ni-saving grades for construction tanks.

Knowing this timeline is how to read a mill certificate without treating Stainless steel as timeless.

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