. Some time ago, there was a thread in sci.chem that mentioned that altho someone else was given credit for the discovery of stainless steel, it was in fact Faraday who made the first stainless--a mere 3% Cr, but still... Any knowledge of this one way or the other?
---------------------------- Mr. P.V.'d formerly Droll Troll
Yes and no. Faraday apparently made both iron-chromium and iron-chromium-nickel alloys. And no, 3% Cr steel isn't stainless.
The sci.chem thread was by the notorious Archimedes Plutonium. It's another example of the monkeys and typewriters syndrome. If you type enough crap, then you eventually get a few things right. You can find it on Google by doing an advanced search in Groups on the words Faraday and Stainless.
One of the replies in the previous thread refers to Levine's "A BRIEF HISTORY of STAINLESS BLADE STEEL", at the web address of:
However, Faraday also made an iron-chromium-nickel alloy that apparently anticipated the (austenitic?) stainless steels. The September 26, 1931 issue of Science News mentioned a Faraday centenary celebration:
Pittsburgh Pete
________________________________________________________
DISCLAIMER
We don't believe what we write, and neither should you. Information furnished to you is for topical (external) use only. This information may not be worth any more than either a groundhog turd, or what you paid for it (nothing). The author may not even have been either sane or sober when he wrote it down. Don't worry, be happy.
Faraday is, apparently, da man. Alloying was no doubt no trivial task back then. Most interesting observation on low Cr %. Any idea why this might be, chemically? Clearly not something one would anticipate.
---------------------------- Mr. P.V.'d formerly Droll Troll
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.