[ Stainless steel ]

Stainless steel is the term used to identify a family of steels which contains at least 11% of chromium. This chemical element guarantees to the material an elevated resistance to corrosion. The chromium is distributed in a homogeneous way in the whole steel, and when getting in contact with the oxygen from the air, it creates a thin, continuous and resistant oxide layer on the steel surface, protecting it against corrosive attacks from the environment.

In spite of invisible, stable and with fine thickness, this pellicle is very adherent to the stainless steel and it has its resistance increased as more chromium is added to the mixture. Even when the steel suffers some kind of damage, scratches, denting or cuts, the oxygen from the air combines immediately with the chromium, creating the protecting pellicle again.

In addition to that, when other elements are added to the stainless steel, - nickel, molybdenum, vanadium and tungsten - they also elevate the resistance of the steel to corrosion and they guarantee multiple applications to the product. The correct selection of the stainless steel type and of its surface are important to assure a long useful life to the material.

Stainless steels are leagues (a combination of two or more chemical elements, obtained through compounds fusion, it contains iron; low content of carbon; at least 11% of chromium, at most 30% of nickel and other elements in smaller percentages, as for example: carbon.