May. 13, 2024
A confident look flashes across your face, perhaps accompanied by the slightest hint of a cheeky grin. Victory feels almost within reach! This is the question that could make you a millionaire, win you a dream vacation, bestow upon you the title of office genius, or finally earn you that coveted slice of pie on the Trivial Pursuit board.
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Since the dawn of humanity, societies have raced against each other to unveil new technologies, aiming to be the first to stamp their names on groundbreaking discoveries. Despite the passage of millions of years, this drive to be the first remains deeply ingrained in our nature. Such passion and pride can sometimes lead less scrupulous individuals to claim others' discoveries as their own. Many breakthroughs happen concurrently or collaboratively, but unless one can definitively prove that they were the pioneer, their claim will always face disputes.
And so, we arrive at the topic of stainless steel.
The term ‘inventor’ is quite ambiguous. Does it refer to the first person to conceive an idea, to document it, to patent it, or to produce it? Moreover, stainless steel wasn't truly defined until 1911, leading to the question of whether we should disregard earlier chromium-iron alloys that did not meet the minimum requirement of 10.5% chromium.
People from various countries like Britain, Germany, France, Poland, the USA, and Sweden have laid claim to the title of ‘inventor’ of stainless steel.
Englishmen Stoddart and Faraday around 1820 and Frenchman Pierre Berthier in 1821 first noted that iron-chromium alloys were more resistant to certain acids. However, their tests were limited to alloys with low chromium content. Attempts to produce alloys with higher chromium content failed primarily due to a lack of understanding of the importance of low carbon content.
In 1872, another pair of Englishmen, Woods and Clark, filed a patent for an acid and weather-resistant iron alloy containing 30-35% chromium and 2% tungsten, essentially the first patent on what would now be considered stainless steel. The real breakthrough came in 1875 when Frenchman Brustlein emphasized the importance of low carbon content for successfully producing stainless steel, pointing out that in order to create an alloy with high chromium content, the carbon content must remain below around 0.15%.
The following two decades saw little progress in developing stainless steel, as many scientists were unsuccessful in creating low-carbon stainless steel.
It wasn't until 1895 that Hans Goldschmidt of Germany made a significant contribution by developing the aluminothermic reduction process for producing carbon-free chromium, making the development of stainless steels a reality.
In 1904, French scientist Leon Guillet conducted extensive research on various iron-chromium alloys, including those now known as 410, 420, 442, 446, and 440-C. In 1906, Guillet analyzed iron-nickel-chrome alloys, which would now be considered the basics of the 300 series. However, Guillet failed to recognize their potential for corrosion resistance.
In 1909, Englishman Giesen published an in-depth study on chromium-nickel steels, while French national Portevin studied what is now regarded as 430 stainless steel. In 1911, Germans P. Monnartz and W. Borchers discovered the importance of a minimum chromium content for corrosion resistance, noting a significant boost in corrosion resistance with at least 10.5% chromium. They also explored the effects of molybdenum on corrosion resistance.
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Harry Brearley, born in Sheffield, England in 1871, was appointed lead researcher at Brown Firth Laboratories in 1908. In 1912, Brearley was tasked by a small arms manufacturer with developing an erosion-resistant steel to prolong the life of gun barrels. Brearley experimented with steel alloys containing chromium, creating several variations ranging from 6% to 15% chromium with different levels of carbon.
On August 13, 1913, Brearley created a steel with 12.8% chromium and 0.24% carbon, often argued to be the first stainless steel. The discovery circumstances are shrouded in myth; some tales suggest Brearley tossed the steel into the rubbish, only to notice later that it had not rusted like its counterparts.
More plausible accounts suggest Brearley etched his steels with nitric acid for microscopic examination to analyze their resistance to chemical attack. He found that his new steel resisted these attacks and tested the sample with other agents like lemon juice and vinegar. Brearley realized the potential for his steel in the cutlery industry.
The Half Moon
Brearley faced challenges in gaining the support of his employers and chose to produce his new steel at local cutler R. F. Mosley. He struggled to produce knife blades that did not rust or stain and sought help from his old school friend, Ernest Stuart. Within three weeks, Stuart had perfected the hardening process for knives. Initially named ‘Rustless Steel’, Stuart renamed it ‘Stainless Steel’ after testing it in a vinegar solution, and the name stuck. And that’s how Harry Brearley discovered stainless steel… well, not quite…
During the five-year period between 1908 and Brearley’s discovery in 1913, many other scientists and metallurgists also contributed to the development of stainless steel, potentially challenging Brearley’s title.
In 1908, the Krupp Iron Works in Germany produced a chrome-nickel steel for the hull of the Germania yacht, now known as The Half Moon. Whether the steel contained the minimum 10.5% chromium content remains inconclusive. Eduard Maurer and Benno Strauss, employees of the Krupp works, also worked on developing austenitic steels from 1912-1914.
Meanwhile, in the USA, Elwood Haynes sought to create corrosion-resistant steel for razors in 1911. Americans Becket and Dantsizen worked on ferritic stainless steels containing 14-16% chromium and 0.07-0.15% carbon from 1911-1914.
In 1912, Max Mauermann of Poland reportedly created the first stainless steel, which he presented at the Adria exhibition in Vienna in 1913.
A recently discovered article published in a Swedish hunting and fishing magazine in 1913 discusses steel used for gun barrels, possibly resembling stainless steel. Although speculative, the Swedes claim they were responsible for the first practical application of stainless steel.
This concludes the complex discovery of stainless steel. While there is much mystery and speculation surrounding its discovery, it's clear that the combined efforts of the mentioned scientists and metallurgists, as well as many others, have gifted us this versatile and valuable material.
Oh, and if we must answer that initial question? Harry Brearley.
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