Is all stainless steel food grade? Certainly, stainless steel is a material of choice for various uses and applications in the food and beverage industry. From cutlery and countertops to walk-in refrigerators and transportation tankers, stainless steel meets specific requirements and standards deemed safe for food contact, processing, preparation, and storage. Nonetheless, though there are many grades of stainless steel, only a few in the 300 and 400 series have food-grade properties suitable for use in the food industry. We explain more below. (more…)
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A Pocket Guide: Stainless Steel Specifications for Military Use
Following proper stainless steel specifications and guidelines are necessary to ensure the integrity of any application and fully function as designed, be it a fitting, fastener, or structural component, during the product’s intended service life. This is particularly important regarding applications manufactured for military use. Stainless steel is a material used widely in the defense and aerospace industries because, when correctly specified, it meets the operational requirements needed to perform in diverse environments and settings. (more…)
Everything You Need to Know About 400 Series Stainless Steel
Each type of stainless steel has distinct properties that best suit specific applications. For example, the 400 series stainless steels corrode and rust under certain conditions. With a higher carbon content, their martensitic crystalline structure gives end products higher strength and makes them more resistant to wear. For those who need to work with it or otherwise utilize this alloy, understanding what 400 series stainless steel is and what it can do will help find the best stainless steel for the application. (more…)
Steel Vendors FAQs: Everything You Want to Know
When working with steel vendors, they must be knowledgeable about the products they supply to your business and all the different steels they sell, their applications and specific properties. They should also have a good idea about products they don’t sell but which are crucial to the industry. (more…)
A Comprehensive Guide to Ferritic Stainless Steel Grades
In the early 20th century, an engineer working for Union Carbide discovered a high-chromium iron alloy that resisted heat. Born in Canada, Frederick Mark Becket was looking for a way to use silicon rather than carbon as a reduction agent during metal production. His discovery would make practical the use of low-carbon iron allows and certain types of steel, and it became known as stainless steel would resist heat. Yet it was only in the 1980s that conditions became right for their growing use among stainless steel suppliers, as new technological developments made stainless steel with very low carbon levels possible, including weldable grades. (more…)