However in conventional winemaking the acid of the wine dissolves some of the wood to give an oak body taste. Using stainless steel vats oak chips deliberately have to be put into the vats to create the same effect and satisfy traditional wine drinkers. The pumping and containment of oils, gases and acids has created a large market for stainless tanks, pipes, pumps and valves. Special grades of stainless have been developed to have greater corrosion resistance. These are used in de-salination plants, sewage plants, offshore oil rigs, harbour supports and ships propellers.
Architecture is a growing market.
Many modern buildings use stainless for cladding. When reinforced concrete first started to be used it was considered that the carbon steel used would not rust as cement, obviously derived from limestone, is alkaline. However, constantly using grit salt on bridges can change the pH to acidic thereby rusting the steel which expands and cracks the concrete. Stainless steel reinforcing bar, although initially expensive, is proving to have very good life cycle costings. The low maintenance cost and anti-vandal characteristics of stainless provides a growing market in public transport, ticket machines and street furniture.