The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-01-07

spires OF Skyscraper towers
surgical instruments, the
sparkling bar Of a new
night club, false teeth,
kitchen sinks, and a huge
variety of tanks and machinery
for food handling, for the chemi-
cal industry and for dozens of
others, are among the new prod
ucts made of stainless steel.
"The stainless prince of steels"
is the appropriate name coined
for the shining alloy by the
Chemical Foundation. 1t is a
good name, for this flashing
prince has conquered the dreaded
dragon of the industrial world
rust.
Ever since man began to use
iron and steel, this destroying
dragon has eXacted his toll of
tribute. In the wake of his breath
formed the red oxide known as
rust.
1t ate into the Orders of bridges,
the sides of ships, the edges of
tools. Rust determined the life
span of steel structures. 1t num-
bered the days of steel machines.
THREE billion dollars year
Il has been the cost of rust.
The Chemical Foundation cites
one typical example.
The recent repainting of New
York's Manhattan bridge cost
$4,000 for paint and $685., 900 for
labor. All such exposed steel
structures must be repainted every
fourth year and a crew of men
must be employed constantly to
apply protective coatings where
rust is most likely to occur.
For more than a century, men
dreamed of steel that would not
rust. But it required the advance
of modern scientific research to
produce it.
The story begins in Sheffield,
England's famous steel center, in
the years just before the World
War.
Harry Brearley, British me-
tallurgist, was trying to devise an
alloy for use in naval guns, one
that would withstand the corro-
sive effect of sustained fire.
LIE tried alloying steel with
l. Il chromium and found the re-
sultant alloy was resistant to
nitric acid. He reasoned that it
ought then be also resistant to
rust. Tests confirmed his rea-
Soning.
The Sheffield manufacturers
tried out the new steel in their
famous speciality, cutlery, and
because the knives would not stain
nor tarniSh, the new product was
christened stainless steel.
Then came the World War and
a German metallurgist during the
days of battle found that a still
better stainless steel could be OBJ
tanned by adding nickel to it. He
made the first 1873" steel, that
is, steel containing 10 per cent
of chromium and 8 per cent of
nickel.
Further experiments after the
war days developed the fact that
improvements could be made in
these steels by controlling the
carbon content as well as the per-
centage of the alloying metals.
ID ESEARCHES during the years
IN of the depression have
further extended mans mastery
over the field so that today there
is not merely one stainless steel
but four different types and many
varieties of the different types.
These are classified by the
Chemical Foundation as Cd
straight chromium cutlery type,
Cd straight chromium harden
able engineering type, 90 straight
chromium n-hardenable type,
and ca -hardenable. chrom-
ium nickel type.
The early experimenters were
seeking a steel which would resist
rust. They were not seeking
stronger steels. But it soon de-
veloped that they were achieving
strength as we'll as rust-reSistance
The tensile strength of ordinary
structural steel and steel plates is
about $4,000 to $4,000 pounds per
square inch. Stainless Steels of
Types One and Two in the
above classification, possess tensile
strength of more than 200 900
pounds per square inch. Types
Three and Four possess tensile
strength of 10000 to 100000
pounds per square inch in the an
nealed condition but can be cold
worked into thin sheets or wires
which have tensile strength of