The Origin of The Birth of Stainless Steel Castings

At the beginning of the 19th century, the British Industrial Revolution had made great progress. The rise of the machinery manufacturing industry promoted the development of the metallurgical industry. 

By the second half of the 19th century, steel had been widely used in industry. After entering the 19th century, with the development of the machinery manufacturing industry and the chemical industry, general carbon structural steel could no longer meet the needs of production. The poor corrosion resistance of steel was a particularly headache for people. Many scientific and technological workers spent a lot of energy in exploring new steel types, but found nothing. 

In 1913, British metallurgist Brearley conducted a lot of experimental research in order to find an alloy steel for making gun barrels. He smelted many alloy steel samples, but they were all considered unqualified and abandoned. But a few months later, he came to the scrap heap and accidentally found that the rest of the samples had rusted, but only a nickel-chromium alloy steel was still shining as before. 

The sharp-minded Brearley seized this clue, conducted demonstrative experiments and reproducible experiments, got to the bottom of it, found out the truth, and made a scientific explanation. Stainless steel was born in this way by accidental discovery. Soon, foundry workers used this achievement to cast nickel-chromium stainless steel castings.

The scientific community is accustomed to calling accidental discoveries "opportunities". However, opportunities cannot be understood by all people. Only those who are knowledgeable and sharp-minded can grasp accidental clues to reveal the mysteries of nature. Therefore, French microbiologist Pasteur said: "In the field of observation, opportunities only favor those who are prepared."