This thread, I have no idea why, got me thinking about the properties of stainless steel.
To begin with, what makes it stainless? Could I take these, purportedly, stainless steel properties and somehow use it with my Formica? How about my bathroom tile? My porcelain tub?
I’d like my apartment looking even more spic-n-span than it already is.
Stainless is expensive. I should know, I just paid over $100 US for a roughly 3’x3’ range backsplash made of brushed stainless. :eek:
Stainless is stainless (rustproof would be a better term) because of the high Nickel content. There are other metals in there that vary from particular alloy to alloy, but it’s the Nickel that makes SS what it is. It also makes it hard to process and machine.
There are companies out there making SS 4"x4" tiles. Just peel-and-stick all over the house!
I just got to work (kitchen designer)
I’ll get the info together and post when I have a few minutes.
Stainlesss steel is an alloy of iron, chromium, and nickel with less than 0.2% carbon, and various other micro-alloying metals, which can change its physical properties.
According to “Metals Handbook, published by the American Society for Materials,
“The corrosion resistance of stainless steels results from the presence of a thin hydrous oxide film on the surface of the metal. For any stainless steel, this film, stabilized by chromium, is considered to be continuous, non porous, insoluble and self-healing. If broken, the film will repair itself when re-exposed to air or a suitable oxidizing agent.”
They go on to say that if the Cr content is above 10%, the film will passivate and lose its self-healing ability. Then on to Nickel; “The presence of nickel in high-chromium stainless steels greatly improves their resistance to certain nonoxygenating media (whatever they are). Nickel may not be needed for corrosion resistance in some atmospheric environments, but will impart other desired properties.” The nickel mainly adds toughness and high temperature strength.
Formica is just plastic. It won’t oxidize, but will chip, scratch, and stain. I don’t believe a chromide plastic composition would have better anti-corrosion properties than plain plastic, but it might be stronger and have a nice metallic lustre to it.
And yes, if you can afford it, you can outfit your entire kitchen and bathroom with stainless steel fixtures and surfaces, but you better get some Ray-Bans.
Just another thought; the MSDS for chromium says it is an NTP and IARC Group 1 human carcinogen. See:
http://www.espi-metals.com/msds’s/chromium.pdf
So you might have serious problems with a chromide-plastic besides finding a good use for it.
Stainless steel kitchens are almost the norm in commercial food-service applications (larger restaurants, cafeterias, hospitals, prisons, universities(newer), and just about anywhere. The ease of cleaning is the feature that makes stainless attractive. Countertops, sinks, ventilation hoods, and most of the appliances are brushed stainless, frequently with big white plastic cutting boards. The floors are almost always tile (well sealed and with mildew resistant grout) sloped gently to drains. Clean up is generally done with a pressure washer, and is pretty quick. Then you have to wipe down the stainless steel with something like Shelia-Shine, to keep it from mildly corroding. If you don’t, it will look pretty bad after as little while.
Counters, sinks, etc. are all available commercially, but are pretty expensive. Stainless is great if you take care of it, but for most people the only way to justify the expense is to sell a whole lot of meals. For a small family it would just be a luxury item to have a stainless kitchen.
Hmm…, Engineer Don, I’ve worked in restaurants for years and never found the stainless they use all that effective. In fact, we had to buy special stainless steel cleaners to make it look better and not stain. Alot like I have to do with the tiles and porcelain at home.
Not all that stainless, is it? You ought to see what they have to do in dairies, meat processing (slaughter houses), and other food processing places. The health inspectors have their own assigned parking spots, and might drop by at anytime, so they keep it really clean. Anything they can’t see (like inside pipes) is flushed between each process, or if it is continuous once per day, with a caustic rinse, and acid rinse, another caustic rinse, and then lots of clean water. Lots of time is spent polishing stuff, and messy things are not allowed inside.
Metals have lots of different properties, but in general if you want more of one thing, you have to give up a little of another. Frequently in order to make a metal workable (easier to machine, weld, stamp, form, etc.) you have to give up a little of the stain resistance. As I understand it surgical steel, which is really stain/corrosion/etc. resistant is really hard and brittle (for a steel) so it is tough to work with. Making an artificial hip is cost effective, but making a kitchen wouldn’t be. That is for the most part why a good paint is used on cars, and porcelain is used on iron and steel sinks/bathtubs etc. Stainless steel is too much work.
This reminds me of the joke.
Q. How’s your wife?
A. Compared to what?
Everything is relative including “stainless”. AFAIK there is no such thing as 100% absolutely, positively, stainless steel. Boat fittings made of stainless steel need to be inspected periodically as they do corrode and fail. In fact, it seems they can be more dangerous in a way because the corrosion is not immediately apparent.
As has been said, stainless steel does stain, particularly when it comes in contact with other metal that rusts. The stainless steel acts as an anode and attracts a parasitic rust stain that penetrates the surface. Your only recourse is to buff with steel wool or other abrasive.
You can certainly get stainless countertops, but a better solution (though not cheap) to your quest for stainless countertops is Corian®. It’s not technically stainless, but the color and pattern goes through the material, so if you do happen on a stain that you can’t lift chemically, you can simply buff it out. Corian looks a lot better than stainless. Actually, it looks a lot better than Formica. Polished marble won’t stain either, but it chips and scratches and once that happens, stains can set in.
when we bought a set of SS (18/10) flatware, a note was tucked in with the items with a couple of ‘caveats’.
It stated that the knife blades were of a different composition than the rest of the flatware, and suggested that if put in a dishwasher, knives should not touch other pieces as the blades will tend to start rusting (they were right! blades touching blades seem to be okay…).
The other thing stated in bold letters was “This is stain-less steel, not stain-free steel”
So a cordless phone just has a shorter cord than a regular phone and a phone without cord is a cord-free phone? I am not sure I buy that.
Give 'em Hell Sailor!