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Brearley: the Father of Stainless Steel

Harry Brearley was a metallurgist, born and raised in Sheffield, UK between XIX and XX century.

He was taught this job by his father when he was only 12 years old. Not something unusual for sure in a city still known today as the European Capital of Metallurgy.

During the period immediately before the Great War, Western countries’ governments spent a huge portion of their budget on military expenses.
Arms manufacturing was quite a blooming market for metal fabrication companies.

He then decided to research a new material for the weapons barrels, which could resist erosion due to the high temperatures.

One day, he was amazed at one particular alloy.

When he was about to etch this in a highly corrosive mineral acid, he discovered it was overly resistant to many acid solutions.

So, here’s Brearley’s idea: testing it to those acids very common in a kitchen, as such vinegar, tomato, and lemon juice, and then make of this a new material for cutlery, pans and all sorts of catering equipment.

A new material that could finally avoid unhygienic rusting.

So no sooner said than done.

Rustless steel (Brearley was convinced to change its name to stainless steel soon) has been, since then, the backbone of the catering equipment business! Including the extractor canopies of course.

And do you know Aluminox can provide your hood both in stainless steel AISI 304 and AISI 430?

Well…. You do know it now!

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