The invention and use of stainless steel can be traced back to the First World War. At that time, British guns on the battlefield were always shipped back to the rear because the barrels were worn and unusable. The military production department ordered Brearley to develop high-strength and wear-resistant alloy steel to specifically study and solve the wear problem of the gun bore. Brearley and his assistants collected various types of steel produced at home and abroad, and various alloy steels with different properties, conducted performance experiments on various machines with different properties, and then selected more suitable steels to make guns. One day, they experimented with an alloy steel containing a large amount of chromium. After a wear-resistant test, they found that this alloy was not wear-resistant, indicating that it could not be used to make guns. So, they recorded the experimental results and threw them into the corner. . One day a few months later, an assistant came excitedly to Brearley with a piece of shiny steel and said: "Sir, this is the alloy steel sent by Mr. Maura that I found when cleaning the warehouse. Do you want to experiment and see what special effects it has?" "Okay!" Brearley said happily, looking at the bright and dazzling steel.
The experimental results prove that it is a piece of stainless steel that is not afraid of acid, alkali and salt. This kind of stainless steel was invented by Mullah in Germany in 1912. However, Mullah did not know what the use of this stainless steel was.
Brearley thought in his mind: "This kind of steel that is not wear-resistant but corrosion-resistant cannot be used to make guns. Can it be used to make tableware?" He went ahead and made stainless steel fruit knives, forks, spoons, and fruit plates. and folding knives, etc.
The stainless steel invented by Brearley obtained a British patent in 1916 and began mass production. Since then, stainless steel accidentally discovered in garbage dumps has become popular all over the world. Henry Brearley is also known as the "Father of Stainless Steel".
