Stainless steel Stainless steel In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable" (inoxidizable), is a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5% chromium content by mass and a maximum of 1.2% carbon by mass. Stainless steels are most notable for their corrosion resistance, which increases with increasing chromium content. Additions of molybdenum increase corrosion resistance in reducing acids and against pitting attack in chloride solutions. Thus, there are numerous grades of stainless steel with varying chromium and molybdenum contents to suit the environment the alloy must endure. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion and staining, low maintenance,
Stainless steel are relatively poor conductors of electricity, with significantly lower electrical conductivity than copper. Ferritic and martensitic stainless steels are magnetic. Annealed austenitic stainless steels are non-magnetic. Work hardening can make austenitic stainless steels slightly magnetic. Galling, sometimes called cold welding, is a form of severe adhesive wear which can occur when two metal surfaces are in relative motion to each other and under heavy pressure. Austenitic stainless steel fasteners are particularly susceptible to thread galling, although it also occurs in other alloys that self-generate a protective oxide surface film, such as aluminum and titanium. Under high contact-force sliding this oxide