Why Does Stainless Steel "Rust"?
I thought it weird. My knives rusted in the USA but they don't rust down here -- even in a salt air environment. It ain't the chili... Turns out the culprit is Chlorine. Even as little chlori...
Forum Discussion
Nearly all replies here are inaccurate.
While there are varying grade of stainless steel and corrosion resistance, that's not what people generally notice and not at all what we are talking about on an RV and automotive forum.
What people notice in regards to Stainless Steel "rusting" are steel tooling used to form and machine stainless steel parts, impregnating the stainless with very small bits of iron. Its these extremely small impregnated particles are what we see "rusting".
For many automotive applications this is accepted.
When this is not acceptable, stainless steel must be "passivated". It's a dipping process and there are different chemical options for this process as well.
But in short, the passivation process dissolves the iron particles impregnated on the "stainless" surface so we do not see our precious stainless steel grow "rust" on the surface.
While there are varying grade of stainless steel and corrosion resistance, that's not what people generally notice and not at all what we are talking about on an RV and automotive forum.
What people notice in regards to Stainless Steel "rusting" are steel tooling used to form and machine stainless steel parts, impregnating the stainless with very small bits of iron. Its these extremely small impregnated particles are what we see "rusting".
For many automotive applications this is accepted.
When this is not acceptable, stainless steel must be "passivated". It's a dipping process and there are different chemical options for this process as well.
But in short, the passivation process dissolves the iron particles impregnated on the "stainless" surface so we do not see our precious stainless steel grow "rust" on the surface.
