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It can be damaged physically or chemically but the oxide layer is self-healing upon contact with oxygen.
by cyounkins 5y ago
It can be damaged physically or chemically but the oxide layer is self-healing upon contact with oxygen.
- jeffbee 5y agoThe depth of the chromium-rich top layer would be measured in nanometers at most, while a visible scratch would have to be tens of microns in size.
- Tade0 5y agoIsn't stainless steel a uniform alloy of chrome, nickel and iron?
- jeffbee 5y agoIt would be if you made it in space, but in the presence of oxygen, or when the factory dips it in acid which is what they do, the surface is depleted of iron and enriched of chromium to a depth of a few molecules. Below that is a thicker nickel-rich region. Nobody really knows how this migrating is happening at a low level, by the way. Mystery of material science.