stainless steel - what happened?

[simonineaston]

As I looked at my Aris LY sprocket this morning (what a nice freewheel the Aris is!), I concluded that it's steel, chromium plated. I may be wrong - it might be stainless steel... but my Q. this morning is this: what happened to stainless steel over the last couple of decades? Back last century, stainless was i) fairly rare, ii) usually expensive and iii) reserved for special uses. Nowadays, it's almost the default material, so what changed? Is it the way the stuff is made? Or has the price of the raw materials dropped? Is there a new recipe? Does anyone know?

picture of sprocket

[Jdsk]

Stainless steel covers a vast range of different materials.

It's a great question, but wasn't the big increase in use before 2000?

Jonathan

[Chris Jeggo]

Stainless steel covers a vast range of different materials.

It's a great question, but wasn't the big increase in use before 2000?

Jonathan

Yes. My first bespoke bike (1974) had 'rustless' (i.e. galvanized) spokes. My second (1984), and all wheels bought since, had stainless spokes.

[simonineaston]

but wasn't the big increase in use before 2000?

Could be. I do recall that in the mid '70s, it was sop to potter off to a specialist bike spares shop (or buy mail order, if you trusted the supplier) to get a set of ss allen head bolts for one's Japanese motorbike engine. Their otherwise excellent motors seemed always to be spoilt, hap'eth of tar-wise, by really crummy Phillips head bolts, made apparently from zinc-plated cheese. The first thing you did back then on acquiring a different model was replace them.

[simonineaston]

my Aris LY sprocket this morning, I concluded that it's steel, chromium plated.

(I was wrong - turns out they were nickel plated, hence that slight yellowish hue to the look of the plate.)

[PT1029]

I recall this question being asked once. The answer i heard was that in the 1950's/60's the nuclear construction industry used huge amounts of stainless steel. Once the nuclear contruction tailed off in the 1970's, the producers had to find new markets for their stainless steel.

[simonineaston]

That reminds me of an anecdote told me by a Cumbrian-based chum, where Sellafield is a major local employer. He described how the management at the complex had long suspected the maintenance night shift of sleeping on the job - the evidence being a couple of grubby mattresses, not very well hidden away during the day...
Management planned a mid-night raid and pounced, only to discover not the expected ranks of fitters snoozing in darkened workshops - quite the opposite - they were all v. busy on their backs under their mate's cars, fitting custom-built exhaust systems from very high-grade stainless tube !!
That particular chum had a long long repertoire of humorous tales from life at Sellafield, many of which were quite alarming...

[PH]

Nowadays, it's almost the default material, so what changed? Is it the way the stuff is made? Or has the price of the raw materials dropped? Is there a new recipe?

China's industrial revolution happened. They're the largest producer of stainless steel and probably the largest manufacturer of stainless steel products.
EDIT - Also, China's industrial interests are not restricted to their own production, I've read several articles about Chinese owned steel manufacturing in other areas of Asia.

[Jules59]

China is also buying up African assets to own the basic raw materials too.

[TheBomber]

Japanese motorbike engine. Their otherwise excellent motors seemed always to be spoilt, hap'eth of tar-wise, by really crummy Phillips head bolts

Could that be because they weren’t Phillips heads, but JIS standard cross heads? You get them on Shimano products too and Phillips head screwdrivers always twist out, damaging the head on the way.

[simonineaston]

Who knows? All is lost from memory... chances are they weren't even Japanese bikes...
(on the plus side, I'm listening to The Bird and The Bee, LA musicians, and am jigging around to the music of Daryl Hall & John Oates for the first time in... err, maybe 30 or 40 years. omg! whatever next??)

[iandusud]

With regard to the cycle industry before the MTB revolution in the 80s mass produced bikes were made to be as cheap as possible, hence the proliferation of chromed steel rims rather than alloy, despite the fact that in the wet the brakes didn't work and it probably saved very little money. We were also fitting cottered chrome steel chainsets and galvanized spokes etc. However when MTBs came along the industry suddenly realised that we were no longer in the 1950s and people were prepared to pay more for better quality products and all of a sudden cottered cranks, steel rims disappeared and stainless steel spokes became pretty much ubiquitous on anything other than the cheapest bikes.

[simonineaston]

So one of the arguments for the apperance of increased amounts of ss (partic. on bicycles in the form of spokes) is a raise in the expectations of customers.
One of my other interests is food & cookery. Back around the time we're talking about, you used to have a pay a fat premium for ss utensils, over & above the common-or-garden plastic or plated metal items like sieves, colenders, ladels, tongs etc. - indeed ss was often avoided where it was an option eg chef's knives, as the traditional carbon steel was for a long time preferred.
I'm still thinking that there must have been some sort of sea-change, over and above customers' expectations, that caused ss to suddenly be everywhere! I'm aware that China entered the manufacturing market with a vengence some decades ago, but did they also revisit the production of ss in a way that might have made it cheaper? Looks like it.

[Dingdong]

I'm very disappointed that SS hasn't taken off as a frame building materials. For sure the higher end Reynolds tubesets and the Italians have been producing good quality frames for years but they are hideously expensive. I've been trying to buy a 953 frame for a few years now, but even second hand they are very very expensive.

It's a real shame as I've actually ridden one and they are a great, smooth and dare I say, more plush drive than any carbon frame I've ridden. I wonder why they didn't get a mass appeal, and trickle down into a more popular market? I suppose carbon has really usurped everything, except the specialist niches of contemporary cycling.

[PedallingSquares]

Cheap SS made in China in mills that are where we were at the beginning of the 20th century in terms of polution.They are a law unto themselves regarding environmental matters and tarrifs so can produce,often poor quality,stainless in huge quantities..
In the next 25-35 years they will be producing most,if not all,of the worlds steel,for less,but the quality won't be the same
I've been in the steel industry almost 40 years and have seen China gradually chipping away in all areas.They still lack accreditation for certain high quality processes but once they get it,and they will eventually,that will be the beginning of the end for the rest of the worlds' production.