Sailfish 1900 BB - Stainless Steel Maintenance and Properties; Stainless Steel Composition and Behavior; Stainless Steel Environmental Impact and Discoloration

05/31/2017 Sailsh1900BBOwner’sManual|sailshboats.com 23
Caring for Stainless Steel
The information provided is designed to give you
a thorough understanding of the factors that can
impact the appearance of your anodized aluminum.
By using this information, we hope to help you
enhance the beauty and value to our products.
What Makes Stainless
Steel Stainless?
Oxygen is the key element in causing rust, or red
oxide on steel and other metals. Stainless Steel
contains Chromium which reacts with the oxygen
in the air to form a chrome-oxide surface layer that
is invisible to the eye, but strong enough to prevent
further oxygen from “staining” (rusting) the surface.
Higher levels of Chromium and the addition of
other alloying elements such as nickel and molyb-
denum enhance this surface layer and improve the
corrosion resistance of the stainless material.
What Determines
Different Grades of
Stainless Steel?
The grade of Stainless Steel is primarily deter-
mined by the amount of the Chromium and Nickel
alloys contained in the material. 304 and 316
are the prominent grades of Stainless Steel: 304
contains 1% Chromium and 8% Nickel, while 316
Contains 16% Chromium and 10% Nickel and 2%
Molybdenum. The Molybdenum is added to help
resist corrosion to chlorides (like sea water and
de-icing salts).
Can Stainless Steel
rust?
Not in the way steel rusts. Steel will discolor,
bubble and ake from red oxide development.
Stainless Steel may develop red spots, but this is
usually due to Iron particles on the surface of the
Stainless Steel. Any Iron particles must be re-
moved and the Stainless Steel cleaned with a high
concentration of citric acid or a commercial cleaner
specically designed for Stainless Steel.
Is Stainless Steel
Green (Environmental-
ly Friendly)?
Stainless Steel is highly sought after by recyclers
and is 100% recyclable. New Stainless Steel
typically has a recycled content of between 65%
& 80% which makes it one of the highest average
content recycled construction materials on the
planet.
Will Stainless Steel
Discolor?
Cleaners that are typically used with cement,
grout and stone, etc., may contain Muriatic Acid.
Stainless Steel is not resistant to Muratic Acid.
MURIATIC ACID SHOULD NOT BE USED IF
STAINLESS STEEL IS PRESENT. It is not even
necessary that the acid touch the Stainless Steel,
just the “fumes” from it will cause a discoloration of
the Stainless Steel. Other than this, Stainless Steel
is usually very resistant to discoloring.