Types of Stainless Steel
What's Your Stainless Steel Tea Kettle Made Of
In purchasing stainless steel appliances, many people don't realize the variety of types of stainless steel that might appear in appliances. The three major types of stainless steel are Austenitic, Martensitic and Ferritic.
Austenitic is the most common stainless steel found in the household as it is used in knives and cooking utensils. Some stainless steel tea kettles and other appliances will also be made from Austenitics. These feature 16-26% chromium and 6-22% nickel, and are hardened in low temperatures using cold-working and tempering. By developing in this manner, Austenitics have a strong resistance to corrosion, making them a good choice for your stainless steel tea kettle.
Martensitic stainless steel is less common than the other types, featuring chromium at around 10-17%. Largely used in knives, this type of stainless steel is prepared by quenching (cooled by water) and tempering (heating then cooling). While these are often strong, hard metals, they are also brittle and can be difficult to form, likely one of the main reasons you don't see many stainless steel tea kettles formed using Martensitic steel.
Ferritic metal feature hgh levels of chromium between 17-27% and is often used in making stainless steel cooking utensils. This type of metal can also be seen in some stainless steel tea kettles and other household appliances but is still less common than Austenitics because Austenitics feature better corrosion resistance.
Hopefully that gives you a better understanding of the information you might see on your products. In general, it's important not to skip on quality, making an Austenitic stainless steel tea kettle the ideal choice.
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