The invention of stainless steel was accompanied by a series of scientific developments, beginning with Louis Vauquelin's first demonstration of chromium to the French Academy of Sciences in 1798.
In the early 19th century, British scientists James Stoddart, Michael Faraday, and Robert Mallet observed the resistance of ferrochrome alloys (" chromium steel ") to oxidants. Robert Bunsen discovered chromium's resistance to strong acids. The corrosion resistance of iron chromium was probably first discovered in 1821 by Pierre Berthier, who noted its resistance to certain acids and suggested its use in tableware.
In the 1840s, the Sheffield Steel Company in England and the Krupp Steel Company in Germany were both producing chromium steel, the latter of which used it in cannons in the 1850s.
In 1861, Robert Forester Mushet patented chrome steel in England. These events led to the first production of chrome-containing steel in the United States, by J. Baur of Brooklyn Chrome-Steel Works for bridge construction. The product was patented in the United States in 1869. Later, The British John T. Woods and John Clark recognized the corrosion resistance of chromium alloys, noting that chromium ranged from 5% to 30%, and tungsten and "medium carbon" were added. They pursued the commercial value of this innovation through a British patent on "weather-resistant alloys".
In the late 1890s, German chemist Hans Goldschmidt developed a thermite (thermite) process for the production of carbon-free chromium. Between 1904 and 1911, a number of researchers, notably Leon Gillette of France, prepared alloys that are today considered stainless steel.Friedrich Krupp Germanawerft of Essen built the 366-ton sailing ship "Germania" in Germany in 1908 with a chrome and nickel steel hull.
In 1911, Philip Monnartz reported on the relationship between chromium content and corrosion resistance.
On October 17, 1912, Krupp engineers Benno Strauss and Eduard Maurer applied for a patent for the Nerosta austenitic stainless steel, today known as 18/8 or AISI 304. Similar developments took place in the United States, where Christian Dantsizen of General Electric and Frederick Becket(1875-1942) of Union Carbide were industrializing ferritic stainless steel.
In 1912, Elwood Haynes applied for a U.S. patent for a martensitic stainless steel alloy that was not approved until 1919.