Back Ground Information On Stainless Steel

Stainless steel is a man made alloy of steel and 11% of chromium. Stainless steel has been used as a roofing material since the 1920's in America but has only become popular in the UK over the last 30 years. At first all of the stainless steel used for roofs was known as 'bright'. This bright material kept its shiny lustre and unless the architects wanted a shiny roof for ever they never specified it. Then in the 60's a new system was developed that bonded a surface layer of lead onto the top surface of the bright stainless steel, these days the lead has been replaced by a layer of tin. The result was Terne Coated Stainless Steel or as it is now known TCS, it enables the stainless steel to produce a surface finish the colour of lead, thereby getting away from the bright finish.