The need for the hair net is obvious, you wouldn’t want a stray hair in your food, as for the wellingtons, most areas will be wet, so these give you grip and protect you from the water or chemicals used when the area was washed down during the previous shift.

Now, when you look at the work tables and protective enclosures for the computers, you would notice, they are all in stainless steel, however if you were to ask someone why, they would answer because, “they don’t rust.” However, that is not strictly true!

There are three types of stainless steel, Austenitic, Martensitic and Ferritic.

The Ferritic alloy has more iron content in it, as well as Magnesium and Nickel, Martensitic has a very similar structure. For example Ferritic and Martensitic alloys have a high heat resistance but a poor corrosion property; these are ideal for manufacturing exhausts, but no good in a food environment.

The Chromium content in the Austenitic alloy protects the stainless steel from any chemicals as well as water; this makes it perfect for PC and printer enclosures in food plants.

An easy way to ensure the steel is the correct specification, is to put some bleach on a small area, this will rust if the stainless steel isn’t Austenitic, this is how some manufacturers use lower quality stainless steel but still charge high prices.

Austenitic is perfect for manufacturing anything that is going to be in a food processing plant and wash down regularly. They even manufacture surgical equipment from this alloy.

The only way to successfully weld any Austenitic product is to use Argon arc welding. This melts the steel in a “shield” of argon gas at the front, while the back must be “purged”, this is a process were the gas argon is directed onto the rear of the weld and eliminates the burn marks, it also prevents “blow back”, this is weld beads appear on the reverse of the welded product.

Austenitic is the king of Stainless steel and is all around us, just check out your cutlery drawer.

Computer Security & Solutions are a specialist manufacturer of stainless steel enclosures, for I.T. equipment that is used in food processing  factories. For expert advice and a cost effecitve solution check out our range of products at Stainless steel PC enclosures.