Why passivate stainless steel? It allows you to present a higher-quality and better-looking product to your customers. Passivating stainless steel reduces its vulnerability to rusting or staining. Since stainless steel is expensive, passivation is well worth the investment.

When done right, passivation improves stainless steel's resistance to stains, essentially making it even more stainless. Steel is never 100% stain-proof, but passivation brings it to as close to that as possible. The process involves removing microscopic iron particles that have been deposited during any manufacturing steps. Removing the iron prompts the chromium to react with oxygen, which then forms an invisible, protective layer.

The process is a preventative one. It typically will not discharge existing stains or rusting. Other methods – including light abrasion, bead blasting, tumbling and sanding – are needed to do that. Weld scale, black oxides and burn marks are removed through pickling, a process that's often done in conjunction with passivation.

To qualify as "stainless," steel must have a chromium content exceeding 10.5 percent. The component helps the steel's iron resist combining with oxygen, preventing rust from forming. Though steel is capable of staining or rusting, it does so much less frequently than other alloys.

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