Chrome steel is one of a class of non stainless steels such as AISI 52100, En31, SUJ2, 100Cr6, 100C6, DIN 5401 which are used for applications such as bearings, tools, drills and utensils.

Popular culture

The term was used in both the original 1933 version, as well as the 2005 remake, of ''

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

''. When Kong is brought to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, he is chained with this metal on stage. The impression given by the film from

Carl Denham Carl Denham is a fictional character in the films ''King Kong'' and ''The Son of Kong'' (both released in 1933), as well as in the 2005 remake of ''King Kong'', and a 2004 illustrated novel titled ''Kong: King of Skull Island''. The role was p ...

to the audience is that the "chrome steel" has some unique properties of having a higher

tensile strength Ultimate tensile strength (UTS), often shortened to tensile strength (TS), ultimate strength, or F_\text within equations, is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. In brittle materials t ...

than "normal steel" which is incorrect. Higher

steels are created by the addition of

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon mak ...

. True to this deceptive description,

breaks free anyway (in both versions). The term was also used in the '' Star Trek'' episode " A Private Little War," where the

gun A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, p ...

s introduced to the primitive villagers by the

Klingon The Klingons ( ; Klingon: ''tlhIngan'' ) are a fictional species in the science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. Developed by screenwriter Gene L. Coon in 1967 for the original ''Star Trek'' (''TOS'') series, Klingons were swarthy humanoids c ...

s were fashioned with a chrome steel drill point. Billy Joel used the term "chromium steel" in his song "Allentown" from "The Nylon Curtain" album (1982). {{Authority control Steels