Through years of private study and night school he became an expert in the analysis of steel and in 1908, at the age of 37, was given the opportunity to set up the Brown Firth Laboratories for research purposes. It was under this guise that Brearley was given the job of looking at the problem of rifle barrels.
He had been asked to help reduce the amount of corrosion occurring when rifles were fired. Combustion, moisture and the gases produced as the weapons discharged all combined to corrode the inside and reduce the efficiency of the guns.In order to meet his target Brearly started finding a steel that would not erode away, he instantly set about combining varying amounts of chromium with steel to fix the problem.
