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You think a country of 1.4 billion people is utterly incapable of metallurgy, simply because some of their products are intentionally designed as cheaply as possible, to be sold on a market that wants products sold as cheaply as possible?

Are you also an expert on 3D nano-scale material science? It sounds like you only know a couple terms about stainless steel on a macro scale.

> I am highly suspicious of this.

The reviewers of Science were not and unless proven otherwise Science is a serious publication.

> I hate to say this, but I personally believe that "Chinese metallurgy" is an oxymoron. The word "Chinesium" didn't come out of nowhere.

That's plain racism.

Yeah - 304 is nasty stuff for work hardening, too. I wonder if what they're really describing is a very specific amount of work hardening that improves certain mechanical processes. It can't be hardened/tempered since it's austenitic, but maybe selective work hardening provides some benefits.

(p.s., I sure hate milling 304 parts)

It is sad to me that much of Asia went straight to the "publish or perish" phase of science. There once was an era when science was about pushing the edge of our understanding of nature rather than just pushing the edge of what is publishable for promotion. In the west that goal has been slowly lost (like many things it became infotainment), and some still strive for new knowledge. It's not that good research doesn't go on, it's just very product/engineering focused and business profit dominated. The majority of academic stuff everywhere that is not immediately verified is enshittified to varying degrees.

So this article still gives me both hope that it is real, and sadness that it probably isn't.

I don't know much about stainless, but work hardened alloy steel has benefits and isn't less reliable. For example, the rolled splines on automotive shafts.