For some years now, and maybe even in Chalcolithic times, it's been known that copper alloys are great for killing germs. But then came the Iron Age and surgical tools were made of iron, or stainless steel. And hospital fixtures are plastics now. The result: MRSA.
"Hey, replace everything with BRONZE!!", I sometimes thought but - yeah, not exactly practical. Copper has never been cheap compared with iron. Well into the "Iron Age", I understand that prestige cutlery and weapons stayed bronze just because it worked better. Iron was for poors.
So now: the iron / copper bronze. Billed as a stainless steel, they got just enough copper that the price is right. And they sussed out how to mass-produce it.
I'd be looking seriously into this if I were designing deep-space fixtures, as well. Elon likes stainless steel. Although this alloy will be an inside material.
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