The Kanthal® brand is based on the company AB Kanthal that was founded in 1931 by Hans von Kantzow in Hallstahammar, Sweden. The Kanthal® FeCrAl alloy was invented almost by accident. A forgotten sample in a furnace resulted, after years of development work, in a completely new resistance material. After the market introduction in 1931, the Kanthal® alloy outperformed the existing nickel-chromium (NiCr) alloys and company expanded rapidly on the world market.
In the late 1990s Sandvik became majority shareholder in Kanthal®. Today Kanthal® is the brand for Sandvik’s heating technology products and services. The original FeCrAl alloy is still a product in our portfolio, although improved in a number of respects. It is now part of a complete product range of heating technology products and resistance materials that covers almost all applications and temperatures. Since the start in 1862, when Göran Fredrik Göransson founded Sandvik, to be followed by the same sense of entrepreneurship and innovation by Hans von Kantzow, innovation has been a part of our DNA.