Knowledge Center: Cookware Heat Conductivity

Materials used in cookware vary greatly in their heat distribution properties. Stainless steel by itself is not a good conductor of heat, which is the reason that aluminum or copper is bonded to the bottom. There are methods by which raw materials can be laminated together in sheets (such as 2 layers of stainless steel with a layer of aluminum in between), for cookware manufacturing, however, this process is extremely expensive. Following for your reference is a chart that graphically shows the thermal conduction properties of various materials. Since silver is the most efficient material for heat conductivity (at about 97% efficiency) silver was used as a base for a relationship to the other materials indicated. It is interesting to note that glass is very close to asbestos in heat conduction properties.