Abstract: The invention has as an object a stainless steel sheet coated with a coating comprising, in the order starting from the surface of the said sheet: a barrier layer of metallic oxide or oxy-hydroxide MOx, or of metallic nitride or oxy-nitride NMx, having a thickness ranging between 5 and 1000 nm, a porous layer of titanium oxide TiOx having a thickness ranging between 5 and 1000 nm, the said TiOx layer having a voluminal porosity ranging between 10 and 50% and a mean pore size ranging between 0.5 and 100 nm and an upper layer of silicon oxide or oxy-hydroxide SiOx having a thickness ranging between 5 and 1000 nm. The invention also relates to the method for manufacture of this coated sheet.

Abstract: The agent in question is cobalt added in contents of between 0.05% and 2% to steels containing from 0.05% to 0.6% of carbon and less than 10% of alloying elements taken from silicon, manganese, nickel, chromium and molybdenum, to produce optionally normalized blocks, plates, bars or pieces of large size, with improved hydrogen cracking resistance and with improved weld-ability and suitability for thermal cutting. The invention also relates to a process for employing the agent and to the pieces thus obtained.