Stainless Steel Filter Elements Stainless steel filter elements are made up of several layers of 316 mesh that is sintered together to form an integrated porous element. The middle mesh is of very fine gauge and determines the filtration rates; this layer is then overlaid with inner and outer layers of coarser mesh to give support and protection. The elements are a typical surface filter and the contaminants are retained on the surface of the filtration layer, this makes cleaning and back flushing very easy. The elements should be ultrasonically cleaned to give best results. Stainless steel filter elements are particularly useful in heavily contaminated applications and for use a pre-filter before disposable type final filters. All sizes are available in 1um, 3um, 10um, 25um, and 100um grades. Because it is impossible to have an axial compression with this type of element, they are supplied with flat Viton gaskets as standard or P.T.F.E. type as an option.