Steel

Read this article, which explains the history of steel production and the processes involved in its manufacture. Pay attention to the definitions and scientific descriptions.

Introduction

Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon content between 0.02 and 1.7 percent by weight. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but many other alloying elements are also used. Carbon and other elements act as a hardening agent, preventing dislocations in the iron atom crystal lattice from sliding past one another. Varying the amount of alloying elements and their distribution in the steel controls qualities such as the hardness, elasticity, ductility, and tensile strength of the resulting steel. Steel with increased carbon content can be made harder and stronger than iron, but is also more brittle.

The maximum solubility of carbon in iron is 1.7 percent by weight, occurring at 1,130° Celsius; higher concentrations of carbon or lower temperatures will produce cementite, which will reduce the material's strength. Alloys with higher carbon content than this are known as cast iron because of their lower melting point. Steel is also to be distinguished from wrought iron with little or no carbon, usually less than 0.035 percent. It is common today to talk about "the iron and steel industry" as if it were a single thing - it is today, but historically they were separate products.

Currently there are several classes of steels in which carbon is replaced with other alloying materials, and carbon, if present, is undesired. A more recent definition is that steels are iron-based alloys that can be plastically formed (pounded, rolled, and so forth).

Source: New World Encyclopedia, https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Steel
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.