Hobbies And Interests
The Content of Steel
Steel is an alloy, or combination of metals, made up mainly of iron. Carbon steel is an alloy made up of carbon and iron exclusively. Stainless steel, another alloy often used for surgical instruments and appliances, includes chromium in its makeup, which helps reduce rusting, the International Stainless Steel Forum states. Before steel can be transformed into products, however, it must first be processed from iron ore.
Creating Steel from Iron
To become useful, iron ore must be smelted. According to the World Steel Association, this iron is referred to as "pig iron" and is considered too carbon-rich to be turned immediately into steel. Oxygen blown through the molten pig iron reduces its carbon content, creating a low-carbon steel that can be processed. To make steel from recycled iron, scraps are put into an electric arc furnace, turning them into molten steel that can then be processed.
Steel Processing
Once molten steel has been created, it's cast continuously into long sheets. The majority of steelmaking is done using this process, with only 4 percent of steelmakers today using an older process where the molten steel is cast into bars called ingots, according to William Smith and Javad Hashemi's book, "Foundations of Materials Science and Engineering." The ingots are melted down and "hot rolled" into new forms, while the long sheets created by continuous casting are "cold rolled," the World Steel Association explains. At this point, pressed steel and other types of steel are be made using a variety of machines.
Steel Uses
Pressed steel is used to create the body of cars and is a key input in the auto manufacturing sector, the World Steel Association states. Steel is also a major component in many building materials, such as bridge deck plates, cables and concrete-reinforcing bars. Railways, appliances, farms and machinery are all made of steel.