INTRODUCTION

Steel is an alloy made up of iron with typically a few tenths of a percent of carbon to improve
its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. The carbon content of
steel is between 0.002% and 2.14% by weight for plain carbon steel (iron-carbon alloys).
Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon containing less than 2% carbon and 1% manganese and
small amounts of silicon, phosphorus, sulphur and oxygen.

Steel is the world’s most important engineering and construction material. It is used in every
aspect of our lives; in cars and construction products, refrigerators and washing machines,
cargo ships and surgical scalpels.

Who invent the steel?

A British inventor, Henry Bessemer, is generally credited with the invention of the first
technique to mass produce steel in the mid-1850s. Steel is still produced using technology
based on the Bessemer Process of blowing air through molten pig iron to oxidise the material
and separate impurities.
 Types of steel
Steel is not a single product. There are more than 3,500 different grades of steel with many
different physical, chemical, and environmental properties. Approximately 75% of modern
steels have been developed in the past 20 years.
Broadly, Steel is usually classified in two types as follow,
Plain carbon steels are made only of iron, carbon, and undesired elements. They fall into
three general groups. Plain carbon steel with 0.05 to 0.2% carbon does not harden by heat
treating. Welding it is simple, so it is used for shipbuilding, boilers, pipes, fence wire and
other purposes where low cost is important. Plain steels are used for springs, gears, and
engine parts. Plain carbon steel with 0.45 to 0.8% carbon is used for very hard items such as
shears and machine tools.
Alloy steels are plain carbon steel with metals such as Boron (B), manganese (Mn),
chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), molybdenum (Mo), tungsten (W) and cobalt (Co) added. These
give other properties than plain carbon steel. Alloy steels are made for specialized purposes.
For example, chromium can be added to make stainless steel, which does not rust easily, or
boron can be added to make very hard steel that is also not brittle.