Steel is a highly useful material that is utilized in a multitude of applications. In fact, it’s estimated that over 55 percent of the average vehicle is composed of steel. The kind of alloys used to manufacture it determines its flexibility, as they affect the material’s durability, strength and performance. The manner in which metal is cooled can have significant effects on its microstructure and consequently, its overall properties. It is also manipulated to achieve specific characteristics, such as machinability, yield strength, and resistance to corrosion.
In its simplest form steel is iron that has been alloyed with other elements to enhance its physical properties and make it appropriate for specific uses. The proportions of additional alloying elements determines the category of steel a steel belongs to and its overall performance for different applications.
For example, stainless is made up of a minimum 11% chromium. This makes it resistant against corrosion. This is what makes it ideal for a range of kitchen appliances and cutlery. Tool steel is popular because of its hardness and resistance to scratching. It’s also used for hand tools and machine dies. Carbon steels can also be adapted to a variety of applications due to their excellent ductility. Electrical steel is a steel grade that contains silicon (typically around 3%) This improves its magnetic properties, and also reduces eddy-current losses. It is therefore ideal for transformer cores and laminations of electric motors.