alloy of iron and carbon in which the carbon content ranges up to 2 percent (with a higher carbon content, the material is defined as cast iron). By far the most widely used material for building the world's infrastructure and industries, it is used to...

For more than a century, steel has been the most important metal in industry. By the turn of the twentieth century, steel had replaced its parent metal, iron, as the primary metal for heavy industries such as construction, railroads, and, later, the...

Alloy steels are made of steel combined with other metals such as nickel, chromium, or vanadium. The result of combining the metals is a steel product that has increased hardness, strength, durability, malleability, and resistance to corrosion. The...

Alloy of iron and about 2% or less carbon. Pure iron is soft, but carbon greatly hardens it. Several iron-carbon constituents with different compositions and/or crystal structures exist: austenite, ferrite, pearlite, cementite, and martensite...

Modification of the Bessemer process for converting pig iron into steel. The original Bessemer converter was not effective in removing the phosphorus from iron made from the high-phosphorus ores common in Britain and Europe. The invention of the basic...

An alloy of iron incorporating a carbon content of around 0.1–1.7 per cent. Iron with a higher carbon content is usually produced from a process in which the molten metal is cooled in moulds, the product being known as CAST IRON. Iron with a...

Steel whets steel....

Steel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2 and 1.7 or 2.04% by weight (C:1000–10,8.67Fe), depending on grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are...