Steel is a material that can be used for a variety of purposes. that can be used for a variety of purposes. In fact, it’s believed that more than 55 percent of a car is composed of steel. Its flexibility is determined by the type of alloy elements employed to create it, as these factors impact the overall strength, durability, and performance. The method by which the metal is cooled can have a major impact on its microstructure and therefore, its overall properties. It can also be altered to achieve specific characteristics, such as machinability, yield strength, and resistance to corrosion.
Steel is iron that has had other elements alloyed to it to improve its physical properties and make the steel suitable for specific uses. The proportions of the additional alloying elements determines what category of steel a steel belongs to and the overall performance for various applications.
For instance, stainless is made up of at least 11% of chromium. This makes it resistant against corrosion. This is what makes it suitable for a variety of kitchen utensils and cutlery. Tool steel, for instance is characterized by an extremely high resistance to abrasion and hardness that makes it an ideal material for hand tools and machine dies. Additionally, the high ductility and weldability of carbon steels makes them ideal for a wide range of applications. Electrical steel on the other hand is one of the most specialized grades of steel that has silicon (typically about 3%). This improves its magnetic properties, and also reduces the loss of eddy-current. This makes it ideal for laminations and transformer cores of electric motors.
