Steel is a highly useful material that is used in a multitude of applications. Steel is utilized in over 55% of automobiles. The kind of alloy used to make it determines its versatility, as they affect the material’s durability, strength and performance. For instance, the method that the metal is cooled by manufacturers can have a significant impact on its microstructure and thus its overall properties. It can be altered in order to achieve specific characteristics like machinability yielding strength, and corrosion resistance.
In its simplest form, steel is iron that has been alloyed with various elements to enhance its physical properties and make it suitable for particular uses. The proportions of these other alloying elements determine which class of steel it is ascribed to, and consequently its overall performance in various applications.
For instance, stainless steel contains a minimum of 11% chromium. This makes it impervious to corrosion. This characteristic is what makes it suitable for a variety of kitchen appliances and cutlery. Tool steel, meanwhile is characterized by an extremely high resistance to abrasion and hardness that makes it a popular choice for hand tools and machine dies. Additionally, the superior weldability and ductility of carbon steels makes them ideal for a variety of applications. Electrical steel is on the other hand is one of the most specialized grades of steel that has silicon (typically 3%). This increases its magnetic properties and reduces eddy current losses making it great for transformer cores as well as electric motor laminations.
