Steel is a very useful material that is used in a multitude of applications. Steel is used in more than 55% of vehicles. Its flexibility is determined by the type of alloy elements that are used to make it, because these elements impact the material’s overall strength as well as durability and performance. The manner in which metal is cooled has significant effects on its microstructure, and consequently its overall properties. It can be manipulated to obtain specific properties such as machinability, yielding strength, and corrosion resistance.
Steel is iron which has had other elements added to it in order to improve its physical properties and make the steel suitable for particular uses. The proportions of these extra alloying elements determine what steel type it belongs to, and consequently its overall performance across different applications.
For instance stainless steel is composed of a minimum of 11% chromium. This makes it impervious to corrosion. This is what makes it ideal for a variety of kitchen appliances and cutlery. Tool steel is a preferred material because of its hardness and resistance to scratching. It is also used to hand tools and machine dies. Additionally, the superior weldability and ductility of carbon steels make them suitable for a wide range of applications. Electrical steel on the other hand, is an example of a very specialized grade of steel that has silicon (typically 3percent). This improves its magnetic properties and reduces losses due to eddy currents. This makes it ideal for transformer cores as well as electric motor laminations.
