Steel is a remarkably useful material that is used in a variety of applications. In fact, it’s estimated that 55 percent of a car is composed of steel. Its click here for more versatility is determined by the kind of alloy elements that are used to create it, as these factors impact the overall strength endurance, durability, and performance. For example, the way the process of cooling the metal can have a significant effect on its microstructure, and consequently its overall properties. It is manipulated to achieve certain characteristics like machinability yielding strength, and corrosion resistance.
In its simplest form it is iron that has been alloyed with other elements to improve its physical properties and make it suitable for particular uses. The proportions of the additional alloying elements determines what category of steel a steel is part of and its overall performance for different applications.
For example stainless is composed of a minimum of 11% of chromium. This makes it resistant against corrosion. This makes it ideal for a variety of applications for cutting boards and kitchen utensils. Tool steel, for instance, has an exceptionally high durability and abrasion resistance which makes it an ideal material for hand machines and tools. Carbon steels are also suited to a variety of applications because of their high ductility. Electrical steel on the other hand, is an example of a very specialized grade of steel which contains silicon (typically 3%). This enhances the magnetic properties and decreases losses from eddy-current. This makes it ideal for laminations and transformer cores of electric motors.