Types Of Steel

Types Of Steel

When we talk about “steel”, it is certainly not a single product. In fact, according to the World Steel Association (www.worldsteel.org), there are more than 3,500 different grades of steel and all of them have different properties—physical, chemical, and environmental. While it has been around for decades, most steel types in use today were developed only very recently in the past 20 or so years.

Steel in Our Lives

Look around, and chances are you see several different types of steel in your life every day. From the roads and bridges you drive on to work to the buildings you visit, your vehicle, your appliances, and more. Since the material used to make a bridge would certainly not be a very cost-effective or efficient metal for vehicles, it makes sense that there are several varieties of steel that we use for different purposes.

Today because steel is so light, efficient, strong, and even fire-resistant (up to its extremely high melting point of 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit), it is used in many different daily items, including medical equipment, vehicles, refrigerators, and washing machines, to name just a few.

Stronger, Lighter, More Efficient

Many buildings today are constructed using steel products from places like Wasatch Steel. In fact, if the Eiffel Tower was reconstructed today, it would only require about one-third as much metal, and would be significantly lighter than it was when it was originally constructed in the late 1800s for the World Fair.

Another sometimes-overlooked benefit of steel is its ability to be recycled indefinitely without losing any of its strength or other desirable properties. In fact, it can be recycled several times within a 150+ year time span, making it an environmental choice as well.

 

Most Common Steel Types

While there are 3,500+ steel varieties, we don’t use that many in our everyday lives. During the production phase, steel is produced according to what it will be used for, mixing in additional elements such as carbon, manganese, or sulphur to create the desired finished product. The four broad categories of steel, based on chemical composition, include:

·         Carbon steel—including low, medium, and high according to how much carbon is added (below 0.3%, between 0.3-0.6%, and over 0.6%, respectively). As much as 90 percent of all steel products are carbon steel.

·         Alloy steel—with manganese, silicon, nickel, titanium, copper, chromium, or aluminum added. These elements increase steel’s hardness, corrosion resistance, strength, malleability, or other properties for projects like pipelines, automobiles, motors, and generators.

·         Stainless steel—with as much as 10-20% chromium, these steels are exceptionally corrosion resistant, making them great metals for food processing, kitchen utensils, and surgical equipment.

·         Tool steel—this steel is very hard and durable, in addition to being resistant to heat. With tungsten, molybdenum, cobalt, and vanadium added it makes an ideal product for cutting, drilling, and other demanding jobs.

The year 2010 was a record-setting year for steel production, with more than 1.4 million metric tons of the metal produced at places like Wasatch Steel. It was an increase of 15% over the previous year, and is expected to continue to grow as we find more and more applications where it can be used to benefit society.