Types of Steel Materials and Their Uses
Steel is a very useful material that is used in a variety of applications. In fact, it is estimated that 55 percent of the average vehicle is made of steel. Its flexibility is determined by the kind of alloy elements used to make it, because these elements impact the material’s overall strength endurance, durability, and performance. The manner in which metal is cooled can have significant impact on its microstructure and consequently its overall properties. It can be altered to obtain specific properties such as machinability, yielding strength, and resistance to corrosion.
In its simplest form it is iron that has been alloyed with various elements to enhance its physical properties and make it suitable for particular uses. The proportions of additional alloying elements determines which category of steel it is part of and its overall performance in different applications.
For instance, stainless is made up of a minimum 11 percent of chromium. This makes it impervious against corrosion. This property makes it suitable for a wide range of kitchen utensils and cutlery. Tool steel, in contrast is extremely high in resistance to abrasion and hardness that makes it a favorite for hand machines and tools. Additionally, the high ductility and weldability of carbon steels make them suitable for a range of applications. Electrical steel on the other hand, is an example of a very specialized grade of steel that https://mark-solutions.com/generated-post-2/ contains silicon (typically about 3%). This increases its magnetic properties, and reduces the loss of eddy-current. It is therefore ideal for transformer cores and laminations of electric motors.