Types of Steel Materials and Their Uses

Steel is an incredibly useful material that is used in a wide variety of applications. In fact, it’s estimated that over 55 percent of the average car is made of steel. Its versatility is determined by the type of alloy elements employed to create it, because these elements impact the overall strength, durability, and performance. The way in which the metal is cooled can have an impact on its microstructure, and therefore, its overall properties. It is also manipulated to achieve specific characteristics, such as machinability, yield strength, and resistance to corrosion.

In its simplest form, steel is iron that has been alloyed with various elements to improve its physical properties and make it suitable for certain uses. The proportions of the other alloying elements determines which class of steel a particular steel belongs to and the overall performance for various applications.

For example stainless is composed of a minimum 11 percent chrome. This makes it resistant against corrosion. This is what makes it suitable for a range of kitchen utensils and cutlery. Tool steel is popular because of its high hardness and resistance to scratching. It is also used to hand tools and machine dies. Furthermore, the high ductility and weldability of carbon steels make them suitable for a variety of applications. Electrical steel on the other hand, is an example of one of the most specialized grades of steel which contains silicon (typically about 3%). This improves its magnetic properties and decreases losses from eddy currents, making it ideal for transformer cores as well as electric motor laminations.

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