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Steel is an alloy composed of between 0.2 and 2.0 percent carbon, with the balance being iron. From prehistory through the creation of the blast furnace, iron was produced from iron ore as wrought iron, 99.82–100 percent Fe, and the process of making steel involved adding carbon to iron, usually in a serendipitous manner, in the forge, or via the cementation process.
The noun steel originates from the Proto-Germanic adjective *stahliją or *stakhlijan 'made of steel', which is related to *stahlaz or *stahliją 'standing firm'. [4] The carbon content of steel is between 0.02% and 2.14% by weight for plain carbon steel (iron-carbon alloys). Too little carbon content leaves (pure) iron quite soft, ductile, and ...
Steel is made from iron and carbon. Cast iron is a hard, brittle material that is difficult to work, whereas steel is malleable, relatively easily formed and versatile. On its own, iron is not strong, but a low concentration of carbon – less than 1 percent, depending on the kind of steel – gives steel strength and other important properties.
This made steel easier, quicker and cheaper to manufacture, and revolutionised structural engineering. One of the most significant inventors of the Second Industrial Revolution, Bessemer also made at least 128 other inventions in the fields of iron, steel and glass. Unlike many inventors, he managed to bring his own projects to fruition and ...
Most of the steel produced has been by the growing number of mini-mills, also called specialty mills, which in 2014 numbered 113. In 1981, mini-mills produced an estimated 15% of US steel. [13] Since 2002, steel produced by electric arc furnace, the process used by the mini-mills, has produced more than half the steel made in the US.
Many of the first metal artifacts that archaeologists have identified have been tools or weapons, as well as objects used as ornaments such as jewellery. These early metal objects were made of the softer metals; copper , gold , and lead in particular, either as native metals or by thermal extraction from minerals, and softened by minimal heat ...
1000 BC – The Phoenicians introduce dyes made from the purple murex. [1] 3rd century BC – Wootz steel, the first crucible steel, is invented in ancient India; 50s BC – Glassblowing techniques flourish in Phoenicia; 20s BC – Roman architect Vitruvius describes low-water-content method for mixing concrete
Steel construction was first made possible in the 1850s when Henry Bessemer developed the Bessemer process to produce steel. He gained patents for the process in 1855 and 1856 and successfully completed the conversion of cast iron into cast steel in 1858. [ 21 ]