Types of Steel Materials and Their Uses

Steel is a remarkably useful material that is utilized in a wide variety of applications. In fact, it’s estimated that over 55 percent of the average car is made of steel. Its flexibility is determined by the type of alloy elements that are used to make it, as these factors impact the overall strength endurance, durability, and performance. The way in which the metal is cooled can have a major impact on its microstructure and consequently its overall properties. It can be manipulated in order to achieve specific properties, such as machinability yielding strength, and corrosion resistance.

In its most basic form it is iron that has been alloyed with other elements to improve its physical properties and make it appropriate for specific uses. The proportions of the other acoustically and thermally insulated modular steel cells alloying elements determines what category of steel it belongs to and the overall performance for different applications.

For example, stainless steel contains at least 11% chromium. This makes it impervious to corrosion. This makes it perfect for a range of applications like cutting boards and kitchen utensils. Tool steel is a preferred material due to its high hardness and resistance to scratching. It’s also used for machine dies and hand tools. Additionally, the high weldability and ductility of carbon steels makes them ideal for a broad array of applications. Electrical steel is a specialized steel grade that has silicon (typically around 3%) This improves its magnetic properties and reduces losses from eddy currents, making it ideal for transformer cores and electric motor laminations.