Steel is an alloy that is created from the combination of iron as a metal and a non-metallic substance, i.e. carbon. Many years have passed since the discovery of iron and its use to make various equipment. Despite this, the progress of the industry and the expansion of the use of iron equipment made mankind feel the need for a harder and stronger material than iron. As a result, iron as the base metal was combined with carbon and a stronger alloy called steel was produced. Of course, other metals are added to this alloy in order to improve its various properties such as toughness, hardness, corrosion resistance and wear resistance. For this reason, today different grades of steel alloy are produced, which differ from each other in terms of various properties.
What is steel alloy?
In general, an alloy is a mixture or a solid metal solution that is produced from the combination of a main metal as a base metal and one or more other metallic and non-metallic elements. Steel is an alloy whose base metal is iron and carbon is the most important non-metallic element in its composition. The percentage of iron base metal in steel alloy is at least 50% and the percentage of carbon varies between 0.025 and 2.1. An alloy with less than this amount of iron will no longer be steel. Also, if the percentage of carbon exceeds 2.1, it is still not a steel alloy and the resulting composition forms a cast iron alloy. By changing the percentage of iron and carbon within the allowed range, different grades of steel alloy are produced, each of which offers different properties.
In general, the purpose of alloying is to change or improve some properties of metals such as hardness, strength, toughness, malleability, durability and corrosion resistance. Because pure metals alone do not have much strength. This issue is completely true for the metal element of iron and the equipment that is made with pure iron does not have much strength. In this regard, by adding carbon and some metal elements such as nickel, chromium, molybdenum, manganese, vanadium and other such things, steel alloy is created and its properties are improved several times. Changing the percentage of each of these metallic and non-metallic elements creates different grades of steel alloy that differ in some properties.
What is the use of steel alloy?
Steel is used in many industries due to its unique characteristics and properties, such as high strength, toughness and suitable hardness, to make equipment or the final product. Currently, this alloy has become the most widely used industrial material in the world after crude oil. The steel industry is considered one of the largest parent industries in the world. Use in construction and civil industries, production of industrial equipment, air and space, and household and kitchen appliances are some of the most important uses of steel. In addition, this alloy is used to produce most of the widely used steel sections, some of the most important of which are:
✳️ Steel sheets
Steel sheets are among the most important products made of steel alloy, which are used directly and indirectly in various industries. These sheets are produced in several different grades depending on the base steel used for their production. Therefore, they differ in many properties such as strength, hardness, wear and corrosion resistance, toughness and appearance. Sheets and plates st37, st57, A516, galvanized, acid washing, colored and anti-wear are some of the most important plates that are produced from alloy steel. St37 black sheet is the mother product for the production of other above sheets. Depending on their properties, each of these sheets will be used in different industries such as construction and equipment production.
✳️ plain and ribbed rebar
Miglard is one of the other important products produced with steel alloy, which is widely used in the construction and civil industries. Rebar is mostly used in concrete buildings and structures. Because of its high tensile strength, it reinforces the concrete and covers its basic weakness. Steel rebars have many types and are divided into two groups, plain and ribbed, in terms of appearance. Ribbed miglords themselves are placed in several different categories, which differ in terms of resistance, thickness, type of tread, strength and other such properties.
✳️ Steel beam
Steel beams, like rebar, are considered to be one of the most used sections in the building and construction industry. Of course, these products with smaller volume are also used in other industries such as automobile and shipbuilding. Based on standards and appearance, steel beams are classified into four groups of IPE (normal), INP, IPB (hash) and honeycomb beams. Each of the types of steel beams are mostly used for a series of purposes, considering their standard, strength and shape. Although the production of the above sections is considered to be some of the most common uses of steel alloy, it will not be limited to these cases. Rather, steel is used to make other sections such as corners, studs, pipes, profiles, household equipment, industrial tools, and other such items. This issue has made steel alloy to become the most widely used industrial material in the world after crude oil.
