By far the most widely used material for building the world’s infrastructure and industries, it is used to fabricate everything from sewing needles to oil tankers. Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon in which the carbon content ranges up to 2 percent (with higher carbon content, the material is defined as cast iron). Although steel is composed of iron – which is metal – the non-metal carbon within its chemical makeup means that it is not a pure metal, so it cannot be classed as one. Is Steel a metal?Īs steel is an alloy, it is not a pure element and is, as a direct result, not a metal. Horace identifies steel weapons such as the falcata in the Iberian Peninsula, while Noric steel was used by the Roman military. The earliest known production of steel is seen in pieces of ironware excavated from an archaeological site in Anatolia (Kaman-Kalehöyük) and is nearly 4,000 years old, dating from 1800 BC. In steel, small amounts of carbon, other elements, and inclusions within the iron act as hardening agents that prevent the movement of dislocations. In pure iron, the crystal structure has relatively little resistance to the iron atoms slipping past one another, and so pure iron is quite ductile, or soft and easily formed. The interaction of the allotropes of iron with the alloying elements, primary carbon, gives steel and cast iron their range of unique properties. Iron is the base metal of steel.ĭepending on the temperature, it can take two crystalline forms (allotropic forms): body center cubic and face center cubic. Stainless steels that are corrosion– and oxidation-resistant need typically an additional 11% chromium.īecause of its high tensile strength and low cost, steel is used in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, trains, cars, machines, electrical appliances, and weapons.

Many other elements may be present or added.

Steel is an alloy made up of iron with typically a few tenths of a percent of carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron.

Steel s