Steel: The Metal and Its History
Iron is found in the Earth’s crust in the form of an ore, usually an iron oxide. Iron is extracted by smelting, removing the oxygen, and combining the ore with a preferred chemical partner such as carbon. Ancient methods of smelting have been used since the Bronze Age. The Haya people of East Africa invented a type of high-heat blast furnace, which allowed them to forge carbon steel nearly 2,000 years ago.
Steel is a metal alloy made by combining iron and another element, usually carbon, but it can also be combined with manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten. When carbon is used, its content in the steel is between 0.2 and 2.1 percent by weight, depending on the grade. Varying the ...
Get A Profile of the Steel Industry now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
