Carbon Steels:

Carbon steels contain trace amounts of alloying elements and account for 90%
of total steel production. Carbon steels can be further categorized into three
groups depending on their carbon content:

Low Carbon Steels/Mild Steels contain up to 0.3% carbon

Medium Carbon Steels contain 0.3 0.6% carbon

High Carbon Steels contain more than 0.6% carbon

Alloy Steels:
Alloy steels contain alloying elements (e.g. manganese, silicon, nickel, titanium,
copper, chromium and aluminum) in varying proportions in order to manipulate
the steel's properties, such as its hardenability, corrosion resistance, strength,
formability, weldability or ductility. Applications for alloys steel include pipelines,
auto parts, transformers, power generators and electric motors.
Stainless steels generally contain between 10-20% chromium as the main
alloying element and are valued for high corrosion resistance. With over 11%
chromium, steel is about 200 times more resistant to corrosion than mild steel.
These steels can be divided into three groups based on their crystalline
structure:
Austenitic: Austenitic steels are non-magnetic and non heat-treatable, and
generally contain 18% chromium, 8% nickel and less than 0.8% carbon.
Austenitic steels form the largest portion of the global stainless steel market and
are often used in food processing equipment, kitchen utensils and piping.
Ferritic: Ferritic steels contain trace amounts of nickel, 12-17% chromium, less
than 0.1% carbon, along with other alloying elements, such as molybdenum,
aluminum or titanium. These magnetic steels cannot be hardened with heat
treatment, but can be strengthened by cold working.
Martensitic: Martensitic steels contain 11-17% chromium, less than 0.4% nickel
and up to 1.2% carbon. These magnetic and heat-treatable steels are used in
knives, cutting tools, as well as dental and surgical equipment.
Properties of Mild Steel
Mild Steel is one of the most common of all metals and one of the least
expensive steels used. It is to be found in almost every product created from
metal.
It is weldable, very durable (although it rusts), it is relatively hard and is easily
annealed.
Having less than 2 % carbon it will magnetize well and being relatively
inexpensive, can be used in most projects requiring a lot of steel. However when
it comes to load bearing, its structural strength is not usually sufficient to be
used in structural beams and girders.
Most everyday items made of steel have some milder steel content. Anything
from cookware, motorcycle frames through to motor car chassis, use this metal
in their construction.

Because of its poor resistance to corrosion it must be protected by painting or

otherwise sealed to prevent it from rusting. At worst a coat of oil or grease will
help seal it from exposure, and help prevent rusting.

Being a softer metal it is easily welded. Its inherent properties allow electrical
current to flow easily through it without upsetting its structural integrity. This is in
contrast to other high carbon steels like stainless steel which require specialized
welding techniques.
This mild variant of harder steel is thus far less brittle and can therefore give and
flex in its application where a harder more brittle material would simply crack
and break.

Whats the difference between Ferrous and Non-Ferrous

Metals ?
Ferrous Metals
Carbon steel and Stainless steel are examples of ferrous metals. They are both alloys
(mixture of different metals) that contain a fair amount of iron and therefore known as
Ferrous metals. Wrought iron is allso a ferrous metal.
Non-Ferrous Metals
These are metals that contain no iron but also include some alloys that contain
appreciably very small amounts of iron.
Non-Ferrous metals are often specified for specific applications which may require, non
magnetic properties, higher melting points or anti corrosive properties.

Non-Ferrous Metals include...

Aluminum

Beryllium

Copper

Lead

Magnesium

Nickel

Precious Metals

Refractory Metals

Tin

Titanium

Zin

Owing to its material properties, steel is possibly the most important engineering
and construction material in the world.
The most important properties of steel are great formability and durability, good
tensile and yield strength and good thermal conductivity. As well as these
important properties the most characteristic of the stainless steel properties is its
resistance to corrosion.

When selecting a material for a particular application, engineers must be

confident that it will be suitable for the loading conditions and environmental
challenges it will be subjected to while in service. Understanding and control of a
materials properties is therefore essential. The mechanical properties of steel
can be carefully controlled through the selection of an appropriate chemical
composition, processing and heat treatment, which lead to its final
microstructure.

The alloys and the heat treatment used in the production of steel result in
different property values and strengths and testing must be performed to
determine the final properties of a steel and to ensure adherence to the
respective standards.

There are many measurement systems used to define the properties of a given
steel. For example, Yield strength, ductility and stiffness are determined using
tensile testing. Toughness is measured by impact testing; and hardness is
determined by measuring resistance to the penetration of the surface by a hard
object.

Tensile testing is a method of evaluating the structural response of steel to

applied loads, with the results expressed as a relationship between stress and
strain. The relationship between stress and strain is a measure of the elasticity of
the material, and this ratio is referred to as Young's modulus. A high value of
Young's modulus is one of steels most differentiating properties; it is in the
range 190-210 GPa, which is approximately three times the value for aluminum.

The physical properties of steel are related to the physics of the material, such as
density, thermal conductivity, elastic modulus, Poisons ratio etc. Some typical
values for physical properties of steel are:

density = 7.7 8.1 [kg/dm3]

elastic modulus E=190210 [GPa]
Poissons ratio = 0.27 0.30
Thermal conductivity = 11.2 48.3 [W/mK]

Thermal expansion = 9 27 [10-6 / K]