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Steel is an alloy composed of between 0.2 and 2.0 percent carbon, with the balance being iron. From prehistory through the creation of the blast furnace, iron was produced from iron ore as wrought iron, 99.82–100 percent Fe, and the process of making steel involved adding carbon to iron, usually in a serendipitous manner, in the forge, or via the cementation process.
To inhibit corrosion, at least 11% chromium can be added to steel so that a hard oxide forms on the metal surface; this is known as stainless steel. Tungsten slows the formation of cementite , keeping carbon in the iron matrix and allowing martensite to preferentially form at slower quench rates, resulting in high-speed steel .
The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation with air being blown through the molten iron.
Iron and steel artefacts, including high-carbon steel, were manufactured in northern Sweden, Finland and Norway (in the Cap of the North) from c. 200–50 BC. [ 59 ] [ 68 ] The production of ultrahigh carbon steel is attested at the Germanic site of Heeten in the Netherlands from the 2nd to 4th/5th centuries AD, in the Late Roman Iron Age .
The use of cork, which has been recently added to the category of materials science, had its first mentions beginning with Horace, Pliny, and Plutarch. [10] It had many uses in antiquity including in fishing and safety devices because of its buoyancy, an engraving medium, sandal soles to increase stature, container stoppers, and being an insulator.
Steel is made from iron and carbon. Cast iron is a hard, brittle material that is difficult to work, whereas steel is malleable, relatively easily formed and versatile. On its own, iron is not strong, but a low concentration of carbon – less than 1 percent, depending on the kind of steel – gives steel strength and other important properties.
1984 – Fold-forming system developed by Charles Lewton-Brain to produce complex three dimensional forms rapidly from sheet metal; 1985 – The first fullerene molecule discovered by scientists at Rice University (see also: Timeline of carbon nanotubes) 1986 – The first high temperature superconductor is discovered by Georg Bednorz and K ...
The Lackawanna Steel Company built a large integrated steel works near Buffalo, which began producing steel from Lake Superior ore in 1903. The company had made steel in Scranton, Pennsylvania since 1840, but moved to provide easier access to iron ore, and in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid labor troubles.