Steel

:See Steel (disambiguation) for other uses.

Types of steel

Alloy steels were known from antiquity, being nickel-rich iron from meteorites, and hot-worked into useful items. Damascus blades, famous as the blades that the Saracens wielded against the crusaders, were probably smelted iron wire, mated wire obtained from meteorites, heated and worked to impart the properties of expensive "star metal" to cheaper wrought iron; an early attempt at alloying.

Related Topics:
Nickel - Meteorite - Damascus blade - Saracen - Crusader - Smelted - Wire - Wrought iron

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In a modern sense, alloy steels have been made since the advent of furnaces capable of melting iron, into which other metals may be thrown and mixed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Carbon steel
• Damascus steel, which was famous in ancient times for its flexibility, was created from a number of different materials (some only in traces), essentially a complicated alloy with iron as main component.
• Stainless steels and surgical stainless steels contain a minimum of 10.5% chromium, often combined with nickel, to resist corrosion (rust). Some stainless steels are nonmagnetic.
• Tool steels
• HSLA Steel (High Strength, Low Alloy)
• Advanced High Strength Steels
• Ferrous superalloys

Though not an alloy, there exists also galvanized steel, which is steel that has gone through the chemical process of being hot-dipped in zinc for protection against rust.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~