Steel is the most common metal alloy in the world. In its simplest form, it consists
of iron and varying amounts of carbon. Because both iron and carbon have been well-known
since ancient times, the alloy has been produced in one form or another since well
before the birth of Christ. Some of the very earliest steel was made in the eastern
regions of Africa, around 1400 BCE.
Iron is the major component of steel, with carbon being a distant second, at between
0.2% and 2.14%, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective way to
alloy iron, but other metals can be used to augment the element and to give the
metal certain properties. The metal known as cast iron is actually steel that has
a very high carbon content, which gives it a lower melting point and greater castability.
Steel is well-known for its strength, which is given to it precisely by the alloying
elements.
When iron is in its solid metal state, the atoms form a crystal lattice structure.
While this structure is fairly rigid, there can be imperfections in it, which create
tiny weak points in the metal. Atoms of the alloying elements can fill in these
microscopic weak spots in the lattice, giving the alloy the flexibility and tensile
strength it is known for.
The modern steel industry produces the metal through the use of what is called the
basic oxygen furnace. In these furnaces, molten iron has pure oxygen blown through
it, lowering the levels of impurities. Cleaning agents called fluxes are also added
for this same purpose. The main advantage to this process, other than a high-quality
product, is its speed.
Previous processes included the Bessemer process, where air was forced through molten
iron to oxidize impurities. Carbon monoxide is one by-product of this process, with
the other impurities forming slag. The invention of the Bessemer process was especially
noteworthy because it made steel a mass-produced, cheap commodity. The alloy had
been produced by various methods in the Middle Ages and before, but none of these
were especially efficient, nor could they be employed on a large scale.
As steelmaking techniques have improved, a wider variety of alloys have become available.
The use of several different metals, such as tungsten and chromium, can make metal
that is tailored to very specific applications. The array of properties that steel
can be given by the addition of different elements is seen, for example, in the
fact that two things as different as samurai swords and automobiles are both made
from iron alloyed by other metals.