Steel is a very widely used, recyclable material. It is used in commercial and industrial buildings, machines, ships, tools, vehicles, packaging (cans), infrastructure (including bridges) and energy-technical installations such as wind turbines among other things.
Steel is a very widely used, recyclable material. It is used in commercial and industrial buildings, machines, ships, tools, vehicles, packaging (cans), infrastructure (including bridges) and energy-technical installations such as wind turbines among other things.
Steel consists for the most part of iron (Fe) and for less than 2% (by weight) of Carbon (C). In order to improve certain properties, various alloying elements can be added when the steel is made. If that is the case, it is referred to as alloy steel.
Examples of alloying elements are Silicon (Si), Molybdenum (Mo), Manganese (Mn), Chromium (Cr) and Nickel (Ni). The percentages of added elements may vary from 1.5% to more than 5% (high alloy steel).
Steel always contains carbon (not always considered an alloying element) in small quantities – from a few hundredths of a percent (by weight) to about two percent.
Generally speaking, increasing the percentage of carbon makes welding more difficult. That does not mean that steel grades with a somewhat higher percentage of carbon cannot be welded. What it does mean is that when welding with such material, more precautions must be taken, for example, to prevent cracking.