What is Steel

Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon with improved strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Steel is produced via two main routes: the blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) route and electric arc furnace (EAF) route. For the BF-BOF route these are predominantly iron ore, coal, and recycled steel, while the EAF route produces steel using mainly recycled steel and electricity.

Steel Grade and Classification

Carbon Steels

Alloy Steels

Stainless Steeoal

Tool Steels

Carbon Steels (lower, medium and high carbons) accounting for 90% of total steel production.

Alloy Steels are made by combining steel with additional alloying elements like Nickel, Copper, Chromium and Aluminum.

Stainless Steel are alloyed with 10–20% chromium as well as nickel, silicon, manganese, and carbon.

Tool Steels excel in cutting and drilling equipment. The presence of tungsten, molybdenum, cobalt and vanadium helps improve heat resistance and general durability

Steel Recycling Process

The beginning of the steel recycling process for the collection of the steel.

The steel salvaging process involves steel being picked up, dropped off, or sold as scrap metal.

The scrapped steel is melted in a steel-making furnace that has a temperature of approximately 3,000 degrees.

Once the steel is melted, it is cast into slabs and rolled into flat stock or steel sheets.

The flat stock is cut into sections, rolled, and welded into tubes.

This tubing can be assembled into a new product.

Crude Steel Production in the World

Crude steel means the 1st solid steel product upon solidification of liquid steel. Iron ore-based steelmaking accounts for more than two thirds of the production of crude steel in the world. In this process, iron ore is reduced to iron by mixing it with coal/coke and limestone in a basic oxygen furnace. In the second step, the iron is converted into steel using a basic oxygen furnace (BOF).