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Alloy steel
Alloy steel is steel that is alloyed with a variety of elements in amounts between 1.0% and 50% by weight, typically to improve its mechanical properties.
Alloy steels divide into two groups: low and high alloy. The boundary between the two is disputed. Smith and Hashemi define the difference at 4.0%, while Degarmo, et al., define it at 8.0%. Most alloy steels are low-alloy.
The simplest steels are iron (Fe) alloyed with (0.1% to 1%) carbon (C) and nothing else (excepting slight impurities); these are called carbon steels. However, alloy steel encompasses steels with additional (metal) alloying elements. Common alloyants include manganese (Mn) (the most common), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo), vanadium (V), silicon (Si), and boron (B). Less common alloyants include Aluminium (Al), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), cerium (Ce), niobium (Nb), titanium (Ti), tungsten (W), tin (Sn), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), and zirconium (Zr).
Alloy steels variously improve strength, hardness, toughness, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, hardenability, and hot hardness. To achieve these improved properties the metal may require specific heat treating, combined with strict cooling protocols.
Although alloy steels have been made for centuries, their metallurgy was not well understood until the advancing chemical science of the nineteenth century revealed their compositions. Alloy steels from earlier times were expensive luxuries made on the model of "secret recipes" and forged into tools such as knives and swords. Machine age alloy steels were tool steels and stainless steels.
Because of iron's ferromagnetic properties, some alloys find important applications where their responses to magnetism are valued, including in electric motors and in transformers.
Alloying elements enable specific properties. As a guideline, alloying elements are added in lower percentages (less than 5%) to increase strength or hardenability, or in larger percentages (over 5%) to improve corrosion resistance or temperature stability.
The alloying elements tend to form either solid solutions, compounds or carbides.
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Alloy steel
Alloy steel is steel that is alloyed with a variety of elements in amounts between 1.0% and 50% by weight, typically to improve its mechanical properties.
Alloy steels divide into two groups: low and high alloy. The boundary between the two is disputed. Smith and Hashemi define the difference at 4.0%, while Degarmo, et al., define it at 8.0%. Most alloy steels are low-alloy.
The simplest steels are iron (Fe) alloyed with (0.1% to 1%) carbon (C) and nothing else (excepting slight impurities); these are called carbon steels. However, alloy steel encompasses steels with additional (metal) alloying elements. Common alloyants include manganese (Mn) (the most common), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo), vanadium (V), silicon (Si), and boron (B). Less common alloyants include Aluminium (Al), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), cerium (Ce), niobium (Nb), titanium (Ti), tungsten (W), tin (Sn), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), and zirconium (Zr).
Alloy steels variously improve strength, hardness, toughness, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, hardenability, and hot hardness. To achieve these improved properties the metal may require specific heat treating, combined with strict cooling protocols.
Although alloy steels have been made for centuries, their metallurgy was not well understood until the advancing chemical science of the nineteenth century revealed their compositions. Alloy steels from earlier times were expensive luxuries made on the model of "secret recipes" and forged into tools such as knives and swords. Machine age alloy steels were tool steels and stainless steels.
Because of iron's ferromagnetic properties, some alloys find important applications where their responses to magnetism are valued, including in electric motors and in transformers.
Alloying elements enable specific properties. As a guideline, alloying elements are added in lower percentages (less than 5%) to increase strength or hardenability, or in larger percentages (over 5%) to improve corrosion resistance or temperature stability.
The alloying elements tend to form either solid solutions, compounds or carbides.