Steel Grades and Properties

Workers in a steel factory

Terence Bell is a former writer who has been involved in the rare earth and minor metal industries for over 10 years.

Updated on January 27, 2019

According to the World Steel Association, there are over 3,500 different grades of steel, encompassing unique physical, chemical, and environmental properties.

In essence, steel is composed of iron and carbon, although it is the amount of carbon, as well as the level of impurities and additional alloying elements that determine the properties of each steel grade.

The carbon content in steel can range from 0.1%-1.5%, but the most widely used grades of steel contain only 0.1%-0.25% carbon. Elements such as manganese, phosphorus, and sulfur are found in all grades of steel, but, whereas manganese provides beneficial effects, phosphorus and sulfur are deleterious to steel's strength and durability.

Different types of steel are produced according to the properties required for their application, and various grading systems are used to distinguish steels based on these properties.

Steel can be broadly categorized into four groups based on their chemical compositions:

  1. Carbon Steels
  2. Alloy Steels
  3. Stainless Steels
  4. Tool Steels

The table below shows the typical properties of steels at room temperature (25°C). The wide ranges of tensile strength, yield strength, and hardness are largely due to different heat treatment conditions.

Carbon Steels

Carbon steels contain trace amounts of alloying elements and account for 90% of total steel production. Carbon steels can be further categorized into three groups depending on their carbon content:

Alloy Steels

Alloy steels contain alloying elements (e.g. manganese, silicon, nickel, titanium, copper, chromium, and aluminum) in varying proportions in order to manipulate the steel's properties, such as its hardenability, corrosion resistance, strength, formability, weldability or ductility. Applications for alloys steel include pipelines, auto parts, transformers, power generators and electric motors.

Stainless Steels

Stainless steels generally contain between 10-20% chromium as the main alloying element and are valued for high corrosion resistance. With over 11% chromium, steel is about 200 times more resistant to corrosion than mild steel. These steels can be divided into three groups based on their crystalline structure:

Tool Steels

Tool steels contain tungsten, molybdenum, cobalt and vanadium in varying quantities to increase heat resistance and durability, making them ideal for cutting and drilling equipment.

Steel products can also be divided by their shapes and related applications:

Cite this Article Your Citation

Bell, Terence. "Steel Grades and Properties." ThoughtCo, Jun. 25, 2024, thoughtco.com/steel-grades-2340174. Bell, Terence. (2024, June 25). Steel Grades and Properties. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/steel-grades-2340174 Bell, Terence. "Steel Grades and Properties." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/steel-grades-2340174 (accessed September 10, 2024).

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