Commodities

Steel Grades
What are the different types of steel?

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By Terence Bell
Updated August 16, 2016

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 0.1ះ�1.5%, but the most widely used grades of steel contain only 0.1ះ�0.25% carbon.
Elements such as manganese, phosphorus and sulphur are found in all grades of steel, but, whereas manganese provides beneficial
effects, phosphorus and sulphur 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. According to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), 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

1) 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:

• Low Carbon Steels/Mild Steels contain up to 0.3% carbon

• Medium Carbon Steels contain 0.3 – 0.6% carbon

• High Carbon Steels contain more than 0.6% carbon

2) 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.

3) Stainless Steels:
Stainless steels generally contain between 10ះ�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:

• Austenitic: Austenitic steels are non-magnetic and non heat-treatable, and generally contain 18% chromium, 8% nickel and less
than 0.8% carbon. Austenitic steels form the largest portion of the global stainless steel market and are often used in food
processing equipment, kitchen utensils and piping.

• Ferritic: Ferritic steels contain trace amounts of nickel, 12ះ�17% chromium, less than 0.1% carbon, along with other alloying
elements, such as molybdenum, aluminum or titanium. These magnetic steels cannot be hardened with heat treatment, but can
be strengthened by cold working.
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• Martensitic: Martensitic steels contain 11ះ�17% chromium, less than 0.4% nickel and up to 1.2% carbon. These magnetic and heat-
treatable steels are used in knives, cutting tools, as well as dental and surgical equipment.

4) 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:
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• Long/Tubular Products include bars and rods, rails, wires, angles, pipes, and shapes and sections. These products are
commonly used in the automotive and construction sectors.
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• Flat Products include plates, sheets, coils and strips. These materials are mainly used in automotive parts, appliances,
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packaging, shipbuilding, and construction. 
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Other Products include valves, fittings, and flanges and are mainly used as piping materials.
Team. Top
Quality & One
Sources:
Year Inquire Now
World Steel Association. Website: www.worldsteel.org
Warranty.Order!
Street, Arthur & Alexander, W.O. 1944. Metals in the Service of Man. 11th Edition (1998).
Efunda.com. General Properties of Steels. Website: www.efunda.com
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The American Iron & Steel Institute. www.steel.org

Commodities

Common Steel Alloying Agents | Properties and Effects

How do alloying agents benefit steel?

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 Galvanized Steel Frames. Source: Galvanizeit.org

By Terence Bell
Updated November 20, 2016

Steel is essentially iron and carbon alloyed with certain additional elements.

The process of alloying is used to change the chemical composition of steel and improve its properties over carbon steel or adjust
them to meet the requirements of a particular application.

Benefits of Steel Alloying Agents:

Different alloying elements each have their own effect on the properties of steel. Some of the properties that can be improved
through alloying include:
 • Stabilizing austenite: Elements such as nickel, manganese, cobalt, and copper increase the temperatures range in which
austenite exists.

• Stabilizing ferrite: Chromium, tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium, aluminum, and silicon can have the effect of lowering
carbon's solubility in austenite. This results in an increase in the amount of carbides in the steel and decreases the temperature
range in which austenite exists.

• Carbide forming: Many minor metals, including chromium, tungsten, molybdenum, titanium, niobium, tantalum and
zirconium, form strong carbides that - in steel - increase hardness and strength. Such steels are often used to make high-speed
steel and hot work tool steel.

• Graphitizing: Silicon, nickel, cobalt and aluminum can decrease the stability of carbides in steel, promoting their breakdown
and the formation of free graphite.

• Decrease of eutectoid concentration: Titanium, molybdenum, tungsten, silicon, chromium, and nickel all lower the eutectoid
concentration of carbon.

• Increase corrosion resistance: Aluminum, silicon and chromium form protective oxide layers on the surface of steel, thereby
protecting the metal from further deterioration in certain environments.

Common Steel Alloying Agents:

Below is a list of commonly used alloying elements and their affect on steel (standard content in brackets):
• Aluminum (0.95ះ�1.30%): A deoxidizer. Used to limit the growth of austenite grains.
• Boron (0.001ះ�0.003%): A hardenability agent that improves deformability and machinability. Boron is added to fully killed steel
and only needs to be added in very small quantities to have a hardening affect. Additions of boron are most effective in low
carbon steels.

• Chromium (0.5ះ�18%): A key component of stainless steels. At over 12 percent content, chromium significantly improves
corrosion resistance.  The metal also improves hardenability, strength, response to heat treatment and wear resistance.

• Cobalt: Improves strength at high temperatures and magnetic permeability.

• Copper (0.1ះ�0.4%): Most often found as a residual agent in steels, copper is also added to produce precipitation hardening
properties and increase corrosion resistance.

• Lead: Although virtually insoluble in liquid or solid steel, lead is sometimes added to carbon steels via mechanical dispersion
during pouring in order to improve machinability.
• Manganese (0.25ះ�13%): Increases strength at high temperatures by eliminating the formation of iron sulfides. Manganese also
improves hardenability, ductility and wear resistance. Like nickel, manganese is an austenite forming element and can be used
in the AISI 200 Series of Austenitic stainless steels as a substitute for nickel.

• Molybdenum (0.2ះ�5.0%): Found in small quantities in stainless steels, molybdenum increases hardenability and strength,
particular at high temperatures. Often used in chromium-nickel austenitic steels, molybdenum protects against pitting corrosion
caused by chlorides and sulfur chemicals.

• Nickel (2ះ�20%): Another alloying element critical to stainless steels, nickel is added at over 8% content to high chromium
stainless steel. Nickel increases strength, impact strength and toughness, while also improving resistance to oxidization and
corrosion. It also increases toughness at low temperatures when added in small amounts.

• Niobium: Has the benefit of stabilizing carbon by forming hard carbides and, so, is often found in high-temperature steels. In
small amounts, niobium can significantly increase the yield strength and, to a lesser degree, tensile strength of steels as well as
have a moderate precipitation strengthening affect.

• Nitrogen: Increases the austenitic stability of stainless steels and improves yield strength in such steels.
• Phosphorus: Phosphorus is often added with sulfur to improve machinability in low alloy steels. It also adds strength and
increases corrosion resistance.

• Selenium: Increases machinability.

• Silicon (0.2ះ�2.0%): This metalloid improves strength, elasticity, acid resistance and results in larger grain sizes, thereby, leading
to greater magnetic permeability. Because silicon is used in a deoxidizing agent in the production of steel, it is almost always
found in some percentage in all grades of steel.

• Sulfur (0.08ះ�0.15%): Added in small amounts, sulfur improves machinability without resulting in hot shortness. With the
addition of manganese hot shortness is further reduced due to the fact that manganese sulfide has a higher melting point than