Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. When iron is smelted from its ore by commercial processes, it contains more carbon than is desirable. To become steel, it must be melted and reprocessed to reduce the carbon to the correct amount, at which point other elements can be added.
Steel was known in antiquity, and may have been produced by managing bloomeries, iron-smelting facilities, where the bloom contained carbon.
Since the 17th century the first step in European steel production has been the smelting of iron ore into pig iron in a blast furnace.
The modern era in steelmaking began with the introduction of Henry Bessemer's Bessemer process in 1858. His raw material was pig iron.
In 1980, there were more than 500,000 U.S. steelworkers. By 2000, the number of steelworkers fell to 224,000.
Iron and steel are used widely in the construction of roads, railways, other infrastructure, appliances, and buildings. Most large modern structures, such as stadiums and skyscrapers, bridges, and airports, are supported by a steel skeleton. In addition, it sees widespread use in major appliances and cars. Steel is used in a variety of other construction materials, such as bolts, nails, and screws. Other common applications include shipbuilding, pipeline transport, mining, offshore construction, aerospace, white goods, and heavy equipment such as bulldozers.
As reinforcing bars and mesh in reinforced concrete
Railroad tracks
Structural steel in modern buildings and bridges
Wires
Flat carbon steelMajor appliances
Magnetic cores
The inside and outside body of automobiles, trains, and ships.
Stainless steelCutlery
Rulers
Surgical equipment
Wrist watches
Low-background steelDuncan Burn; The Economic History of Steelmaking, 1867?1939: A Study in Competition. Cambridge University Press, 1961.
Harukiyu Hasegawa, The Steel Industry in Japan: A Comparison with Britain. 1996.
J. C. Carr and W. Taplin, History of the British Steel Industry. Harvard University Press, 1962.
H. Lee Scamehorn, Mill & Mine: The Cf&I in the Twentieth Century. University of Nebraska Press, 1992.
Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Part 1 & Part 3. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd.
Warren, Kenneth, Big Steel: The First Century of the United States Steel Corporation, 1901?2001. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001.