Metallurgical Engineering - MATERIAL STEEL: CLASSIFICATIONS, GRADES AND P

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Metallurgical engineering
MATERIAL
STEEL : CLASSIFICATIONS , GRADES AND PROPERTIES, ALLOYING ELEMENTS AND THEIR

EFFECTS
By definition, steel is a combination of iron and carbon. Steel is alloyed with various elements to improve
physical properties and to produce special properties such as resistance to corrosion or heat.
Alloy steel refers to a type of steel that is alloyed with various elements. In theory, every steel can be referred
to as alloy steel since the simplest steel is iron alloyed with up to 2.06% of carbon. However, the term “alloy
steel” commonly refers to steels that are alloyed with elements other than carbon. The total weight of alloying
elements can amount up to 50% to give the material improved properties such as better wear protection or
ductility. A distinction is made between low-alloyed and high alloyed steels. Low-alloyed steels are
characterized by their low amount of alloys, which in summation make up to less than 5%. The amount of
elements in high-alloyed steels can be greater or equal 5%, making the material more expensive by
tendency. Aside from those two groups, there are also unalloyed steels which carry an extremely small
amount of alloys.
STEEL GRADES AND PROPERTIES
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.
NOTE: 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:
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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.
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:
A. Low Carbon Steel (Mild Steel): Typically contain 0.04% to 0.30% carbon content. This is one of the largest
groups of Carbon Steel. It covers a great diversity of shapes; from Flat Sheet to Structural Beam. Depending
on the desired properties needed, other elements are added or increased. For example: Drawing Quality
(DQ) – The carbon level is kept low and Aluminum is added, and for Structural Steel the carbon level is
higher and the manganese content is increased.
B. Medium Carbon Steel: Typically has a carbon range of 0.31% to 0.60%, and a manganese content
ranging from .060% to 1.65%. This product is stronger than low carbon steel, and it is more difficult to form,
weld and cut. Medium carbon steels are quite often hardened and tempered using heat treatment.
C. High Carbon Steel: Commonly known as “carbon tool steel” it typically has a carbon range between 0.61%
and 1.50%. High carbon steel is very difficult to cut, bend and weld. Once heat treated it becomes extremely
hard and brittle.
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 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:
• 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, 12-17% chromium, less than 0.1% carbon, along
with other alloying elements, such as molybdenum, aluminum or titanium. These magnetic steels cannot be
hardened by heat treatment but can be strengthened by cold working.
• Martensitic: Martensitic steels contain 11-17% 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:
• 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.
• Flat Products include plates, sheets, coils, and strips. These materials are mainly used in automotive parts,
appliances, packaging, shipbuilding, and construction.
• Other Products include valves, fittings, and flanges and are mainly used as piping materials
STEEL CLASSIFICATIONS
Types of Steel can also be classified by a variety of different factors:
1. Composition: Carbon range, Alloy, Stainless.

2. The production method: Continuous cast, Electric furnace, Etc.
3. Finishing method used: Cold Rolled, Hot Rolled, Cold Drawn (Cold Finished), Etc.
4. Form or shape: Bar, Rod, Tube, Pipe, Plate, Sheet, Structural, Etc.
5. De-oxidation process (oxygen removed from steelmaking process): Killed & Semi-Killed Steel, Etc.
6. Microstructure: Ferritic, Pearlitic, Martensitic, Etc.
7. Physical Strength (Per ASTM Standards).
8. Heat Treatment: Annealed, Quenched & Tempered, Etc.
9. Quality Nomenclature: Commercial Quality, Drawing Quality, Pressure Vessel Quality, Etc.
STEEL NUMBERING SYSTEMS
There are two major numbering systems used by the steel industry, the first developed by the American Iron
& Steel Institute (AISI), and the second by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Both of these
systems are based on four digit code numbers when identifying the base carbon and alloy steels. There are
selections of alloys that have five digit codes instead.
If the first digit is a one (1) in this designation it indicates a carbon steel. All carbon steels are in this group
(1xxx) in both the SAE & AISI system. They are also subdivided into four categories due to particular
underlying properties among them. See below:
• Plain Carbon Steel is encompassed within the 10xx series (containing 1.00% Mn maximum)
• Re-Sulfurized Carbon steel is encompassed within the 11xx series
• Re -Sulfurized and Re-Phosphorized Carbon Steel is encompassed within the 12xx series
• Non-Re-Sulfurized High-Manganese (up-to 1.65%) carbon steel is encompassed within the 15xx series.
The first digit on all other alloy steels (under the SAE-AISI system), are then classified as follows:
2 = Nickel steels.
3 = Nickel-chromium steels.
4 = Molybdenum steels.
5 = Chromium steels.
6 = Chromium-vanadium steels.
7 = Tungsten-chromium steels.
8 = Nickel-chromium-molybdenum steels
9 = Silicon-manganese steels and various other SAE grades
The second digit of the series (sometimes but not always) indicates the concentration of the major element in
percentiles (1 equals 1%).
The last two digits of the series indicate the carbon concentration to 0.01%.
For example: SAE 5130 is a chromium alloy steel containing about 1% of chromium and approximately
0.30% of carbon.
STEEL ALLOYING ELEMENTS AND THEIR EFFECTS
1. Carbon (C)
Carbon and iron are alloyed together to form steel. This process boosts the strength and hardness of iron.
Heat treatment is not adequate to strengthen and harden pure iron, but when carbon is added, a wide range
of strength and hardness is realized.
High carbon content is not preferred in Ferritic and Austenitic stainless steels, specifically for welding
purposes, due to the risk of carbide precipitation.
It raises tensile strength, hardness, and resistance to wear and abrasion. It lowers ductility, toughness and
machinability.
2. Manganese (Mn)
The addition of manganese to steel improves hot working properties and boosts toughness, strength, and
hardenability. Just like nickel, manganese is an Austenite forming element and has been traditionally used as
a replacement for nickel in the AISI200 range of Austenitic stainless steels, for example AISI 202 as a
replacement for AISI 304.
A deoxidizer and degasifier and reacts with sulfur to improve forgeability. It increases tensile strength,
hardness, hardenability and resistance to wear. It decreases tendency toward scaling and distortion. It
increases the rate of carbon-penetration in carburizing.
3. Chromium (Cr)
Chromium is combined with steel to improve it's resistance to oxidation. When more chromium is added, the
resistance is improved further.
Stainless steels have at least 10.5% chromium (usually 11 or 12%), which imparts a considerable level of
corrosion resistance, compared to steels with a relatively lower percentage of chromium.
The resistance to corrosion is attributed to the formation of a passive, self-repairing layer of chromium oxide
on the stainless steel surface.
Increases tensile strength, hardness, hardenability, toughness, resistance to wear and abrasion, resistance
to corrosion, and scaling at elevated temperatures.
4. Nickel (Ni)
Large amounts of nickel - more than 8% - is added to high chromium stainless steels to produce the most
important group of steels that are resistant to both heat and corrosion.
These include the Austenitic stainless steels that are characterized by 18-8 (304/1.4301), where nickel’s
tendency to form Austenite contributes to high strength and excellent toughness or impact strength, at both
low and high temperatures. Nickel also significantly improves resistance to corrosion and oxidation.
Increases strength and hardness without sacrificing ductility and toughness. It also increases resistance to
corrosion and scaling at elevated temperatures when introduced in suitable quantities in high-chromium
(stainless) steels.
5. Molybdenum (Mo)
When mixed with chromium-nickel austenitic steels, molybdenum enhances resistance to crevice and pitting
corrosion, particularly in sulphur and chlorides-containing environments.
Increases strength, hardness, hardenability, and toughness, as well as creep resistance and strength at
elevated temperatures. It improves machinability and resistance to corrosion and it intensifies the effects of
other alloying elements. In hot-work steels and high speed steels, it increases red-hardness properties.
6. Boron(B)
As an alloying element, even small amounts of boron (0.001–0.003 %) can greatly increase hardenability.
However, boron-steel is not easy to find as it only makes up to 0.003% of the alloy steels. Boriding is a more
popular approach to introduce boron to steels. With BorTec’s Borocoat diffusion layers, a hardness of up to
2.800HV can be reached. Furthermore, BorTec’s technology ensure high layer hardness even on unalloyed
steels, improved adhesion and high resistance against wear.
7. Nitrogen(N)
Similar to nickel, nitrogen is an Austenite forming element and increases the Austenite stability of stainless
steels. When nitrogen is mixed with stainless steels, yield strength is considerably enhanced along with
increased resistance to pitting corrosion.
8. Copper (Cu)
In stainless steel, copper is often present as a residual element. This element is added to several alloys to
create precipitation hardening characteristics or to improve corrosion resistance, predominantly in sulphuric
acid and sea water conditions.
In significant amounts is detrimental to hot-working steels. Copper negatively affects forge welding, but does
not seriously affect arc or oxyacetylene welding. Copper can be detrimental to surface quality. Copper is
beneficial to atmospheric corrosion resistance when present in amounts exceeding 0.20%. Weathering steels
are sold having greater than 0.20% Copper.
9. Titanium(Ti)
Titanium is often added to stabilize carbide, particularly when the material has to be welded. Titanium merges
with carbon to form titanium carbides that are relatively stable and cannot be easily dissolved in steel, which
is likely to reduce the occurrence of inter-granular corrosion.
Used as stabilizing elements in stainless steels. Each has a high affinity for carbon and forms carbides,
which are uniformly dispersed throughout the steel. Thus, localized precipitation of carbides at grain
boundaries is prevented.
When around 0.25 / 0.60% titanium is added, it causes the carbon to merge with titanium as opposed to
chromium, avoiding a tie-up of corrosion-resistant chromium as inter-granular carbides and the associated
loss of corrosion resistance at the grain boundaries.
In the past several years, the use of titanium has considerably reduced because of the ability of steelmakers
to supply stainless steels that have extremely low carbon contents. Such steels can be readily welded
without any need for stabilization.
10. Phosphorus (P)
In order to improve machinability, phosphorus is often added with sulphur. While the presence of phosphorus
in Austenitic stainless steels boosts strength, it has a detrimental effect on corrosion resistance and
increases the material’s tendency to break during welding.
Increases strength and hardness and improves machinability. However, it adds marked brittleness or cold-
shortness to steel.
11. Sulphur (S)
Sulphur improves machinability when it is added in small quantities, but just like phosphorous, it has a
negative effect on corrosion resistance and the subsequent weldability.
Improves machinability in free-cutting steels, but without sufficient manganese it produces brittleness at red
heat. It decreases weldability, impact toughness and ductility.
12. Selenium(Se)
Selenium was previously employed as an addition to enhance machinability.
13. Niobium /Columbium (Cb)
Carbon stabilization is achieved by adding niobium to steel, and performs in the same manner as titanium. In
addition, niobium strengthens alloys and steels for increased temperature service.
14. Silicon (Si)
Silicon is typically employed as a deoxidizing (killing) agent in the steel melting process, and a small amount
of silicon is used in most steels.
A deoxidizer and degasifier. It increases tensile and yield strength, hardness, forgeability and magnetic
permeability.
15. Cobalt (Co)
When subjected to strong radiation of nuclear reactors, cobalt becomes highly radioactive and hence, all
stainless steels deployed in nuclear service will have certain cobalt limitation, often 0.2% at the most.
This issue is important as some amount of the remaining cobalt will be present in the nickel used to make
Austenitic stainless steels.
It increases strength and hardness and permits higher quenching temperatures and increases the red
hardness of high-speed steel. It also intensifies the individual effects of other major elements in more
complex steels.
16. Calcium(Ca)
Calcium is added in small amounts to enhance machiniability, without having any detrimental effect on other
properties induced by selenium, phosphorus and. sulphur.
The following table shows the effect of alloying elements on properties of stainless steel.
17. Tantalum (Ta)
18. Tungsten (W)
Increases strength, wear resistance, hardness and toughness. Tungsten steels have superior hot-working
and greater cutting efficiency at elevated temperatures.
19. Vanadium (V)
Increases strength, hardness, wear resistance and resistance to shock impact. It retards grain growth,
permitting higher quenching temperatures. It also enhances the red-hardness properties of high-speed metal
cutting tools.
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Amazing! Steel is critical in sustaining the world and central to continuous development of every
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Superb job 1
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4/10/2020 Metallurgical engineering - MATERIAL STEEL : CLASSIFICATIONS , GRADES AND PROPERTIES, ALLOYING ELEMENTS AND THEI…

STEEL : CLASSIFICATIONS , GRADES AND PROPERTIES, ALLOYING ELEMENTS AND THEIR

STEEL GRADES AND PROPERTIES

Types of Steel can also be classified by a variety of different factors:

1. Composition: Carbon range, Alloy, Stainless.

STEEL NUMBERING SYSTEMS

STEEL ALLOYING ELEMENTS AND THEIR EFFECTS

10. Phosphorus (P)

11. Sulphur (S)

Selenium was previously employed as an addition to enhance machinability.

13. Niobium /Columbium (Cb)

14. Silicon (Si)

15. Cobalt (Co)

17. Tantalum (Ta)

18. Tungsten (W)

19. Vanadium (V)

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