Steel发表评论(0)编辑词条

Steel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.14% by weight (C:110–10Fe), depending on grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten. Carbon and other elements act as a hardening agent, preventing dislocations in the iron atom crystal lattice from sliding past one another.
Varying the amount of alloying elements and form of their presence in the steel (solute elements, precipitated phase) controls qualities such as the hardness, ductility, and tensile strength of the resulting steel. Steel with increased carbon content can be made harder and stronger than iron, but is also more brittle. The maximum solubility of carbon in iron (as austenite) is 2.14% by weight, occurring at 1149 °C; higher concentrations of carbon or lower temperatures will produce cementite. Alloys with higher carbon content than this are known as cast iron because of their lower melting point and castability.
Steel is also to be distinguished from wrought iron containing only a very small amount of other elements, but containing 1–3% by weight of slag in the form of particles elongated in one direction, giving the iron a characteristic grain. It is more rust-resistant than steel and welds more easily. It is common today to talk about the iron and steel industry' as if it were a single entity, but historically they were separate products.

钢或称钢铁、钢材，是对含碳量质量百分比介于0.02%至2.04%之间的铁合金的统称。钢的化学成分可以有很大变化，只含碳元素的钢称为碳素钢（碳钢）或普通钢；在实际生产中，钢往往根据用途的不同含有不同的合金元素，比如：锰、镍、钒等等。
人类对钢的应用和研究历史相当悠久，但是直到19世纪贝氏炼钢法发明之前，钢的制取都是一项高成本低效率的工作。如今，钢以其低廉的价格、可靠的性能成为世界上使用最多的材料之一，是建筑业、制造业和人们日常生活中不可或缺的成分。可以说钢是现代社会的物质基础。