Craft · 6 pages · 12 min
How steel is iron with a little carbon
A small amount of carbon in iron is what turns soft iron into steel that can harden.
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From the opening
Steel is iron that contains carbon, usually well under about two percent, dissolved and combined in the metal rather than piled on as dirt. That small amount is enough to change how the iron crystals arrange themselves and how hard or tough the piece can become. The opening covers carbon turns iron into steel, pearlite holds iron carbide, and enough carbon allows hardening.
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Inside
- Carbon turns iron into steel
- Pearlite holds iron carbide
- Enough carbon allows hardening
- Too much carbon is cast iron
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Carbon as the alloying element in steel
- Pearlite and ferrite in slowly cooled steel