Steel is a versatile metal that can be employed for a variety reasons. Steel is used in over 55% of automobiles. Its versatility is determined by the type of alloy elements used to make it, as these factors impact the strength of the material and durability as well as its performance. The manner in which metal is cooled has a major impact on its microstructure, and therefore its overall properties. It is manipulated to achieve certain properties, such as machinability yielding strength, and resistance to corrosion.
In its most basic form, steel is iron that has been alloyed with other elements to enhance its physical properties and make it suitable for certain uses. The proportions of these additional alloying elements determine which steel category it belongs to, and thus its overall performance in various applications.
For instance stainless is composed of a minimum 11% chrome. This makes it invulnerable against corrosion. This property makes it ideal for a variety of kitchen utensils and cutlery. Tool steel, for instance, has an exceptionally high resistance to abrasion and hardness that makes it an ideal material for hand tools and machine dies. Carbon steels are also suited to a variety of applications due to their excellent ductility. Electrical steel, on the other hand is one of the most specialized grades of steel that is composed of silicon (typically about 3%). This enhances the magnetic properties, and reduces the losses of eddy current. It is therefore ideal for laminations and transformer cores of electric motors.