Steel Beams And Steel Structures

Steel is a mixture of iron and between 0.2 and 2.1 percent carbon depending on the weight and grade of the steel. Carbon is used as it is the most cost effective alloying material as opposed to manganese, chromium, tungsten and vanadium. These elements act as hardening agents which prevent the steel from dislocations in the iron atom crystal lattice from sliding past each other.

Varying the amount of carbon controls the hardness, tensile strength and ductility of the steel. When mixing a stronger carbon content in steel the results will be a harder but less ductile metal which is usually used to build large industrial infrastructures such as skyscrapers.

Steel with a higher end carbon mixture are more often known as cast iron products due to the fact that they have a lower temperature for their melting point and the castability of the product.

Steel is also distinguished from wrought iron, which can sometimes contain a small amount of carbon, but it is included in the list of slag inclusions. Steel has great benefits for all types of construction due to its ability to withstand the elements and the lack of rusting effects.

Steel is also a great material for use whilst welding due to its weldability. Steel has long been produced by many methods in its history, mostly inefficient, until the coming of the renaissance in the seventeenth century where better and more efficient production schemes where devised.

The main change was the Bessemer Process which was discovered by its name-sake Henry Bessemer The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron.

He took out a patent on the process. The key principle is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation with air being blown through the molten iron. The oxidation also raises the temperature of the iron mass and keeps it molten.

Steel has become one of the most common building materials in the world and is used in the construction of buildings, ships, automobiles, machines, industrial machinery and appliances.

The largest steel company in the world is ArcelorMittal who's main headquarters are in Luxumberg City. The chairman of the board is Lakshmi Mittal, one of the richest men in the world with an estimated personal wealth of around 11 Billion pounds.

The company ranks 28th in the 2009 Fortune 500 Global List and in 2008 posted 103 million metric tons of crude steel output.