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Carbon steel is an alloy of iron and carbon with trace elements. The amount of carbon determines the steel’s properties. Low carbon steels are ductile and used for fabrication, while high carbon steels are harder and used for cutting tools. Ultra high carbon steels are extremely hard and brittle.
Carbon steel is a metal alloy that forms as a result of the combination of iron and carbon. Steel is generally considered carbon steel when the proportions of other trace elements it contains do not exceed certain percentages. Maximum percentages are typically 1.65 percent for manganese and 0.6 percent for copper and silicon. The copper percentage must be at least 0.4 percent. Steel that also contains larger or specified amounts of other elements, such as nickel, chromium, or vanadium, is called alloy steel.
Manufacturers add carbon to the iron to solidify the structures within it and strengthen the resulting metal. It is one of the cheapest alloying materials and altering the amount of carbon changes the properties of the steel. Carbon steels can be classified as low carbon steels, medium carbon steels, high carbon steels and ultra high carbon steels.
Steels with very low amounts of carbon, about 0.05% to 0.3%, are called low carbon steels and are similar to iron. They are very ductile, which makes them difficult to work with. They are used to make rolled plate or steel strip which is used to create ships, wire products, car bodies, appliances, sheet metal and more. Low carbon steels are cheaper, but cannot be changed by heat treatment, which is why they are typically used for fabrication and paneling purposes.
Increasing the carbon content makes carbon steel harder and stronger, but reduces the weldability and ductility of the steel and makes the steel more brittle. Manufacturers also add trace amounts of other alloying materials to the carbon steel which do not affect the properties of the steel but allow them to control certain steel qualities. Among the qualities involved are the elasticity, strength and hardness of the steel.
Medium carbon steels have a higher carbon content of approximately 0.3% to 0.6%. These are easier to work with and some manufacturers add some silicon and manganese to the steel to improve its quality. These steels are still cheap and are used to make things like axles, gears, shafts, rails, pipes and joints.
High carbon steels are very difficult to weld because they contain carbon in the range of 0.6% to 1.0%. They also have higher proportions of manganese, which is added to increase the hardenability of the steel. High carbon steel is very susceptible to heat and hardens easily in flame, which allows it to be worked into many different shapes. High carbon steels have higher tensile strength and are used to create products such as cutting tools, blades, springs and high strength wires.
Ultra high carbon steels possess carbon in the range of 1.25 percent to 2.0 percent. It is not possible to cold work this type of carbon steel, because it is quite brittle. Ultra high carbon steels are used to create components that require extreme hardness, such as blades, cutting tools and large workpieces. They are very sensitive to heat and possess good machinability and superior wear resistance.
