Semi-steel is a high-grade iron made by combining scrap iron and steel. It is softer than regular iron and can be used for ornamental purposes or heavy machine frames. Its quality depends on the components used, and it is commonly used in construction projects, radial tires, safe deposit boxes, and casters.
Semi-steel is not actually a true form of industrial grade steel, but is instead a form of high grade iron. It is made by combining scrap iron with scrap steel, usually in a cupola where the metals of cast iron and bronze are refined. Because semi-steel has a significant steel component, it is softer than regular iron. It is generally not heat treated to maintain this level of softness, so it can be used for ornamental uses in ironwork as well as in the manufacture of heavy machine frames. Semi-steel manufacturing has taken place since at least the mid-1800s, when iron smelting was most commonly done to produce wrought iron fences and other commercial products.
Semi-steel casting can result in varying grades of product depending on the quality of steel and iron used, as well as the level of heat treatment in the furnace to purify the final product. Semi-steel grade increases if you use rail offcuts, which are the ends of a bloom or rail of smelted ingots produced during steel refining. If scrap is the main component used in semi-steel production and has a high level of impurities, it is considered a lower quality product than that produced in gray iron casting. Gray cast iron is a type of cast iron that shows a gray color when it breaks and is the most common type of iron used to make products from cookware to engine blocks in automobiles.
Because semi-steel is a general term that has different definitions based on the components of the material, it is often referred to in construction projects where it can mean a variety of different things. The material is commonly used as a lower grade reinforcing material in radial tires than ordinary steel, often produced in Chinese manufacturing. Another frequent use of semi-steel is in the manufacture of safe deposit boxes in bank vaults. Portable and larger safes also use semi-steel for the frame, where a heavy, heat resistant metal is ideal without needing to be malleable or resistant to fracture like higher grade steel.
Metalworking applications where expensive high-grade steels are not required, but materials that are less likely to fracture than iron often require semi-steel grades. Casters, which are a unit of wheels and brackets fitted to the bottom of many industrial and commercial carts and machine racks, are also often made of semi-steel. Their strong and durable properties make the casters capable of withstanding weights of 800 to 1,200 pounds each (363 to 544 kilograms) for extended periods of time.
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