Silicon steel and manganese steel are
sometimes classed as alloy steels. This subject is taken up in the latter
part of this chapter under _Alloys_, where the various combinations
and their characteristics are given consideration.
Steel has a tensile strength varying from 50,000 to 300,000 pounds per
square inch, depending on the carbon percentage and the other alloys
present, as well as upon the texture of the grain. Steel is heavier than
cast iron and weighs about the same as wrought iron. It is about one-ninth
as good a conductor of electricity as copper.
Steel is made from cast iron by three principal processes: the crucible,
Bessemer and open hearth.
_Crucible steel_ is made by placing pieces of iron in a clay or
graphite crucible, mixed with charcoal and a small amount of any desired
alloy. The crucible is then heated with coal, oil or gas fires until the
iron melts, and, by absorbing the desired elements and giving up or
changing its percentage of carbon, becomes steel. The molten steel is then
poured from the crucible into moulds or bars for use. Crucible steel may
also be made by placing crude steel in the crucibles in place of the iron.
This last method gives the finest grade of metal and the crucible process
in general gives the best grades of steel for mechanical use.
[Illustration: Figure 2.--A Bessemer Converter]
_Bessemer steel_ is made by heating iron until all the undesirable
elements are burned out by air blasts which furnish the necessary oxygen.
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