Importance & uses of carbon steel plates
Steel plates can be used in many different industries, depending on their carbon content, which may be low, medium, or high. It can also be broken down by the applications it will be used for. Due to the carbon content in steel, it becomes harder and stronger after heat treatment. However, it also loses ductility, which means that it becomes less bendable and easier to deform. Steel with a high carbon content is difficult to weld, both with and without heat treatment, and as its melting point decreases, it becomes even more difficult to weld.
Manufacturing and processing:
Carbon steel plates can be made from recycled or virgin steel or a mix of the two. Iron ore, coke, and lime are combined in a blast furnace at roughly 1650 °C to produce virgin steel. A carbon-rich material called coke is added to molten iron recovered from iron ore, slag is formed when the remaining impurities have combined with the lime and have risen to the top of the molten metal, where they can be collected, A process known as decarburization is used to lower this carbon content. Once the steel is molten, they contain a carbon content of around 4% by weight.
Importance:
Low-carbon steel is available in a variety of shapes, including flat sheets, structural beams, and plates. The machining, welding, and cutting of medium carbon steel is more challenging than that of low carbon steel. Hardening and tempering this steel typically entails heat treatment. The carbon tool steel, also known as high carbon steel, is very hard and brittle when it is heated. It is also incredibly difficult to cut, bend, and weld.
Uses:
Wrought iron is a low-Carbon Steel Plate that has a variety of uses. It’s often used for flat-rolled sheets and strips, shipbuilding, or wire, vehicle bodies, and domestic appliances. It’s widely used for fabrication and paneling because it can’t be altered by heat treatment. Carbon steel plates with the lowest possible amount of carbon are called ‘wrought iron’, used for fencing, gates, and railings, hard but not brittle.
Medium carbon steel is significantly easier to process, and adding moderate amounts of silicon and manganese improves its quality. A center axle, gearbox, shaft, railroad tracks, pipes and couplings, vehicles, refrigerators, and washing machines are all examples of structural steel, commonly called mild steel.
Machining tools, knives, punching, castings, spring, and elevated wire are all made of high carbon steel, which has a substantially higher tensile strength. The high carbon steel that is usually used in cutlery and other metal products is extremely hard and brittle. It can also be used to make water heaters, industrial cast iron, and light poles. Cast iron is also what makes old-fashioned cooking pots.