Where do you think steel is found? If you think that is found in the Earth’s surface, you are wrong. Do you want to know how this iron and coil alloy is created? Keep reading to find out.
Have you ever wondered what the pans in your kitchen or the tuna cans are made of? The answer is: steel. A material that is present in a lot of daily objects and that nowadays is fundamental for the economy and society.
The steel is the result of the alloy between iron and coil. However, it is possible to add elements that give it other properties, like more sturdiness, malleability, or duration.
For its creation, high temperature furnaces are used, which allow the melting of the metal and its correct union with the other components. So, in this world there are two ways of producing steel:
From iron
When extracting iron from a mine, this is taken to the high temperature furnace in which the impurities are separated from the pure ore. After this process, thanks to the high temperatures and other components added to the mix, the iron acquires small quantities of coil that transform it into steel.
Consequently, the alloy pass for a molding and cooling stage.
From scrap
Scrap is crushed by a shredder and then goes to a melting furnace, where it is exposed to a temperature superior to 1600°C. With this process, we obtain slag, which is used in construction works. Then, the steel is melted and placed into molds and the cooling stage.
According with the World Steel Association, around 70% of the steel produced today is made by the Blast Furnace-Basic Oxygen Furnace (BF-BOF) route and iron. Likewise, the entity says that “nowadays, producing a steel ton requires just the 40% of the energy that was needed in 1960.”