What is carbon steel

Carbon steel mainly refers to the steel whose mechanical properties depend on the carbon content in the steel, and generally does not add a large amount of alloying elements, and is sometimes called plain carbon steel or carbon steel. Carbon steel is also called carbon steel, which refers to an iron-carbon alloy with a carbon content of less than 2% WC.

In addition to carbon, carbon steel generally contains a small amount of silicon, manganese, sulfur, and phosphorus.

According to the application, carbon steel can be divided into three categories: carbon structural steel, carbon tool steel and free-cutting structural steel. Carbon structural steel is further divided into building structural steel and machine-made structural steel; carbon structural steel: mainly used For bridges, ships, building components, machine parts, etc. Carbon Tool Steel: Mainly used for knives, molds, measuring tools, etc.

According to the smelting method, it can be divided into open hearth steel, converter steel and electric furnace steel.

According to the deoxidation method, it can be divided into boiling steel (F), killed steel (Z), semi-killed steel (b) and special killed steel (TZ).

According to the carbon content, carbon steel can be divided into low carbon steel (WC ≤ 0.25%), medium carbon steel (WC0.25%-0.6%) and high carbon steel (WC>0.6%). Among them, low carbon steel is also called mild steel. Low carbon steel is easy to accept various processing such as forging, welding and cutting, and is often used in the manufacture of chains, rivets, bolts, shafts, etc.

According to the content of phosphorus and sulfur, carbon steel can be divided into ordinary carbon steel (higher phosphorus and sulfur), high-quality carbon steel (lower phosphorus and sulfur) and advanced high-quality steel (lower phosphorus and sulfur) and Premium quality steel.
Generally, the higher the carbon content in carbon steel, the greater the hardness and the higher the strength, but the lower the plasticity.