The Advantages of Carbon Steel Profile
From the refrigerator door to your lawn and garden equipment, you’ll find fasteners made of high carbon steel. This metal’s combination of strength, resistance and durability makes it a popular choice.
Carbon steel plate grades vary in their carbon content and other alloying elements, such as chromium, to increase resistance to corrosion. Let’s take a look at some of the characteristics of mild, medium and high carbon steel.
High Strength
While there are many variations in the specifics of carbon steel grades, most of them have one thing in common: they’re incredibly strong. Carbon steels can withstand a great deal of pressure before they break or deform, making them perfect for construction projects like bridges and skyscrapers.
Low-carbon steels are a broad category of alloys with a relatively low carbon content (less than 0.3% carbon). These steels typically have few other alloying elements, and they’re known for their strength.
Medium-carbon steels have a carbon content between 0.2 and 0.5 %. These alloys provide a balance between the ductility of low-carbon steels and the strength and hardness of high-carbon steels. They can be heat-treated to increase their strength and hardness, but they require special pre- and post-heating weld procedures to avoid forming brittle martensite in the heat-affected zone.
Often, medium-carbon steels are used to make blades and tools because of their good balance between strength and hardness. They can also be tempered to improve their hardness and toughness even further, a process that involves reheating the steel to just below its eutectoid point. You can see examples of this in the clips that hold your refrigerator door in place and in the metal fasteners on the back of your TV. During the COVID-19 pandemic, one Three D Metals customer used our high-carbon steel to make small washers for use in their medical machines.
High Ductility
Carbon steel has high ductility, the ability to absorb significant amounts of force without breaking. This makes it ideal for building materials and structures like bridges that need to withstand immense amounts of stress.
Unlike low-carbon steel, which has a low yield strength and low tensile strength, medium- and high-carbon steel grades have a higher yield and tensile strengths. They are also easier to form and more machinable. In addition, they can be treated with heat treatments such as quenching and tempering to improve their mechanical properties.
Low-carbon steel is commonly referred to as mild steel. It does not undergo any Deformed Steel Bar heat treatment and is softer than other carbon steels. It is weldable and has a high tensile strength but not as high as other types of steels.
Medium-carbon steel is a stronger grade than low-carbon steel, and it can be hardened by heat treating. This process usually involves quenching and tempering, which increases its ductility. This type of steel is used in machinery, tools, and other industrial applications because it is tougher and has a better wear resistance than lower-grade carbon steels.
The tensile and yield strength of steel increases with its carbon content, but it does not have the same corrosion resistance as stainless steel. This is because the iron in carbon steel is not resistant to oxidation, which causes rust.
Good Corrosion Resistance
Carbon steels have better corrosion resistance than low-carbon steels. However, it is important to note that even high-carbon steel will rust if exposed to moisture for long periods of time. The type of carbon steel used in your application should be chosen based on the corrosion resistance requirements, as well as the desired strength and other properties.
The corrosion resistance of carbon steel can be improved by using various methods. One method is to use boron to create a protective coating on the surface of the steel. This is a very effective way to increase the corrosion resistance of carbon steel, and it can be applied to any surface.
Another method is to use hydrogen to remove impurities from the surface of the steel. This method is very effective, but it can be expensive. However, it is worth the investment if you need to ensure that your carbon steel will have good corrosion resistance.
Carbon steels can be welded, but it is important to choose the right grade. Higher-carbon grades like C1141 and C1144 are not weldable because of the sulfur in their chemical composition. Grades with lower carbon content such as C1018 and A36 (or 44W in Canada) are weldable, but they may require preheat or post-weld heat treatment.
Good Weldability
Carbon steel welding can be difficult due to the high carbon content of the material. However, it is possible to achieve high quality welds with proper preparation and attention to welding parameters. This includes controlling the dilution of base metal, using proper electrode selection and preheating the steel to promote slow cooling of the weld zone.
Welding medium and high carbon steels can pose challenges because of the higher tensile strength of these materials. These high strengths can lead to cracking carbon steel plate in the weld zone if the correct welding processes and techniques are not used. This can be avoided by using low hydrogen filler metals, preheat, and post-weld heat treatment.
High carbon steels often contain alloying elements that make them hard, such as chromium, vanadium, molybdenum and tungsten. These alloying elements increase the strength of the steel while retaining its good ductility and corrosion resistance.
These characteristics also make them a great choice for automotive, manufacturing and construction applications that require high strength and ductility. They can be welded using various techniques, including gas metal arc welding (GMAW), TIG, stick and flux core. Welding carbon steel requires the use of low-hydrogen electrodes to prevent hydrogen induced cracking (HIC). These electrodes are labeled H2, H4, H8, or H16. Preheating the carbon steel prior to welding is also critical for promoting slow cooling of the weld zone, preventing cracking, and improving the ductility of the weld.