Basics Concerning Colorado Steel Companies

By Odessa Edwards


Steel is an alloy made from of iron and other compounds like carbon. There is normally a primary alloying compound which is mixed with the iron. Elements that can never lack in the alloy are manganese, sulfur, phosphorus, carbon, and traces of aluminium, nitrogen, and oxygen. Alloying compounds that are added purposely to alter the properties of Colorado steel include chromium, boron, nionium, vanadium, chromium, and molybdenum.

Carbon and other compounds are used to add hardness, which prevents dislocations in iron atom crystal lattice. The percentage of the additional elements added controls qualities like tensile strength, ductility, and hardness. Even though this substance has been produced by blacksmiths for many years, its use went to large scale after better and efficient methods of production had been invented. This happened around the seventeenth century.

During the 19th century, the invention of Bessemer process rendered it possible to generate the metal on large scale reducing production cost. This lowered the price of the substance greatly. Further refinement of production process like the utilization of basic oxygen steelmaking BOS increased quality and lowered the cost more. Currently, this metal ranks among the most abundant materials on earth with over 1.3 billion tons being made each year.

After iron is smelted from its ore using commercial processes, the composition of carbon in its structure is usually higher than it is desired. To turn it into steel, the level of carbon must be reduced and other elements added as appropriate. This addition and subtraction of elements happens when the ore is in liquid form. The liquid is continuously cast into either ingots or long slabs.

In Colorado, of all productions, carbon steel accounts for approximately 90 percent yearly. Stainless and surgical stainless kinds of the alloy consist around 11 percent of nickel, often combined with chromium, to resist corrosion. Some are nonmagnetic whereas others are magnetic. Those which can resist rusting are shortened to CRES. Tools steels are merged with greater quantities of tungsten and/or cobalt or other substances to raise hardness to maximum.

Tool steels find use in making tools like axes, hedge cutters, iron cutters, and drills among other instruments which need durable and sharp cutting edges. They may resist very hot temperatures without losing form. Other types of these materials include weathering, manganese, galvanized, dual-phase, transformation induced, Hadfield, eglin, and maraging steels. Manganese or Hadfiels steels contain up to fourteen percent of manganese. If they are abraded, they create a hard skin which can resist wearing.

Steels have many applications in various fields such as construction of buildings, roads, railways, and appliances among others. Most contemporary structures like bridges, airports, skyscrapers, and stadiums get support from understructures that are made of iron and steels. Even structures that have concretes need reinforcement from this material. Other major fields of application include mining, aerospace, offshore construction, mining, pipeline transport, shipbuilding, armor making, and white goods.

Colorado steel industry is one of the most developed worldwide. It has a high capacity that allows it to process millions of tons of steels per year. The processed material is used locally while some is shipped to other states for income.




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