The vast differences between metal types make the variety you use for a project significant. For example, steel skyscraper construction metals require much more strength than the delicate metals used in producing jewelry.
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How can fabricators accurately determine the appropriate steel type? Alloy steel and carbon steel possess specific properties and capabilities to function in different roles. Pennsylvania Steel Co. specializes in steel processing techniques and how to pick a suitable metal for the job. We provide top-quality metals for various East Coast locations with warehouses in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, the Southeast, and Ohio. Below, we outline the significant characteristic differences between alloy steel and carbon steel.
The phrase “alloy steel” is a blanket term to describe the resulting product from mixing metal elements. Common alloying elements include but are not limited to:
Silicon
Chromium
Boron
Nickel
Aluminum
Cobalt
Tungsten
The addition of particular alloys affects the steel’s hardness, toughness, wear resistance, heat resistance, and tensile strength.
Varying combinations of alloy metals result in different physical properties and characteristics. These combinations fall into one of two general categories:
: contains a high percentage of other alloying elements (most commonly:
stainless steel
, which is approximately 12% chromium)
: contains a lower percentage (1%-5%) of alloying elements, making it generally less costly to use
Metalworkers use alloy steel as a manufacturing material in assorted industries, including mining, aerospace, automotive, and railroads. Industrial demand for alloy steel is high, as you can customize its alloying features for diverse structural needs. Its machinability makes it a desirable material for transportation infrastructure and other construction purposes.
Put simply, carbon steel is an alloy (mixture) of carbon and iron. The high amount of carbon (ranging from 0.25%-1.25%) in this type of steel makes it incredibly durable and versatile, depending on the specific percentage of carbon.
Carbon steel is prevalent and diverse in its applications. In general, carbon steel falls into one of three categories:
: the most widely-used variety of carbon steel that is particularly ductile and welds easily
: slightly stronger due to higher manganese concentration (0.6%-1.65%)
: high wear resistance and very low elasticity, with a manganese concentration ranging from 0.3%-0.9%
Typically, this type of steel becomes more challenging to work with as the carbon percentage increases. For this reason, high-carbon steel often has more specialized applications, including springs, wires, and knives.
Like alloy steel, carbon steel is useful in numerous industries, especially in the chemical, oil, and gas sectors. Carbon steel’s advanced, versatile strength makes it ideal for pipes, pressure vessels, cutting tools, and even weaponry.
Is carbon steel strong? Is alloy steel stronger than high-carbon steel? These answers depend on what you mean by “strong.” The list of attributes below expands on specific comparisons between steel types, including overall strength.
As previously mentioned, carbon steel contains mainly two elements: carbon and iron. Any other present alloys are usually regarded as impurities. On the other hand, alloying of additional components (manganese, nickel, chromium, etc.) in alloy steel alters the chemical properties and limits of the resulting metal.
Overall, fabricators regard carbon steel as having higher strength than alloy steel. In other words, carbon steel can withstand significant pressure but doesn’t bend easily. Alloying metal variations adjust tensile strength.
Carbon steel owes its superior strength to being harder than alloy steel. However, higher carbon content decreases ductility and weldability, making this steel type slightly more challenging to work with.
In general, alloy steel’s additional elements give it a higher melting point than carbon steel.
Steel becomes less malleable as you add more alloying metals. Therefore, the lack of variation in carbon steel’s composition allows for better malleability than steel alloys.
Alloy steel is difficult to weld and prone to cracking, giving carbon steel higher weldability. However, the prior allows for adjustment of certain alloying elements to help streamline heat treatment.
Alloy steels have higher corrosion resistance than carbon steel, meaning they deteriorate (rust) at a slower rate.
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The price of carbon steel varies and depends on the metal’s carbon content. As the carbon percentage increases, so does the price. Additionally, alloy steel is often costly due to varying amounts of alloying elements.
Only premium metal materials can craft superior construction projects. The experts at Pennsylvania Steel proudly supply leading manufacturers in numerous sectors throughout the U.S., from Cleveland, OH to Charlotte, NC. If you need alloy or carbon steel for your next project, request a quote from the Pennsylvania Steel Company Inc. team today.
Steel is one of the largest industries in the world and is produced by combining iron with other metals and non-metals elements. The purpose of this combination to manufacture steel is to obtain different chemical properties for specific applications. During material selection for steel CNC machining, various properties of alloy steel vs carbon steel for a suitable material selection should be considered. Alloy steel and carbon steel are the two types of steel. Understanding alloy steel and carbon steel differences give us the ability to utilize them accordingly in our respective industry to get benefits from them.
Selecting steel for the manufacturing of CNC machined parts and components is a big challenge. In this article, we will discuss alloy vs carbon steel differences and their types, applications, alloying elements, and properties. This will help you to judge the best steel for your project and get the finest parts and products.
Alloy steel is mixed with several alloying elements such as silicon, chromium, molybdenum, boron, vanadium, nickel, aluminum, etc. These alloying elements increase the strength, toughness, hardness, and wear resistance of the alloy steel. Some of the alloying elements and their effects are shown below.
Alloy steel is the combination of steel with some elements to get unique characteristics and properties. It has two types based on the weight of elements used to form the alloy steel that ranges from 1% to 50%. The flowing will mention two groups of alloy steel.
The alloy steel is used in many industrial sectors and it helps manufacture hundreds of products. Their extreme strength, hardness, toughness, and machinability make them the most demanding material for many industries. Consequently, alloy steel is ideal for structural components, automotive, mining, machinery, railway, and many other industries.
Tip: You can read our in-depth article about the applications of steel.
Carbon steel is a common type of steel. To define carbon steel in simple words, it is an alloy of iron and carbon. As its name suggests, carbon steel has a higher carbon content with a lower melting point and greater durability as compared to stainless steel. Carbon steel is the most important group of engineering alloys and they account for the majority of the steel applications depending upon processes.
The types of carbon steel are ordered and categorized by the carbon content it contains. Then, let’s have a look at some of the types of carbon steel and their characteristics that make them desirable in specific applications.
Due to carbon steel’s high versatility, it has a number of applications and is employed in a wide range of industries, especially in the petrochemical and oil & gas sector. We have gathered some applications of carbon steel in different industries to elaborate its vast usage in today’s market, such as:
If you need more information about the applications of steel, see this article. You can also start your project by clicking the button below now.
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Get Instant QuoteBoth types of steel that somehow look similar physically have distinct chemical properties. However, these properties make them unique and give industries reasons to employ them and get benefits from them. We have gathered some alloy steel and carbon steel differences to give you a better understanding of both types of steel.
Alloy steel is used in various industries for the manufacturing of girders, structural sections, aircraft parts, propellers for ships, bars, rails, rods, screws, bolts, nails, and wires. On the other hand, carbon steel is also popular in many manufacturing industries for the production of automobile body components, food cans, wheels, crankshafts, gear, machinery parts, pipes, cutting tools, springs, dies, construction, and bridge components.
Alloy steel contains a high percentage of alloying elements other than iron and carbon. Whereas, carbon alloy has high carbon content and a low percentage of other elements.
Alloy steel is a good corrosion-resistant material as compared to carbon steel. The alloying elements in alloy steel make it more resistant to corrosion and it also improves its machinability.
High carbon content in carbon steel makes it harder. Alloy is less hard as compared to carbon steel.
Carbon steel is good in terms of strength. Alloy steel also has fine strength but is less than carbon steel.
The high number of carbon in carbon steel makes it tougher. On the contrary, alloy steel with different alloying elements other than carbon is less tough.
Multiple alloying elements in alloy steel reduce the malleability of the alloy steel. However, the carbon element in carbon steel increases its malleability.
Carbon steel possesses high weldability as compared to alloy steel. It is due to a reduced amount of alloying elements (other than carbon) in the iron. It will be more complex to weld steel if it contains elements like boron, magnesium, and silicon.
Steel can deform without fracture. It depends upon the alloying elements present in the steel. More carbon elements decrease the ductility of steel. Alloy is high ductile than carbon steel.
Alloy steel is a very expensive steel as compared to carbon steel. Carbon steel price varies and depends upon the carbon content. The higher the carbon content, the more the price.
Here’s a brief table showing some differences between alloy and carbon steel:
Alloy SteelCarbon SteelCorrosion resistanceGoodPoorHardnessLowHighStrengthLowHighToughnessLowHighMalleabilityLowHighWeldabilityLowHighDuctilityHighLowCostExpensiveInexpensiveIn this article, we have discussed alloy steel vs carbon steel differences to give you an understanding of these broadly used terms in the manufacturing and machining industry. Due to the excellent mechanical properties of alloy and carbon steel, they will continue to play a crucial and dominant role in the future. The formability, cost-effectiveness, and recyclability of these steels have a significant impact on industrial usage. If you are in search of a steel CNC machining partner with impeccable machining capabilities, look no further.
RapidDirect is a leading custom parts prototyping and manufacturing service provider that you can bank on. Our top-notch modern technological machinery has produced prototypes and parts for a number of our valuable clients across the globe. We took pride in our engineering team who has vast prototyping and manufacturing experience. Furthermore, we have a stringent quality control system to ensure you get the best parts and prototypes delivered to you with the utmost quality. Providing products as per the specifications and expectations of our customers is RapidDirect’s paramount priority. Contact us to get prototype production services now.
The material selection entirely depends upon the project or product requirements. In general, alloy steel has exceptional qualities as compared to carbon steel but one of its major issues is lack of corrosion resistance. Alloy steel is suitable for structural components.
Which one is stronger alloy steel or carbon steel?The tensile strength of low-carbon steel is approximately 450 MPa and the tensile strength of high-carbon steel is 965 MPa. The alloy steel has higher tensile strength as compared to carbon steel. The tensile strength of alloy steel ranges between 758 – 1882 MPa.
Is alloy steel the same carbon steel?No. Both are two different materials. Carbon steel consists of iron with carbon added and alloy steel includes various other materials. Adding other materials assists in modifying the physical and chemical properties of the material.
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