In this presentation, Aerocom Metals look at the history of steel production, with particular reference to the UK.

1. AEROCOM METALS
A HISTORY OF
STEEL
02476 645 551 www.aomerocmetals.co.uk

2. The History of Steel
 Steel is an iron alloy, with carbon being the
most commonly used alloying element.
 The carbon is important within the structure as
without it the pure iron metal can become soft,
ductile and weak.

3. The Iron Age
 The development of steel can be traced back
to the beginning of the Iron Age, the previous
popular metal was bronze but iron was proven
to the harder and stronger and soon replaced
bronze as the favoured metal, particularly in
the production of weaponry.
 However, iron was still untrustworthy as the
quality of the product made very much
depended on the ores that were available.

4. 17th Century
 In the 17th century iron’s properties were well
understood but as urbanisation grew in Europe
there was a larger and more desperate need
for a more versatile structural metal.

5. 19th Century
 Iron was being used increasingly for railroad
development in the 19th century, however there
was still a need for a more versatile metal and
the growing market provided an incentive to
find a solution to the problems of iron- namely
its brittleness and inefficiencies.
 Steel was still unproven as a structural metal
and the production for it was slow and
expensive.

6. 1865 Developments
 In 1856 Henry Bessemer designed an effective
way to introduce oxygen to molten iron to
reduce the carbon content within the alloy.
This is known as the Bessemer Process.
 Henry Bessemer used a pear shaped
receptacle (the converter) where iron can be
heated whilst oxygen is blown through the
molten metal.
 As it is blown through it reacts with the carbon,
releasing carbon dioxide and producing more
pure iron.

7. 1865 Developments
 The process was much faster and cheaper
than any used before it but the concept was far
too effective and left too much oxygen in the
final product.
 This meant that Bessemer had to repay his
investors and continue his research into
perfecting the process.

8. Mushet & Bessemer
 Robert Mushet began testing a compound of
carbon iron and manganese known as
speigeleisen.
 The manganese was known to remove oxygen
if added in the right quantities so Bessemer
began adding it to his process and it worked
really well.
 However, the manganese couldn’t remove the
phosphorus which is the impurity that makes
steel brittle so the alloy was far from perfect.

9. Mushet & Bessemer
 Robert Mushet began testing a compound of
carbon iron and manganese known as
speigeleisen.
 The manganese was known to remove oxygen
if added in the right quantities so Bessemer
began adding it to his process and it worked
really well.
 However, the manganese couldn’t remove the
phosphorus which is the impurity that makes
steel brittle so the alloy was far from perfect.

10. 1876 Innovation
 In 1876 a Welshman named Sidney Gilchrist
Thomas decided to add limestone, a
chemically basic flux, to the Bessemer
process.
 The limestone solved the phosphorus problem
by drawing it away from the pig iron into the
slag, which allows the creator to remove the
element.
 This realisation meant that iron ore could
come from anywhere in the world, which
caused steel production costs to drop.

11. Investment Opportunities
 The fresh revolution in process in the steel
industry meant that companies were able to
provide low cost, high quality material.
 This made it a great investment opportunity
and many took advantage. Among those
investors were Charles Schwabe and Andrew
Carnegie who made billions of pounds in the
steel industry.
 Carnegie US Steel Corporation was founded
in 1901.

12. Investment Opportunities
 Soon after, a new development was made that
heavily influenced the steel industry. This was
Paul Heroult’s EAF (Electric Aric Furnace).
 The EAF was created to pass an electric
current through material that had been
charged. This resulted in exothermic oxidation
that held temperature of up to 18000 degrees
celcius which was more than hot enough to
heat steel production.

13. Developments
 This development became especially popular
and by the Second World War it was being
used for manufacturing steel alloys.
 It had a lower investment cost which meant
that it could compete with larger steel
companies.
 EAF can produce steel from scrap feed which
means that less energy is needed for
production.

14. The Present Method
 Nowadays the majority of steel production
completed globally, which is approximately
66%, is produced in basic oxygen facilities.
 In the 1960s a method was developed that
allowed the separation of oxygen and nitrogen
on a large scale which increased motivation
into the advancement of basic oxygen
furnaces.

15. The Present Method
 The concept of basic oxygen furnaces is
simple and similar to Bessemer’s values. You
blow oxygen into huge amounts of molten iron
and scrap steel which can create a change far
quicker than the open hearth methods.
 The costs of oxygen steelmaking methods is
such that open hearth factories were barely a
competitor and soon began closing in the later
1960s with the last facility closing in 2001 in
China.

16. Aerocom Metals
Based in Coventry, England, Aerocom Metals
supply a range of high-strength and lightweight
metals to the Aerospace and Motorsports
industries.
Website: http://aerocommetals.co.uk/
Phone: +44 (0)2476 645 551
Email: sales@aerocommetals.co.uk