Iron vs. Steel

By Jaxson

Main Difference

The main difference between Iron and Steel is that the Iron is a chemical element 26 or simple substance composed thereof and Steel is a alloy made by combining iron and other elements.

  • Iron

    Iron is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from Latin: ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is by mass the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth’s outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth’s crust. Its abundance in rocky planets like Earth is due to its abundant production by fusion in high-mass stars, where it is the last element to be produced with release of energy before the violent collapse of a supernova, which scatters the iron into space.

    Like the other group 8 elements, ruthenium and osmium, iron exists in a wide range of oxidation states, −2 to +7, although +2 and +3 are the most common. Elemental iron occurs in meteoroids and other low oxygen environments, but is reactive to oxygen and water. Fresh iron surfaces appear lustrous silvery-gray, but oxidize in normal air to give hydrated iron oxides, commonly known as rust. Unlike the metals that form passivating oxide layers, iron oxides occupy more volume than the metal and thus flake off, exposing fresh surfaces for corrosion.

    Iron metal has been used since ancient times, although copper alloys, which have lower melting temperatures, were used even earlier in human history. Pure iron is relatively soft, but is unobtainable by smelting because it is significantly hardened and strengthened by impurities, in particular carbon, from the smelting process. A certain proportion of carbon (between 0.002% and 2.1%) produces steel, which may be up to 1000 times harder than pure iron. Crude iron metal is produced in blast furnaces, where ore is reduced by coke to pig iron, which has a high carbon content. Further refinement with oxygen reduces the carbon content to the correct proportion to make steel. Steels and iron alloys formed with other metals (alloy steels) are by far the most common industrial metals because they have a great range of desirable properties and iron-bearing rock is abundant.

    Iron chemical compounds have many uses. Iron oxide mixed with aluminium powder can be ignited to create a thermite reaction, used in welding and purifying ores. Iron forms binary compounds with the halogens and the chalcogens. Among its organometallic compounds is ferrocene, the first sandwich compound discovered.

    Iron plays an important role in biology, forming complexes with molecular oxygen in hemoglobin and myoglobin; these two compounds are common oxygen transport proteins in vertebrates. Iron is also the metal at the active site of many important redox enzymes dealing with cellular respiration and oxidation and reduction in plants and animals. A human male of average height has about 4 grams of iron in his body, a female about 3.5 grams. This iron is distributed throughout the body in hemoglobin, tissues, muscles, bone marrow, blood proteins, enzymes, ferritin, hemosiderin, and transport in plasma.

  • Steel

    Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, and sometimes other elements. Because of its high tensile strength and low cost, it is a major component used in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, automobiles, machines, appliances, and weapons.

    Iron is the base metal of steel. Iron is able to take on two crystalline forms (allotropic forms), body centered cubic and face centered cubic, depending on its temperature. In the body-centered cubic arrangement, there is an iron atom in the center and eight atoms at the vertices of each cubic unit cell; in the face-centered cubic, there is one atom at the center of each of the six faces of the cubic unit cell and eight atoms at its vertices. It is the interaction of the allotropes of iron with the alloying elements, primarily carbon, that gives steel and cast iron their range of unique properties.

    In pure iron, the crystal structure has relatively little resistance to the iron atoms slipping past one another, and so pure iron is quite ductile, or soft and easily formed. In steel, small amounts of carbon, other elements, and inclusions within the iron act as hardening agents that prevent the movement of dislocations that are common in the crystal lattices of iron atoms.

    The carbon in typical steel alloys may contribute up to 2.14% of its weight. Varying the amount of carbon and many other alloying elements, as well as controlling their chemical and physical makeup in the final steel (either as solute elements, or as precipitated phases), slows the movement of those dislocations that make pure iron ductile, and thus controls and enhances its qualities. These qualities include such things as the hardness, quenching behavior, need for annealing, tempering behavior, yield strength, and tensile strength of the resulting steel. The increase in steel’s strength compared to pure iron is possible only by reducing iron’s ductility.

    Steel was produced in bloomery furnaces for thousands of years, but its large-scale, industrial use began only after more efficient production methods were devised in the 17th century, with the production of blister steel and then crucible steel. With the invention of the Bessemer process in the mid-19th century, a new era of mass-produced steel began. This was followed by the Siemens–Martin process and then the Gilchrist–Thomas process that refined the quality of steel. With their introductions, mild steel replaced wrought iron.

    Further refinements in the process, such as basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS), largely replaced earlier methods by further lowering the cost of production and increasing the quality of the final product. Today, steel is one of the most common manmade materials in the world, with more than 1.6 billion tons produced annually. Modern steel is generally identified by various grades defined by assorted standards organizations.

Wikipedia
  • Iron (noun)

    A common, inexpensive metal, often black in color, that rusts, is attracted by magnets, and is used in making steel.

  • Iron (noun)

    A metallic chemical element having atomic number 26 and symbol Fe.

  • Iron (noun)

    Any material, not a steel, predominantly made of elemental iron.

    “wrought iron, ductile iron, cast iron, pig iron, gray iron”

  • Iron (noun)

    A tool or appliance made of metal, which is heated and then used to transfer heat to something else; most often a thick piece of metal fitted with a handle and having a flat, roughly triangular bottom, which is heated and used to press wrinkles from clothing, and now usually containing an electrical heating apparatus.

  • Iron (noun)

    Shackles.

  • Iron (noun)

    A handgun.

  • Iron (noun)

    A dark shade of the colour/color silver.

  • Iron (noun)

    A male homosexual.

  • Iron (noun)

    A golf club used for middle-distance shots.

  • Iron (noun)

    Great strength or power.

  • Iron (adjective)

    Made of the metal iron.

  • Iron (adjective)

    Strong as of will, inflexible.

    “She had an iron will.”

    “He held on with an iron grip.”

    “an iron constitution”

    “Iron men”

    “adamant|adamantine|brassbound”

  • Iron (verb)

    To pass an iron over (clothing or some other item made of cloth) in order to remove creases.

  • Iron (verb)

    To shackle with irons; to fetter or handcuff.

  • Iron (verb)

    To furnish or arm with iron.

    “to iron a wagon”

  • Steel (noun)

    An artificial metal produced from iron, harder and more elastic than elemental iron; used figuratively as a symbol of hardness.

  • Steel (noun)

    Any item made of this metal, particularly including:

  • Steel (noun)

    Bladed or pointed weapons, as swords, javelins, daggers.

  • Steel (noun)

    A piece used for striking sparks from flint.

  • Steel (noun)

    Armor.

  • Steel (noun)

    A honing steel, a tool used to sharpen or hone metal blades.

  • Steel (noun)

    Pieces used to strengthen, support, or expand an item of clothing.

  • Steel (noun)

    A flat iron.

  • Steel (noun)

    A sewing needle; a knitting needle; a sharp metal stylus.

  • Steel (noun)

    An engraving plate:

  • Steel (noun)

    Projectiles.

  • Steel (noun)

    A fringe of beads or decoration of this metal.

  • Steel (noun)

    Medicinal consumption of this metal; chalybeate medicine; (eventually) any iron or iron-treated water consumed as a medical treatment.

  • Steel (noun)

    Varieties of this metal.

  • Steel (noun)

    The gray hue of this metal; steel-gray, or steel blue.

  • Steel (noun)

    Extreme hardness or resilience.

  • Steel (adjective)

    Made of steel.

  • Steel (adjective)

    Similar to steel in color, strength, or the like; steely.

  • Steel (adjective)

    Of or belonging to the manufacture or trade in steel.

  • Steel (adjective)

    Containing steel.

  • Steel (adjective)

    Engraved on steel.

  • Steel (verb)

    To edge, cover, or point with steel.

  • Steel (verb)

    To harden or strengthen; to nerve or make obdurate; to fortify against.

  • Steel (verb)

    To back with steel.

  • Steel (verb)

    To treat a liquid with steel for medicinal purposes.

  • Steel (verb)

    To press with a flat iron.

  • Steel (verb)

    To cause to resemble steel in appearance.

  • Steel (verb)

    To steelify; to turn iron into steel.

  • Steel (verb)

    To electroplate an item, particularly an engraving plate, with a layer of iron.

  • Steel (verb)

    To sharpen with a honing steel.

  • Steel (proper noun)

    Coldbath Fields Prison in London, closed in 1877.

Wiktionary
  • Steel (noun)

    a hard, strong grey or bluish-grey alloy of iron with carbon and usually other elements, used as a structural and fabricating material

    “steel girders”

  • Steel (noun)

    used as a symbol or embodiment of strength and firmness

    “nerves of steel”

    “a steel will”

  • Steel (noun)

    a rod of roughened steel on which knives are sharpened.

  • Steel (verb)

    mentally prepare (oneself) to do or face something difficult

    “his team were steeling themselves for disappointment”

    “she steeled herself to remain calm”

Oxford Dictionary

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