Sauveur, Albert, 1863-1939

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 The Knowledge Bank at The Ohio State University Ohio State Engineer   Title:  What is Iron, What is Steel? New Short Definitions Offered in the Light of Modern Developments Creators:  Sauveur, Albert, 1863-1939 Issue Date:  May-1925 Publisher:  Ohio State University, College of Engineering Citation:  Ohio State Engineer, vol. 8, no. 4 (May, 1925), 17. URI:  http://hdl.handle.net/1811/33692  Appears in Collections: Ohio State Engineer: Volume 8, no. 4 (May, 1925)     THE OHIO, STATE ENGINEER 17WHAT IS IRON, WHAT IS STEEL?New Short Definitions Offered in the Light of JVLodern DevelopmentsBY ALBERT SAIVEUK, Professor- of Metallurgy. Harvard UniversityHE incongruity of calling steel a product thatrepresents the nearest approach to the elementiron commercially obtainable is so glaring thatit once more brings forcibly before us the much-debated question of the nomenclature of iron and steeland reveals the confused and unsatisfactory conditionin which it has been left in spite of the labors of manycommittees appointed to clarify it.Some still contend that the commercially pure iron1 have in mind, known to the trade and to science asArmco Ingot Iron, should be labeled steel, because itis produced in a liquid condition. The manufacturersof this metal have selected for it the name '"ingot iron,"and who can deny that if any metallurgical product wasever entitled to be so described it is indeed this prac-tically carbonless and manganeseless product of theopen-hearth furnace? The term '"ingot iron," however,which is the equivalent of the German term Flusseisen,was proposed by Dr. Wedding to designate bessemersteel, and in Germany it has been applied to the productof the bessemer converter, at least when not too highlycarbonized. Instead of objecting to this iron beingcalled ingot iron, if we followed the dictates of commonsense, we should expel all low-carbon steels from thatclass and admit only Armco Ingot Iron or similar prod-ucts. Indeed, is not this iron the only real ingot ironever commercially manufactured?Attempts have been made to distinguish betweenwrought iron and steel (1) by classifying as steel allmalleable ferrous products which could be hardened byquenching, and as wrought iron those which could not,regardless of the process of manufacture; and (2) byclassifying as steel all malleable products obtained ina fused condition and as wrought iron those obtainedin a pasty condition, regardless of their chemical com-position and physical properties. The first classificationprevails to some extent in Germany, where, however, asalready stated, the mild varieties of steel—that is, thosewhich cannot be hardened by quenching—are known asFlusseisen. The second classification is generally fol-lowed in the United States, England and France, whereit has been accepted not because it satisfies but as theonly apparent way out of the difficulty.As secretary of the international committee "'on uni-form nomenclature of iron and steel," appointed in1910 by the International Association for Testing Mate-rials and of which Professor Howe was chairman, I tookan active part in the deliberations, and in common withother metallurgists, in a spirit of resignation, I ac-cepted the following definition proposed by the commit-tee as the best solution it could offer:Steel.—Iron which is cast from the molten state intoa mass which is usefully malleable, initially at least,in some one range of temperature.Reprinted from Chemical and Metallurgical Engi-neering, May, 1921.Wrought Iron.—Malleable iron which is aggregatedfrom pasty particles without subsequent fusion and con-tains so little carbon that it does not harden usefullywhen cooled rapidly.So long as steel only wras produced in the bessemerconverter and in the open-hearth furnace this classifica-tion, although far fro msound, did not cause much con-fusion. When, however, iron practically carbonless andof a degree of purity never before commercially at-tained was manufactured by the open-hearth process,the shortcomings of this classification wrere strikinglyrevealed; to insist that the product of the open-hearthfurnace, even if it were chemically pure iron, shall becalled steel offends our intelligence and our commonsense.These thoughts have led me to offer for discussion thefollowing short definitions:1. Commercial Iron.—Commercial iron is the elementiron as pure as it can be commercially produced.2. Ingot Iron.—Ingot iron is commercial iron whichhas been produced in a fluid condition and cast.3. Wrought Iron.—Wrought iron is a ferrous metalwhich is malleable and which has been produced froma pasty condition.4. Steel.—-Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, usu-ally containing substantial quantities of manganese.Following this classification, such a material as ArmcoIngot Iron may be further defined as "ingot iron" pro-duced in an open-hearth furnace and containing not morethan 0.02 per cent carbon and not more than 0.035 percent manganese.If, accepting my nomenclature, it is asked that a linebe clearly drawn between ingot iron and steel, I ventureto recall that ingot iron as here defined differs sharplyfrom the mildest steels in regard to their respectivemanganese contents, which in ingot iron should not ex-ceed 0.05 per cent, while steel seldom contains less than0.20 per cent.Again, ingot iron should not contain more than 0.03per cent carbon, while steel seldom contains less than0.05 per cent of that element.Between a metal containing not more than 0.03 percent carbon and not more than 0.05 per cent manganeseand a metal containing not less than 0.05 per cent car-bon and not less than 0.15 or 0.20 per cent manganeseor even, in exceptional cases, as little as 0.10 per cent,there is a wide gap by which ingot iron and the mildeststeels can readily be chemically differentiated.A sound and rational nomenclature of our ferrousproducts is of importance alike to producers, to con-sumers and to scientific men interested in the metal-lurgy of iron and steel. The problem should be ap-proached in a spirit of service and of fairness devoidof commercial considerations, of technical sophistry andof ingenious attempts at begging the question.

What is Iron, What is Steel? New Short Definitions Offered in the Light of Modern Developments

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What is Iron, What is Steel? New Short Definitions Offered in the Light of Modern Developments

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