Steel Science and Technology

Steel is an alloy that mostly consists of iron and carbon. It is the most important component used in buildings, infrastructure, ships, tools, automobiles and weapons. The major reason for its constant usage is its tensile strength and low cost. The base material of steel is iron which can take two forms- body-centered cubic and face-centered cubic. The body-centered cubic contains one atom in the center and 8 atoms at the vertices of each cubic unit cell. While, in the face-centered cubic, there is one atom at the center of each of the 6 faces of the cubic unit cell and 8 atoms at its vertices. Carbon may contribute up to 2.14% of the weight of a steel alloy. The varying amount of carbon and other elements affects the chemical and physical build-up of the final steel. It also affects few characteristics of steel such as its hardness, tempering behavior, quenching behavior and tensile strength. This book contains some path-breaking studies in the field of steel science and technology. As this field is emerging at a rapid pace, the contents of this book will help the readers understand the modern concepts and applications of the subject.