What Is the Differences Between Steel and Titanium

 

What Is Steel?

Steel refers to a group of iron-carbon alloys. The term steel generally refers to carbon steel, which is a widely used metal, known for its high strength and low cost that is commonly used in the construction industry and the manufacturing of a variety of products. Steel is an alloy made of iron and a small amount of carbon, less than 2%, along with other alloying metals, depending on the type of steel. If the ratio of carbon is higher than 2%, the alloy becomes cast iron.

Generally, steels offer good weldability, machinability, formability, and high conductivity, and magnetism. Steel is also very cheap in comparison to other metals with similar properties, such as titanium. This is due to the abundance of iron, which is the main component of steel.

The four main types of steel are carbon steel, alloy steel, stainless steel, and tool steel. Carbon steels are the main type of steel and consist primarily of iron and carbon. Alloy steels are steels that contain more than 5% of other alloying metals to improve certain properties such as corrosion resistance or formability. Stainless steels are steel alloyed with 10-20% chromium, along with nickel or manganese. Stainless steels offer superior corrosion resistance to other types of steel. Tool steels are steel alloyed with metals such as vanadium, tungsten, or cobalt. The presence of these alloying metals greatly increases the strength, heat resistance, and durability of the steel.

What Are the Basic Elemental Composition of Steel?
Steel is an alloy that consists mainly of iron and not more than 2% carbon. If the carbon content exceeds 2%, it is classified as cast iron. Steel with up to 0.3% carbon is known as low-carbon or mild steel. Between 0.3% and 0.6% carbon content is classified as medium-carbon steel, and between 0.6% and 2% carbon content is known as high-carbon steel.

Different types of steel may contain different alloying elements or ratios. For example, stainless steel contains between 10 and 20% chromium, as well as varying amounts of silicon, manganese, and nickel.

What Are the ISO Standards for Steel?

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published numerous standards on steel manufacturing, quality assessment, and classification. Arguably the most important is ISO 4948:1982, which defines standards classifying steels based on their chemical compositions. Among other things, this standard defines 2.0% as the maximum carbon content of steel, above which an iron-based alloy containing carbon is classified as cast iron.

What Are the Primary Physical and Mechanical Properties of Steel?
Carbon and stainless steel have the following properties:

Property Carbon Steel Stainless Steel
Carbon content Low carbon steel: 0.05-0.15%Medium carbon steel: 0.15-0.5%High carbon steel: 0.5-1%Ultra-high carbon steel: 1%-2% Less than 1.2%
Tensile strength 161-3200 MPa 32.3-3100 MPa
Yield strength 275-3340 MPa 25-2500 MPa
Hardness (Brinell) 163-600 80-600
Impact resistance (Izod) 3-18 J 16.3-208 J
Thermal conductivity 19-52 W/m-K 10-34.3 W/m-K
Melting point 1410 – 1540 °C 1230 – 1530 °C
Table 1: Physical and Mechanical Properties of Carbon Steel and Stainless Steel

Tool steels are a special classification of steel with several different types of tool steels, depending on how they are produced and their composition. In general, tool steels exhibit better toughness, hardness, thermal resistance, and wear resistance than carbon steels.

Alloy steels also encompass a wide range of specific steels, depending on the additional alloying metals, with a variety of properties being affected.

How Does the Density and Weight of Steel Compare to Other Metals?
Steel has a density of 7.85 g/cm3. As a comparison, aluminum has a density of 2.712 g/cm3, while platinum has a density of 21.45 g/cm3. Table 2 shows the density of various metals:

Metal Density (g/cm 3 )
Steel 7.85
Iron 7.874
Tin 7.287
Brass 8.60
Bronze 8.20
Silver 10.49
Aluminum 2.712
Copper 8.96
Table 2: Density of Various Metals

What Are the Most Common Applications for Steel in Industry?
The following list shows the most common applications of steel:

Globally, the majority of steel is used for construction purposes. This includes the construction of buildings as well as infrastructure such as bridges. The relatively low manufacturing costs make steel ideal for construction.
The automotive industry uses steel in manufacturing automobiles, mainly as part of the body, drive train, and suspension.
Steel is widely used for the manufacture of consumer products.
Steel is commonly used in the manufacture of tools and heavy machinery such as tractors or bulldozers.
Household appliances contain steel, usually as part of the body or as components such as motors.
Steel is widely used in electrical equipment, such as: motors, transformer cores, and electricity pylons.
What Are the Common Methods Used for Shaping Steel?
Some of the most common methods of metal forming for steel include:

Rolling: Sheets of steel are passed between rollers, reducing the sheets to a desired thickness.
Bending: Steel sheets are bent using various equipment and machinery, to form them into a desired shape.
Welding: Different pieces of steel are joined by melting and fusing them.
Casting: Steel is melted and poured into a mold to harden into the desired shape.
Forging: Steel is heated to a temperature that makes it more malleable. The heated steel is then compressed using rollers, hammers, or presses, and formed into the desired shape.
How Does the Use of Alloying Elements in Steel Affect Its Properties and Applications?
Adding other alloying elements to steel can change its properties and make it more suitable for different applications. Some examples of alloy steels include:

Tool Steel: Tool steel is formed by adding elements, such as chromium, nickel, silicon, tungsten, or vanadium, to medium or high-carbon steels. This increases the wear resistance and hardness of the steel and makes it suitable for use in tools.
Stainless Steel: Stainless steel contains at least 10.5% chromium. Stainless steel has high corrosion resistance, temperature resistance, and hardness compared to regular carbon steel.
High-Strength Low-Alloy (HSLA) Steel: HSLA steel is formed by adding elements such as vanadium, titanium, or boron. These steels usually have better corrosion resistance and higher strength than carbon steel.
What Are the Advantages of Using Steel?
Using steel has the following advantages over comparable metals:

Steel has a good strength-to-weight ratio for the cost.
Has a relatively low production cost compared to other high-strength metals.
Certain types of steel have excellent corrosion resistance.
Steel is fairly abundant and readily available.
There are many different steel types and grades, depending on the combinations of alloying elements used. These different types have a range of properties that make them appropriate choices for specific types of applications.
What Are the Disadvantages of Using Steel?
Steel has a few disadvantages compared to other metals:

Carbon steel, which is the most common type of steel, is prone to corrosion.
The weight of steel may make it unsuitable for certain applications.
What Are the Key Properties That Differentiate Steel From Other Metals?
Steel has a fairly good strength-to-weight ratio. While it is not the strongest, nor the lightest, it is a metal that is extremely common, widely available, and cheap. Its strength, formability, and weldability make it perfectly suitable for general manufacturing and construction scenarios.

In specific scenarios, such as where weight is a deciding factor, metals such as titanium might be better, but in the majority of cases, steel is the “good enough” solution that beats out many others in terms of price and availability. The different grades and types of steel also make it an extremely versatile metal.

What Is the Differences Between Steel and Titanium?

Steel and titanium are both metals, but titanium has a higher strength-to-weight ratio than steel, and is more often used in applications for which saving weight is critical. There are some other differences between the two:

Titanium is a chemical element that is generally used as part of an alloy, while steel is an alloy.
Titanium has a better strength-to-weight ratio than steel.
Steel is denser than titanium.
Steel is less expensive than titanium. This is due to its relative ease of production and use in manufacturing compared to titanium. It is thus both less expensive and more easily available.
Steel is prone to corrosion, while titanium has good corrosion resistance.
What Is Tin?
Tin is a soft, silvery metal with the chemical symbol Sn. It is widely used as a component of alloys, such as in solder or bronze. Tin has low strength, high ductility, and very good corrosion resistance properties.

What Is the Use of  Titanium?

Tin is mainly used as an alloying element. One of the most common uses of tin is in solder, in which tin is alloyed with lead for soldering electric circuits or pipes. Tin is alloyed with copper to form various types of bronze, depending on the ratio of tin to copper, as well as the presence of other alloying metals.

In its pure form, molten tin is used in the production of float glass. In this process, molten glass is floated on molten tin to form glass with a perfectly flat surface.

Pure tin is also used as a corrosion-resistant coating. Tin plating is most commonly used with steel containers to form tin cans for food preservation.

What Is the Basic Elemental Composition of Tin?

Tin is a pure chemical element, with the symbol Sn. It does not contain any other elements as part of its composition.

However, tin is mostly used in conjunction with other metals. Some examples include:

Pewter is an alloy consisting of 85-99% tin, with antimony and copper making up the majority of the rest of the composition.
Bronze is a copper-tin alloy consisting of 6-12% tin, with copper being the major alloying element.
Tin cans are generally made of steel with a thin tin plating that adds corrosion resistance.
Solder is made of a tin-lead alloy consisting of 40-60% tin and lead.
What Are the ISO Standards for Tin?
The ISO does not have any standards about tin specifically, but they do have standards on the use of tin. Two examples are ISO 12224-1:1997, which pertains to the classification and testing of solder wire, and ISO 2093:1986 which describes specifications for electroplated tin coatings.

What Are the Primary Physical Properties of Tin?

Tin is a soft, highly ductile, non-magnetic metal with a silvery color. It has good corrosion resistance and low strength. Table 3 shows some of the physical properties of tin:

Property Value
Tensile strength 220 MPa
Yield strength 4.5-90.3 MPa
Thermal conductivity 32.6 – 80.8 W/m-K
Melting point 231.968 °C
Hardness (Brinell 2.3-3.9
Table 3: Physical Properties of Tin

How Does Tin in Bronze Alloys Differ From Other Metals?
Tin and copper form various types of bronze that differ from other metals. Bronze consists of between 6-12% tin, with the majority of the alloy consisting of copper. Other alloying metals such as lead may also be added to produce different types of bronze. When a small amount of phosphorous is added to a copper-tin alloy with 0.5 – 11% tin, the resulting alloy is called phosphor bronze. A 22% tin-78% copper alloy forms bell metal, while an 85%-95% tin-based alloy with 5-12% antimony and 1-2% copper produces pewter.

What Are the Common Uses of Steel?

What Are the Advantages of Using Tin?
The following list shows some advantages of using tin:

It has very good corrosion resistance.
Tin has low toxicity, making it suitable for use in food packaging.
The cost of using tin in electroplating applications is relatively inexpensive.
What Are the Disadvantages of Using Tin?
Tin has some disadvantages as a structural material:

It has a low melting point and is unsuitable for use at high temperatures.
Tin in its pure form is extremely soft, with very low strength, making it unsuitable for any applications where strength is required.
What Are the Key Properties That Differentiate Tin From Other Metals?
Tin is a very soft, very ductile metal compared to other metals such as iron or titanium. It has a high resistance to corrosion and a relatively low melting point. Tin is mostly used in alloys.

 

XTJ is a leading OEM Manufacturer that is dedicated to providing one-stop manufacturing solutions from prototype to production. We are proud to be an ISO 9001 certified system quality management company and we are determined to create value in every customer relationship. We do that through collaboration, innovation, process improvements, and exceptional workmanship.