Steel for a greener world?

by Jeremy Horne, Ph.D.

“The better the forming-technology will be, the more strength can be
synthesised in steel – A common goal of steel producer and automotive
business to create a greener world”

Uwe Wolf, Product Manager, Ruukki Deutschland GmbH, Germany [1]

This quote begs a question: how is steel made today and how has this been an
improvement over what was done before, and why?

We look to the criteria for improvement of a steel – strength, durability, being

environmentally friendly, and our case, application to automotive needs. To appreciate
how far we have come, we look to an article appearing in the 26 March 2009 edition of
The Hind, steel making has been in existence for some 4,000 years. Archeologists from
the Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan found a five centimeter long piece of what
they think is a knife from a site called “Kaman-Kalehoyuk” 100 kilometers southeast of
Ankara Turkey. The stratum from which it was recovered was dated at 2100 to 1950 C.E.,
or about 4,000 years before present. Another piece of steel was found in 1994 from the
same site [2]. Technically, this might be deemed as the beginning of the iron age, when
peoples began using iron (actually, steel) as the principle substance for making objects
requiring durability.

From then to now, we have developed processes that allow steel to be made into one of
the most durable and versatile materials on earth. Beyond that, steel offers a potential
for almost total environmentally friendly use in that the substance can be recycled. We
merely need to research and develop better techniques for extracting the ore, refining it,
and combining other recyclable material to create a more usable substance. To
understand how requires a review of the refining process.

The smelting process

A key objective is removing elements the common ones being manganese, sulfur, silicon,
and phosphorus. When heated, the iron is separated from surrounding materials, but
invariably, a certain amount of carbon is contained, and the amount of carbon determines
the quality of steel.

There are several melt stages of iron, each involving a concentration of carbon, as
indicated by the following graphic:

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 Various melt stages of iron ore [3]

Iron pyrite, like copper and cassiterite, is a prime candidate for smelting to see what
happens, and the result is a substance malleable enough to be formed into a hard
substance suitable for applications requiring hardness and durability. (In powdered
taconite, iron can be separated by magnets, with no melting needed.) The primary
aspect of the melting, or smelting process is controlling the amount of carbon. Metals,
themselves, are crystals, made up of atoms of an element, in this case, iron. Carbon,
itself, enters into degree of hardness of steel by controlling the lattice structure, i.e.,
managing how atoms in the iron will slip past each other.

Smelting is the process of using heat to drive oxygen from the element. This is done by
adding carbon to the iron ore to lower the melting point, which normally is at 1565
degrees C. Ancient peoples added charcoal, but modern processes use coke, a highly
carbonized form of coal. As the iron ore (oxide) approaches this point, it begins to absorb
carbon at an ever increasing rate, the oxygen in the iron oxide being united with the
carbon ultimately to create carbon dioxide. Some of the carbon remains behind mixed in
with the iron, along with other material, the waste part known as “slag”. From all this
emerges cast iron with a carbon content of about three to four percent. That this material
is rather brittle can be shown by beating on it with a hammer; it shatters. This means
that cast iron cannot be forged, or shaped by a hammer on an anvil, as early blacksmiths

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did. In beginning of the industrial revolution the liquid iron emerging from a blast furnace
(a an enclosed area containing the iron ore, charcoal and flux – to remove impurities –
and fed with forced air from a bellows or water driven pump) was poured down a trough
on the sides of which were long molds. This foundry assemblage resembled a sow
feeding piglets and from this the term “pig iron” was born.

To create a malleable, or wrought iron (.02-,08 percent carbon), the temperature has to
be raised even further, driving out more carbon. The higher the temperature rises the
less carbon there is, with the melting point of the mixture rising. However, modern steel
has a carbon content of about .2 to 1.5 percent carbon [4], and there was no easy
method of achieving this. In the latter 1700s, as the iron ore was heated to these
temperatures, bits of iron would collect and be fished out by hand in puddling furnaces.
This inefficiency was overcome with the Bessemer process (named after the inventor
Henry Bessemer), where air was forced up through the bottom of the boiling ore in this
“converter”, and the iron was poured out from the top. Many subsequent refinements
were made to remove impurities, such as the basic Bessemer process, where
phosphorous (basic – after the chemical quality of the material used to combine with the
phosphorous) was removed. Basic substances, such as limestone, also remove sulfur to
avoid loss of ductility. This Thomas basic process was the forerunner of the numerous
modern techniques for refining the steel we have today, some of which are:

• Siemen Martin Furnace – broad, shallow furnace, where various forms of iron –
pig, recycled, and wrought irons – are mixed to result in the desired carbon
content, the exhaust gasses used to preheat incoming air - largely replaced by
basic oxygen steel converters
• Oxy Steel Converters – also known as basic oxygen steelmaking – modification of
Bessemer process, where pure oxygen replaces the forced air and basic materials
consist of calcium and magnesium oxides
• Electric Arc Furnace – used for producing carbon and specialty steel in relatively
limited amounts.

Today, most steel is cast continuously and emerges as slabs, which are rolled out as
plates or in sheet metal form. A much smaller proportion of steel is cast into ingots,
which are then reformed into slabs, billets (for bars, rods, and wires), or blooms
(structural steel, as in I-beams and rails).

Steel can be heat treated, annealing, and quenching and tempering being the most
common. With annealing the steel is heated to where there is a recrystalization of the
iron so as the introduction of other substances, such as metals, can be accomplished.
Quenching and tempering (turning martensite into cementite, or spheroidite – see above
chart) involves the heating and subsequent cooling by oil or water so as to control the
internal structure, resulting in a steel that is more malleable and resistant to fractures.

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Automotive uses of steel
When cars were first produced, there essentially was only grade of steel. Today a car
consists of many types of steel, each designed with special characteristics, such as
strength or malleability, and for specific uses. Terms, such as “D.P. (dual phase)” and
“TRIP (for transformation-induced plasticity)” belie their uses [5]. Automotive steels are
primarily used in structures, having high strength but with low weight and resistance to
crashes. Either by composition, as in alloys or by structural design [6] steel can be made
suitable for a wide variety of applications from automotive frames to screws. Other
metals, such as nickel, are combined with steel in gears, drive shafts, and special
vehicles for low temperature and/or high wear uses [7]. The questions are how much
steel should be used in a car and why.

A central issue is whether steel should steel be used as the primary substance in building
a car. With declining petroleum reserves, it can be asked how many components using
that substance can be replaced with steel. Two major areas need discussion –
environmental impacts and the ability to adapt steel to uses now assumed by plastics.

Environmental considerations
We saw earlier that a main consideration in developing steel is to make it
environmentally friendly, the three main factors being the availability of iron ore, ability
for a steel to be recyclable, and the third to have it interact as little as possible with the
environment in a deleterious way. While iron is one of the most abundant elements on
earth, the available reserves of ore from which iron can be extracted easily is dwindling,
as it can be expected logically. Recycling is readily doable, inasmuch as a steel's
fabrication is based on heating, where any steel can be melted an re-fabricated. A search
for “automotive steel” or “automotive uses for steel” will invariably yield many articles
describing a 95-100% recycle rate in cars, such as the U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet
2005-3145. Steel, itself, is 100% recyclable [8], the most obvious and dramatic example
of recycling being the steel scrap drives conducted during the Second World War. Today
most of the steel used in a car is from steel used previously [9].
The central problem here is whether the substances mixed with each other in the
automotive steel can be separated out and re-used. With respect to metals, such is a
relatively uncomplicated process, as the refinement of a polymetallic earth demonstrates.
If other substances are mixed, as in a plastic, the different melting points of the material
in the steel offer the opportunity to separate those, as well.

The manufacture of steel produces pollutants in the form of the production of coke,
manufacture of pig iron from iron ores in the form of sinterized (ore mixed with coke and
limestone but not melted) lump, and pelletized ore, dust, particulate matter, and
wastewater contaminants, such as, heavy metals, cyanide and fluoride. Of course, steel
directly produced from the ore, as in an electric arc furnace, is the preferred method, not
only for the reduction of pollution but because the electricity may be produced by clean
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energy sources, such as wind, geothermal, and tidal. In the case of the basic oxygen
furnace, gas as a by-product can be used as a fuel source. Rather than using coke,
biofuels can be used. Even in 1998, it was quite feasible to reduce steelmaking to an
almost zero-level of environmental contamination [10]. As to steel, itself decomposing in
the environment, ultimately it is completely biodegradable, the end product known to us
as rust, or iron oxide, the form from which steel emerged originally.

Ways to improve steel - the future of steel

Reducing the amount of steel in an automobile results in two major benefits. First, the
less steel that is used, the better it is for the environment, as less of the iron has to be
extracted. The second of weight reduction per unit volume of steel used means greater
fuel economy for the vehicle and stress on the roads. Naturally, there need has to be the
same amount or better durability. One can ask the question in the form of iron +
[element]____ = alloy type which yields the property of _____ . We look for the criteria
of ductility, weight, thermal characteristics, etc. Manganese, for example reduces weight.
Chromium inhibits oxidation. Vanadium, titanium, and tungsten strengthen steel.

Non-metallic substances, such as epoxies, can be added to powdered steel to enable

detailed shaping and strengthening [11]. Embedding pigments in steel can make current
day expensive and toxic painting unnecessary. We can ask about fabricating bubble,
mesh, or foam steel with hardening agents or alloys to create superlight and strong steel.
Already this is being done with nickel, with polymers being mixed with the element. The
mixture is blown up with air, and the polymer dissolved, leaving behind the foamed
nickel. The nickel has proved to be both durable and able to retain its original shape after
compression [12].

Ideally a fabrication substance should be 100% recyclable, with the process minimally
impinging upon the environment. To assess whether this is possible, one must look at the
total energy cycle from fabrication to return to the original material. Heat is the primary
form of energy in this process, and we need to consider its generation in context. In
ancient times that heat was generated chiefly by wood, and later by coal; now we have
petroleum and electricity. Not only should the substance be renewable, but the energy
used to produce it should be, as well, if we are to look at the total cycle of materials
production in searching for an environmentally friendly material.
We also have to consider whether it is possible to create forms of the material that can
lessen the quantities used, and we look to alloying. For example, plastic gears are
sometimes used to lessen noise, but their durability is doubtful. Could it not be possible
to find a steel alloy that can be used to fabricate a part in which the surfaces are
somewhat resilient to cushion forceful contact so as to lessen or eliminate noise? What of
the ubiquitously corroded battery terminals for which no one seems to want or be able to
find a substitute? Chromium and copper appear to be viable candidates to correct a
problem that will be even more critical in electric vehicles. For all the wires that run

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throughout a vehicle, could not there be an embedding of electric circuits within steel,
perhaps contained in a semi-flexible silica-based conduit, thus avoiding a reliance on
plastics? While each application may not contribute substantially to lessening our
dependence upon on non-renewable resources, especially petroleum, the sum of the
applications can be substantial enough to make the effort well worth while.
All the while, the search for making existing applications more environmentally friendly is
desired, as in reducing weight while increasing durability. One thinks of brake calipers,
gears, front end parts, brake rotors, engines, and sheeting as prime candidates for
weight reduction. Since the 1950s, automobile weights per internal volume have been
reduced considerably, and even a 20% further reduction in weight would not only add to
fuel economy but conserve dwindling natural resources.

Various steel alloys [13]

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For example, in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, fuel tanks are thick so as to contain high
pressure buildup, but new fabrication processes promise a lighter steel fuel tank. The
Strategic Alliance for Steel Fuel Tanks (SASFT), along with the Auto/Steel Partnership and
the United States Automotive Materials Partnership, is working on a way to manufacture
lightweight sealed steel fuel tanks that are 30 to 40% less in weight, as opposed to the
steel fuel tanks used now [14]. Aluminum and magnesium are good candidates.
Emerging research indicates that silicon can be mixed with iron to create a glass steel,
which can exhibit both hardness and malleability [15]. It is not out of the question to
produce a steel containing carbon nanotubes that can lighten steel and make it stronger.
We know now that the several thousands of years-old Damascus steel contained carbon
nanotubes, although they were not there intentionally, but resulted from the forging
process of repeated folding and hammering of the iron [16]. If the nanotubes can be
manufactured purposefully, a super-durable steel can be produced. It seems only a
matter of time before the secret behind making the legendary Damascus swords is
revealed.

Speaking of billionth of scale magnitudes, with nanotechnology, itself, it is not

inconceivable that we will be able to fabricate just about any form of steel we choose,
even those which may be able to supplant components made from rapidly decreasing
petroleum. This would be especially important for applications such as in transmissions,
cylinder walls, and other high stress areas.

References(Subject is indicated by URL – accessed 29 March 2012)

[1] http://www.automotive-steels.com/Event.aspx?id=692348
[2] http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200903261611.htm, See also,
http://www.jiaa-kaman.org/en/excavation.html#kaman
[3] GNU Free Documentation License
[4] J.S. Spoerl, “A Brief History Of Iron And Steel Production”,
http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/h-carnegie-steel.htm
[5] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/science/15steel.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
[6] e.g.: http://www.a-sp.org/publications.htm
[7] http://www.worldautosteel.org/SteelBasics/Definitions/Automotive-Definitions.aspx,
http://www.autosteel.org/
[8]http://www.steel.org/en/sitecore/content/Global/Document
%20Types/News/2006%20and%20Before/Auto%20-%20ULSAB%20Uses%20Green
%20Steel%20-%20The%20Most%20Recycled%20Material.aspx
[9] http://www.worldautosteel.org/Environment/Recycling/Automobiles.aspx
[10] Iron and Steel Manufacturing -
http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/Content/EnvironmentalGuidelines
[11] http://www.hypoxy.com/automotive.htm
[12] http://discovermagazine.com/2012/mar/31-engineers-concoct-the-worlds-lightest-

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material
[13] Smith, William F.; Hashemi, Javad (2001), Foundations of Material Science and
Engineering (4th ed.), McGraw-Hill, p. 394
[14] http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/08/sasft-20110801.html
[15] http://discovermagazine.com/2011/may/07-strange-new-glass-proves-twice-as-
durable-as-steel
[16] http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/11/061116-nanotech-swords.html

Resources(Subject is indicated by URL – accessed 29 January

2012)
http://www.automotive-steels.com
http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs014.htm
https://www.google.com/search?q=steel+manufacturing&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-
8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V-chPzlCFM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea_7Rnd8BTM&feature=related
http://www.nickelinstitute.org/en/NickelUseInSociety/MaterialsSelectionAndUse/Automoti
ve/AutomotiveApplications.aspx
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/british_prehistory/ironage_intro_01.shtml

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