What is carbon steel?

Carbon steel gate valve is a kind of gate valve system, the material is carbon steel. Many people used to hear the name of carbon steel, but they don't know what it exactly is. In this article, we will briefly introduce what carbon steel is and its advantages and disadvantages.

What Carbon Steel Is

Carbon steel is an iron-carbon alloy with a carbon content of 0.0218% to 2.11%. Generally, the higher the carbon content in carbon steel, the greater the hardness and the higher the strength, but the lower the ductility. The mechanical properties of carbon steel depend on the carbon content of the steel. The general steel without alloying elements is also called ordinary carbon steel, and its carbon content is less than two percent. In addition to carbon, carbon steel also contains a small amount of silicon, manganese, sulfur, and phosphorus.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Carbon Steel

Advantage

1. Carbon steel can get higher hardness and better wear resistance after heat treatment.

2. The hardness of the carbon steel in the annealed state is very moderate, and it also has good machinability.

3. The raw materials of carbon steel are very common, easy to obtain, and the cost of production is relatively low.

Disadvantage

1. The hot hardness of carbon steel will be poor, because when the working temperature of the tool is more than two hundred degrees, its hardness and wear resistance will drop sharply.

2. The hardenability of carbon steel is very low. The diameter of completely quenched carbon steel when water quenched is generally about 15-18 mm, and the diameter or thickness when it is not quenched is only about 6 mm, so it will be easier to deform and crack.

The Classifications of Carbon Steel

1. According to the purpose, carbon steel can be divided into three categories, including carbon structural steel, carbon tool steel, and easy-to-cut structural steel.

2. According to the smelting method, carbon steel can be divided into three types composed of open hearth steel, converter steel and electric furnace steel.

3. According to the method of deoxidation, carbon steel can be divided into boiling steel, killed steel, semi-killed steel, and special killed steel, which are respectively represented by the code F, Z, b, and TZ.

4. According to the carbon content, carbon steel can be divided into three categories which include low carbon steel, medium carbon steel and high carbon steel.

5. According to the content of sulfur and phosphorus, carbon steel can be divided into four kinds. The ordinary carbon steel, which will have a higher content of sulfur and phosphorus, while high-quality carbon steel will have lower amounts of phosphorus and sulfur. And The content of phosphorus and sulfur of higher-quality steel will be be lower. There is the special high-quality carbon steel, which has the lowest content of sulfur and phosphorus.

The fields of application of carbon steel are relatively wide. Carbon steel gate valve is one of the applications of carbon steel, which makes the gate valve lighter. If you want to learn about the carbon steel gate valve please find more on our websites.