What is the difference between pure iron and steel?

Answer 1

The difference is percentage of carbon, the main alloy element. Those irons containing less than 2% carbon are known as steels while those containing more than 2% carbon are known as pig iron. Pig iron is obtained from iron ore by processing it with coke in a blast furnace. This pig iron is then further processed to reduce the carbon content in different furnaces to obtain steels. These steels can be then further processed to obtain alloy steels, stainless steels by adding elements such as silicon, manganese, chromium, nickel, etc.

What happens is that the carbon atoms fit into the latticework of the iron atoms, making it more rigid and stronger.
Iron is an element- a pure substance. It rusts (forms iron oxide) on exposure to water and air.

Steel of a mixture of two elements- iron and carbon.

Answer 2

Elemental iron is soft, actually softer than aluminum. Steel is iron with impurities added, usually carbon. The carbon atoms fit into the latticework of the iron atoms, making it up to a thousand times stronger than elemental iron. Depending on the desired effect, the mixture of carbon to iron can range from 0.1% to 2.1%.

Answer 3

Iron Ore is the material which is mined from the earth, containing relatively high concentrations of the metallic element iron, which is processed to produce Pig Iron. Pig Iron is the term used for elemental iron refined (concentrated, then smelted) from ore, cast into ingot or bar stock, and then used as the base material for iron alloys. An alloy is the combination of various elements to form a metal which has the characteristics desired for a particular application. Steel is an alloy containing iron and various other elements. A steel used for knife blades, for example, contains varying amounts of the following elements: Carbon Cobalt Copper Chromium Manganese Molybdenum Nickel Phosphorus Selenium Silicon Sulfur Tungsten Vanadium These elements, when added to iron, make it more flexible, tougher, more easily sharpened, less vulnerable to corrosion, and add other characteristics necessary to the type of tool or assembly being produced.

Answer 4

Iron is a single pure element.

Steel is an alloy. It's largest component is iron, other possible components are nickel, cobalt, chromium, and almost always carbon. These all affect the properties of the steel in different ways.

Summary: It depends what kind of steel.

Answer 5

iron means a metal with elemental formula Fe while steel is a type of iron containing .11 % to 2.11 % of carbon

Answer 6

Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, sometimes with additional components added in small amounts to imparts specific properties..

Answer 7

In the smelting process, carbon is added to iron, which makes it both lighter and stronger; this alloy is called steel.

Answer 8

Steel starts out as iron ore. To make it steel the impurities are taken out by a method of blowing air into it called the Bessemer method.

Answer 9

Yes. Steel is an alloy that contains iron and carbon, as well as other elements, depending on the desired properties of the steel. There are many different compositions of steel.