High carbon steel

Description

Steel is an alloy of iron with a small percentage of carbon. The amount of carbon present changes the iron from a soft easily worked metal into an extremely hard brittle metal. High carbon or hard steel contains between 0.7-1.5% carbon. It is very hard and brittle. High carbon steel is used to fortify warships and vehicles and to make rails.

See also carbon steel.

Synonyms and Related Terms

hard steel; ingot steel; acier à haute teneur en carbone (Fr.); hoog koolstof staal (Ned.); aço de alto teor de carbono (Port.)

Authority

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 161

• Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• Dictionary of Building Preservation, Ward Bucher, ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City, 1996

• Henry Hodges, Artifacts: An Introduction to Early Materials and Technology, Ronald P. Frye, Kingston, Canada, 1988

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998