IntechOpen New Advances in Steel Engineering

Steel engineering is a vast subject. It encompasses all the methodologies and procedures necessary to fabricate steel as well as includes all the special characteristics that steel must have to work properly in each specific job or demand. Designing steel can not be compared to a cooking recipe – one must understand the intrinsic relationships between each component (elements) of the steel and how those elements interact to provide specific mechanical properties, corrosion resistance, electrical conductivity, and so on. To achieve those properties, the elements must combine in a way during fusion or any similar fabrication process to create the main phases of the steel, which ultimately is the ordered crystal structure that will create the desired property on the material. Thermomechanical treatments are also employed on raw steel to achieve even better properties and to improve steel’s resistance to different demands. This book presents the latest processes, techniques, and methodologies used to create new types of steels and to improve the different properties of those steels already known. It also discusses new fabrication processes, the inclusion of alloying elements, and new heat treatments or thermomechanical routes to demonstrate how steel properties can be optimally designed and engineered.