page_title: Iron
section_title: Steelmaking
hierarchical_section_title: Iron / Production of metallic iron / Main industrial route / Steelmaking
context_page_description: Iron is a chemical element with symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is by mass the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust.
  In its metallic state, iron is rare in the Earth's crust, limited mainly to deposition by meteorites. Iron ores, by contrast, are among the most abundant in the Earth's crust, although extracting usable metal from them requires kilns or furnaces capable of reaching 1,500 °C or higher, about 500 °C higher than what is enough to smelt copper. Humans started to master that process in Eurasia only about 2000 BCE, and the use of iron tools and weapons began to displace copper alloys, in some regions, only around 1200 BCE. That event is considered the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. In the modern world, iron alloys, such as steel, inox, cast iron and special steels are by far the most common industrial metals, because of their mechanical properties and low cost.
  Pristine and smooth pure iron surfaces are mirror-like silvery-gray.
context_section_description: In general, the pig iron produced by the blast furnace process contains up to 4–5% carbon, with small amounts of other impurities like sulfur, magnesium, phosphorus, and manganese. The high level of carbon makes it relatively weak and brittle. Reducing the amount of carbon to 0.002–2.1% by mass produces steel, which may be up to 1000 times harder than pure iron. A great variety of steel articles can then be made by cold working, hot rolling, forging, machining, etc. Removing the other impurities, instead, results in cast iron, which is used to cast articles in foundries; for example stoves, pipes, radiators, lamp-posts, and rails.
  Steel products often undergo various heat treatments after they are forged to shape. Annealing consists of heating them to 700–800 °C for several hours and then gradual cooling. It makes the steel softer and more workable.
caption: A pot of molten iron being used to make steel
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