Me? Argumentative? I did say should not are.
However, as I have been accused of ignorance and have been told that it behooves (sic) me to learn the language before playing in the industry..... I consulted a book!!
The term ALLOY applies generally to any combination of metals. Steel is a mixture of iron and carbon but carbon is not a metal so this mixture cannot be called an alloy; it is STEEL. Steels with less than 0.15% carbon are technically classed as IRONs, although the name steel is used especially when other alloying elements are present
As soon as other elements are added; specified minimum amounts for copper, manganese, nickel or silicon or any amounts of titanium, tungsten, or molybdenum the mixture is called an ALLOY STEEL. However, when very large percentages of other elements are added the result is a High-alloy steel but these can have very low carbon so they are often not steel in the true sense, but are IRON ALLOYS.
STAINLESS STEEL is the name for iron alloys which have a high chromium content (and low carbon).
So TECHNICALLY it is the carbon content that distinguishes steel from iron, the presence of other alloying elements that distinguish alloy steels and the amount and purpose of other alloying elements that define stainless steels.
When the carbon content in an iron carbon mixture is between 2 and 6% the material is called cast iron.  |