Excerpt from Papers and Discussions on Experiments With Steel

Steel as a material for shipbuilding and boiler-making has for years been used to some extent. Its general introduction has, however, been delayed, owing to the fact that it could not be regarded as invariably reliable, as it frequently occurred that amongst a batch of plates, the greater part of which had been considered satisfactory, a proportion was found not to possess the properties required, and to fail in the ship yard or boiler yard. It has been argued, and probably with some truth, that in some cases a prejudice was unjustly created against the use of steel owing to its failure under treatment which should never have been applied to it. The mild steel, which is now being introduced, is of a softer and more ductile character, and much better able to bear the manipulation to which it is subjected, still in some respects it requires Special care in its treatment.

Steel is mainly distinguished from wrought iron by its property of becoming harder and more brittle when raised to a red heat and cooled suddenly in water. This peculiarity is attributed to the former contain ing a greater amount of carbon than the latter, in which generally only a trace of it is found. Steel which contains about 1 per cent. Of carbon possesses a very high tensile strength; takes a high degree of temper when heated and cooled suddenly in water, but being brittle in charac ter is unsuited for shipbuilding and boiler-making, both on account of its uncertainty in withstanding the necessary operations in the course of manufacture, and also because of the danger of em ploying a brittle material to withstand the strains to which steam-boilers and the hulls of vessels are continually exposed. In the mild steel under considera tion the amount of carbon is very small, and manufacturers consider as a proof of its suitability for the purposes mentioned that it will when heated and cooled suddenly in water bear bending double. The fact of the material, when treated as 'described, not taking the degree of hard ness usual with ordinary steel has led some persons to doubt the advis ability of the term steel being applied to it, upon the ground that it is only a purer form of iron. The experience which has been gained with it has, however, shown that it differs in many respects from wrought iron, and that the term mild steel in the absence of a better, which has not yet been suggested, is perhaps the most suitable which can be used.

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