ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses on steel-making and the composition and structure of plain-carbon steels. In recent years, much research has been conducted into steel production by the 'direct reduction' of iron ore, but it seems that for some years yet the blast-furnace will survive as the major unit in iron production. The process of steel-making is mainly one involving oxidation of impurities present in the original charge, so that they form a slag which floats on the surface of the molten steel or are lost as fume. In the Bessemer process, impurities were removed from the charge of molten pig iron by blowing air through it. The chapter deals with heat-treatment process. The object of the treatment is to obtain a pearlitic type of structure; that is, one in which the steel has been allowed to reach structural equilibrium by employing a fairly slow rate of cooling following the heating process.
