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What is iron, what is steel?

Course video 4 of 23

This course introduces the very first history of iron and steel. You will learn from where iron came from to the first production of iron by human industry. Information on the basic concept of iron and steel will be covered.

Steel, ever-evolving material, has been the most preeminent of all materials since it can provide wide range of properties that can meet ever-changing requirements. In this course, we explore both fundamental and technical issues related to steels, including iron and steelmaking, microstructure and phase transformation, and their properties and applications.

Taught By

Kim, Nack Joon
Professor
Suh, Dong Woo
Associate Professor
Kang, Youn-Bae
Professor
Kim, Sung-Joon
Professor

Transcript

Let’s think about how iron came to existence and think about where iron came from.

According to astrophysicist, iron, like all other heavy elements, is created in the center

of massive stars and is expelled into space once this start exploded as supernovae at

the end of their lives.

The material then mixes with the interstellar matter and may form new stars and planetary

systems.

The most abundant metal in earth is known to be iron because their outer core of the

earth is filled with iron and liquid (Fe-Ni alloy).

Therefore, iron makes up to 34 percent of the Earth's mass and is the fourth most abundant

element in the crust.

That's why iron makes up to five percent of the Earth's crust and the seventy percent

of the Earth's cores.

In earth, Iron exist in the several forms such as carbonates and oxides representatively

in the form of hematite, magnetite, and ilmenite.

And then some iron exist in the form of sulfides.

According to the stats, 800 billion tons of iron ore resources are available.

This contains more than 230 billion tons of iron.

Representative minerals are as I talked to you previously hematite, magnetite, great

height, and some are in the form of pyrite and some other mineral in the form of ilmenite.

Then I'll think about how iron ore formed in the beginning.

Over 1.8 billion years ago, Earth’s oceans contained the abundant dissolved iron in the

form of every 2 plus but, almost no dissolved oxygen was available.

The iron ore deposits began forming when the first organism capable of photosynthesis began

releasing oxygen into the water.

This oxygen immediately combined with the abundant dissolved iron to produce hematite

or magnetite.

This mineral is deposited on the sea floor in great abundance, forming what are now known

as banded iron formation.

Banded iron formation was in the form of hematite mostly.

This kind of iron ore are enriched in Australia or Brazil which used to be sea floor when

the iron ore formed.

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