Steelmaking is the second step in producing steel from iron ore. In this stage, impurities such as sulfur, phosphorus, and excess carbon are removed from the raw iron, and alloying elements such as manganese, nickel, chromium and vanadium are added to produce the exact steel required. The old Steel cable of a colliery winding tower Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon content between 0. ... This heap of iron ore pellets will be used in steel production. ... General Name, Symbol, Number sulfur, S, 16 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 16, 3, p Appearance lemon yellow Atomic mass 32. ... General Name, Symbol, Number phosphorus, P, 15 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 15, 3, p Appearance waxy white/ red/ black/ colorless Atomic mass 30. ... General Name, Symbol, Number carbon, C, 6 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 14, 2, p Appearance black (graphite) colorless (diamond) Atomic mass 12. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Atomic mass 55. ... General Name, Symbol, Number manganese, Mn, 25 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 7, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Atomic mass 54. ... General Name, Symbol, Number nickel, Ni, 28 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 10, 4, d Appearance lustrous, metallic Atomic mass 58. ... General Name, Symbol, Number chromium, Cr, 24 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 6, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Atomic mass 51. ... General Name, Symbol, Number vanadium, V, 23 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 5, 4, d Appearance silver-grey metal Atomic mass 50. ...

The materials used in modern steelmaking are:

• The iron produced in a blast furnace, either as molten iron or as pig iron.
• Scrap steel.
• Alloying elements.

The original methods of producing steel were labour-intensive and highly skilled arts involving open crucibles, see finery forge, puddling, blister steel, crucible steel. It has been suggested that Old Furnace, Ironbridge be merged into this article or section. ... Pig iron is raw iron, the immediate product of smelting iron ore with coke and limestone in a blast furnace. ... Iron tapped from the blast furnace is pig iron, and contains significant amounts of carbon and silicon. ... Puddling was a pre-industrial means of making iron and steel. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into crucible steel. ... Crucible steel describes a number of different techniques for making steel alloy by slowly heating and cooling iron and carbon (typically in the form of charcoal) in a crucible. ...

An important aspect of the industrial revolution was the development of large-scale methods of producing forgeable metal (bar iron or steel). The puddling furnace was initially a means of producing wrought iron, but was later applied to steel production. The Bessemer converter was the first successful mass steelmaking process, followed by the open hearth furnace. A Watt steam engine in Madrid. ... A wrought iron railing in Troy, New York. ... Schematic drawing of a puddling furnace The puddling furnace is a metalmaking technology to create wrought iron from the pig iron produced in a blast furnace. ... A wrought iron railing in Troy, New York. ... Bessemer Converter, Schematic Diagram The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. ... Open hearth furnaces are one of a number of kinds of furnace where excess carbon and other impurities are burnt out of pig iron to produce steel. ...

Modern steelmaking techniques include:

• Basic oxygen furnace.
• Electric arc furnace.

The basic oxygen furnace is the place within a foundry where molten iron from the blast furnace is changed into liquid steel. ... An electric arc furnace is a system that heats the charged material by means of an electric arc. ...

See also

• Decarburization
• Steel.
• Steel mill.
• Blast furnace.