Talk:Steel

Crystalline forms of steel, 2 or 3?

The introduction states "Depending on the temperature, it can take two crystalline forms (allotropic forms): body-centred cubic and face-centred cubic." However, the Properties section states "Depending on the carbon content, the martensitic phase takes different forms. Below 0.2% carbon, it takes on a ferrite BCC crystal form, but at higher carbon content it takes a body-centred tetragonal (BCT) structure."

Should the intro make note of this circumstantial BCT form? CopperGenie (talk) 19:49, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

Is "Electrical steel" a steel?

According to another article, electrical steel is an iron-silicon alloy with extremely low amounts of carbon - .005% or lower. My understanding is carbon has to eliminated from electrical steels, so I wonder if it isn't steel in the usual sense - an iron-carbon alloy.

This article discusses ultra-low carbon steels, also known as deep drawing steel. Sometimes phosphorus is added to help reduce carbides and nitrides and to increase strength.

Is it just common usage to describe an iron-silicon alloy or an iron-phosphorus alloy as a "steel"? Perhaps it's technically incorrect to do so. Or does the lede for this Steel article need to define steel a little more broadly? Should the lede say something like "Steel is usually an alloy of iron and carbon..." or perhaps "Steel is an iron-based alloy. Many varieties of steel have been created to achieve a range of desirable properties. Most steels include carbon for improved strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron".

Should there be a section in the article on "ultra-low carbon steels" that includes electrical steel and DDS? There is no link to the article on Electrical steel from the article on Steel. Should there be?

Paul Foxworthy (talk) 01:45, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

What effect did steel have on the engineering world?

what got improved because of it Wiki user372 (talk) 21:58, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

Protection duration

Cullen328 changed protection settings for “Steel” yesterday for a duration of one day. This article should have been semi-protected indefinitely because it’s a high profile article 2603:8080:D03:89D4:E9D7:E06B:32C4:5895 (talk) 23:01, 21 August 2024 (UTC)

No mention of Andrew Carnegie in the STEEL ARTICLE?

How is this possible? The man revolutionized the steel industry. I think we should add a section covering this. Madaman333 (talk) 16:52, 29 September 2024 (UTC)

Henry Bessemer invented the process that Carnegie invested in. Where would he be mentioned here, an article that provides a broad overview of steel and how it is used throughout the world? If you've got referenced works that describe his influence on steel as a whole that would help but for now he's just got a brief mention in the article History of the iron and steel industry in the United States. Reconrabbit 02:17, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

Article review

It has been a while since this article has been reviewed, so I took a look and noticed lots of uncited statements, including entire paragraphs. Should this article go to WP:GAR? Z1720 (talk) 01:51, 29 June 2025 (UTC)

GA Reassessment

Steel

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Article (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch • Watch article reassessment page • Most recent review

Result: Kept. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 15:45, 14 August 2025 (UTC)

Uncited statements, including entire paragraphs. Some have been tagged with "citation needed" since January 2024. Z1720 (talk) 15:46, 5 July 2025 (UTC)

I have gone through and added citations, rewording sections as necessary. If there are any other poorly cited sections feel free to let me know. — 🪫Volatile ^{📲T | ⌨️C} 07:01, 6 July 2025 (UTC)

To me it looks fine, although I noticed some {{page needed}} for, I assume, books. In some cases I have used chapters or sections when the sourcing is not just a single page, which is often the case in science. Ldm1954 (talk) 21:10, 20 July 2025 (UTC)

• @VolatileAnomaly and Ldm1954: I have added citation needed templates to the article. The bulleted lists in "Uses" are uncited, so I just put the cn tag at the end of the last entry. These would need to be resolved before I could recommend a "keep" Z1720 (talk) 21:21, 20 July 2025 (UTC)

  @Z1720 Resolved, I feel a lot of the entries fall under WP:BLUE, so I stuck to citing the major uses. This is in addition to the citations for the variety of uses in the overview of uses I've added. Feel free to challenge any other individual entry and I'll gladly cite accordingly. — 🪫Volatile ^{📲T | ⌨️C} 01:09, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

  @VolatileAnomaly: BLUE is an essay, and so is WP:NOTBLUE, both of which say at the top "It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors...Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints." What is part of the GA criteria is "All content that could reasonably be challenged...must be cited no later than the end of the paragraph". That is a higher bar, and lots of facts can be challenged even if they seem obvious to some. Also, if the fact is so obvious that the reader would know it, I would suggest removing it from the article as it is taking up space for other information that the reader does not know. Some examples of uncited text in the article that could be challenged include "The most common are annealing, quenching, and tempering" and steel being used in various building materials under the "Uses" section. Z1720 (talk) 02:38, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

  Right, but when the claim is essentially "Steel is used to make wires and railroads", the WP:BURDEN of proof is so low I could cite a home depot or amazon listing and fulfill WP:V behold, steel wire!. Regarding the annealing sentence, I'll reword it so it states "There are many types of heat treating processes available to steel, such as annealing, quenching, and tempering." and rework the list of Uses to focus more on broad categories, especially since List of applications of stainless steel exists for detail. If a citation is necessary, I'll find a textbook from the page and cite it. — 🪫Volatile ^{📲T | ⌨️C} 06:05, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

@VolatileAnomaly and Z1720: where does this reassessment stand? ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 12:13, 13 August 2025 (UTC)

• My only concern is the list entries in "Long" and "Flat carbon" sections, which need citations. Z1720 (talk) 15:04, 13 August 2025 (UTC)

  Uses related to Long and Flat carbon has been cited — 🪫Volatile ^{📲T | ⌨️C} 16:29, 13 August 2025 (UTC)

• Keep. Concerns have been addressed and resolved. Z1720 (talk) 02:30, 14 August 2025 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Origins and production

This section lists the melting points of various metals, one entry of which states: "In comparison, iron melts at about 1,540 °C (2,800 °F), a temperature not attainable at the start of the Iron Age" then goes on to claim: "All of these temperatures could be reached with ancient methods used since the Bronze Age." We won't get into which particular Bronze or Iron Age in world history we're referring to here, but this information is contradictory, to say the very least. Rollo Maughling (talk) 18:32, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

Is this a Good Article?

Does the article need to be reassessed for GA? I see a lot of issues such as what Rollo Maughling points out above. Chattenoir (talk) 07:21, 5 April 2026 (UTC)