Can anyone tell me the difference between steel and iron?

Question

Can anyone tell me the difference between steel and iron?

Answer 1

Steel is a carbon alloy of iron usually with some chromium and perhaps other trace amounts of other metals added for special properties.  Iron is typically pure iron, as with pig iron.

You can easily tell the difference if you put a drop of water on each specimen come back the next day and you will find iron oxide (rust) on the iron sample but no or only a trace amount of rust on the steel.

Answer 2

Steel is made of Iron and a small amount of carbon.

The Iron is melted and then heated to a very high temperature either electromagnetically or by pumping Oxygen into the iron causing it to burn and the heat to rapidly increase.  At the high temperatures all of the impurities in the iron escape "burned off", then small amounts of carbon, Ni, and other elements can be added back in to give the steel different properties by filling in the spaces between the Iron atoms.

High carbon steel is typically very strong, while stainless steel can be very mailable and is easily shaped., but both are > 95% iron.  Un alloyed iron is typically not as hard as steel and is somewhat brittle

Answer 3

basically steel is an alloy while iron is metal and accordingly composition and properties differ.

Answer 4

steel is iron ore mixed with carbon (usually in the range of .1% carbon).  The carbon strengthens and adds flexibility to the metal making it a far more useful metal than pure iron.  Beyond this other metals can bee added to render the steel harder or more flexible depending on its application.