Lesson 1

Introduction to
iron and steels
Introduction
Steel (iron-carbon alloy), by far the most important,
multi-functional and most adaptable of materials,
plays a major role in our lives.

Tobias van Schneider

It influences the cars we drive,

Photo by Alessio Lin

It influences the cars we drive,
the building we work in,

Photo by Alessio Lin

MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Roma, Italy
It influences the cars we drive,
the building we work in,
and the houses where we feel safe.

Photo by redd-angelo
Why steel?
Why learn about steel?
Steel is frequently the “gold standard”
against which emerging structural materials are
compared.

Other metals
Composite Materials

Polymer

#1 Cement
Why steel?
Why learn about steel?
Steel is the metal that holds civilization together.
Thousands of years ago, our ancestors learned
how to turn rocks into a special type of metal.

Since then, this metal has helped us build our cities,

our agriculture, our clothes,
and essentially everything else on which we rely.

It now underpins the whole of our civilization,

and yet few people notice it.
Why steel?
Why learn about steel?
Steel is the metal that holds civilization together.
Thousands of years ago, our ancestors learned
how to turn rocks into a special type of metal.

Since then, this metal has helped us build our cities,

our agriculture, our clothes,
and essentially everything else on which we rely.

It now underpins the whole of our civilization,

and yet few people notice it.

Photo by Alessio Lin