Steel comes in different grades that are determined by the amount of carbon, impurities and alloy elements. To guide you through, here are the main types of steel:

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Carbon steel

It accounts for over 90% of all steel produced. It contains only trace amounts of alloying elements and can be categorized into three groups that depend on the amount of carbon present. The main groups are:

Alloy steel

This steel contains alloying elements such as silicon, nickel, titanium, chromium, aluminum, manganese, and copper. To manipulate the metal's properties, the alloying elements are available in varying proportions. This steel is majorly applied in pipelines, transformers, electric motors, auto parts, and power generators.

Tool steel

This contains cobalt, molybdenum, vanadium, and tungsten which are available in varying amounts in order to increase heat resistance and durability. The steel is heavily applied in cutting and drilling equipment.

High speed steel

This is a subset superior subset of tool steel. One of the greatest features about it is that it can withstand high temperatures without losing its hardness. Due to this property, it's heavily used in cutting.

High speed steel also comes in different types which include: M2, M36, and M42.

Stainless steel

It contains between 10 and 20% of chromium as the main alloying element. Due to presence of high amounts of chromium, this metal is highly resistant to corrosion and rust.

Stainless steel can be divided into three main groups: austenitic, ferritic, and martensitic. Austenitic contains 18% chromium, 8% nickel, and less than 0.8% ofcarbon. It's used in making food processing equipment, piping systems, and kitchen utensils.

Ferritic contains 12-17% of chromium, less than 1% of carbon, and other alloying elements such as aluminum, titanium, and molybdenum. One of the unique things about this type is that it can't be hardened with heat treatment, but it can be strengthened by cold works.

Martensitic steel contains 11-17% chromium, less than 0.4% nickel and up to 1.2% of carbon. Unlike ferritic, this material is magnetic and heat-treatable. It's mainly used in knives, cutting tools, dental and surgical equipment.

Conclusion

These are the main types of steel. When buying the units you should always consider the purpose. You should also ensure that you buy them from reputable stores that won't rip you off.

Metal Cutting Tools are made from tool steel which refers to a range of alloy and carbon steels, that have the right properties and are well suited to be made into metal cutting tools. The distinctive hardness of these steels, their ability to hold a cutting edge and their resistance to deformation at high temperatures makes them ideal.

Metal cutting tools are generally used in a heat treated state. The tool steel used for metal cutting tools, are made to a different number of grades, and choice of grade depends on whether a keen cutting edge is necessary. The higher grade carbon steels are typically used for applications such as stamping dies or metal cutting tools.

Metal cutting tools are used widely in industry and are used for the cutting, shaping and removal of unwanted metal. Cutting tools such as drill bits and reamers are used for cutting holes through various metals, while other metal cutting tools such as dies and taps, are used to cut screw threads.

There are many different types of metal cutting tools which are used for a wide variety of purposes, and some of the more common ones can include;

o Drill bits

o Grinding wheels

o Milling cutters/circular saws/slot drills etc.

o Laser cutting

o Reamers

o Broaches

o Dies and taps

Drilling is a rotary cutting operation for producing holes. The tool most widely used for this purpose is the twist drill. The twist drill has helical cutting edges which when rotated and fed forward into the material under pressure, will cut away chips of the metal which are removed from the hole by the helical flutes which run along most of its length.

Milling is another important process, in which the workpiece is shaped by means of a rotating cutter provided with a number of teeth or cutting edges. Usually the material is fed against the milling cutter either longitudinal, transverse or vertical. Milling machines are very versatile and can be used for a great variety of work, including screw thread cutting. In circular milling the the cutter and workpiece are rotated; in straight milling the cutter rotates and the workpiece performs a straight takım çeliği feed motion.

Grinding is the operation in which an abrasive wheel or disc is used to remove metal. It is generally employed as a finishing treatment to give already machined parts the necessary precision by the removal of excess metal. It is also used as a process in its own right - eg., for roughly forged or cast parts or for the shaping of hard materials. Grinding wheels are made from artificial abrasives, usually of the aluminium oxide, or the silicon carbide type, embedded in suitable bonding agents. Wheels are available in a vast number of different combinations of abrasive, grain size, type of bond, hardness of bond, and structure.