Featured metal – 30 fascinating facts about steel  

As popular steel suppliers in the UK, we supply steel in all sorts of shapes and forms, as well as providing the metal in forms that meets very specific needs. Just ask. Our steel supplies come in alloy form, carbon steel, and stainless steel, used for a wide variety of applications from stadiums to bridges and roads, appliances, military vehicles and more. 

Steel is the most-used metal in construction, engineering and manufacturing. But what’s it all about? Here are some cool steel facts for you, fresh from your trusted metal stockists.  

30 facts about steel 

1. Steel is a low-carbon alloy made from iron, tin, and carbon
2. Because it contains the inorganic compound chromium oxide, it doesn’t easily corrode
3. The English inventor Henry Bessemer introduced the Bessemer process in 1855, the first way to mass produce steel 
4. As carbon steel suppliers we’re interested to discover carbon steel makes up more than 90% of the world’s steel production 
5. Steel is widely recycled – the USA alone recycles 80 million tons of it every year and recycling doesn’t affect the metal’s strength  
6. As metal suppliers like us know, steel can be recycled for as long as 150 years without any degradation – in fact the ‘new’ steel you buy has probably already been recycled many times over 
7. Recycling a single steel tin food or drinks can conserves enough energy to run a 60 watt light bulb for nearly four years 
8. In 2006 enough steel was recycled from old cars to make more than 13 million new cars 
9. The Eiffel Tower is made from steel and iron. It expands to become around 15cm taller in warm weather. The same goes for Sydney Harbour Bridge, which expands 18cm in warm weather 
10. Pure steel is around a thousand times stronger than iron
11. It’s also very ductile. You can draw it out into a thin wire and it still doesn’t lose any strength
12. Steel can be turned into a fine wire to make clothes with   
13. The steel industry directly employs more than 2 million people across the world 
14. Three quarters of major appliances are made using steel, and most computers contain about 25% steel 
15. The first use of steel in tall buildings was back in 1884, used to build the Home Insurance Building in Chicago
16. The Empire State Building, built in 1930, was made to be easily put up and taken back down
17. The word’s first ever steel car was made in 1918
18. The Samurai Snail’s shell contains iron sulphite granules, giving it a steely finish that keeps it safe from the toughest predators
19. 66% of food tins are made from steel, and 200 billion of them are made every year 
20. Humans have been making things from steel for over 1000 years
21. The earliest steel product ever found is four thousand years old, a steel-containing chunk of ironware discovered on an archaeological site in Turkey 
22. Enough steel is produced every day to build 548 Eiffel towers 
23. More than 8 million people worldwide work in the steel sector 
24. Modern steel stronger and as much as a third lighter than it used to be
25. If your fridge was made before 2001 it probably contains more than 100 pounds of steel 
26. Interestingly, steel is an important component in vehicle seat belts
27. Weirdly, steel is actually more elastic than rubber, bouncing back to its original shape with surprising ease
28. Add too much carbon to the mix and steel can rust and corrode 
29. There are more than 3,500 different steel grades, around 75% of which have been developed since the 1990s
30. The Australian outlaw Ned Kelly’s armour was made of steel. It must’ve been incredibly uncomfortable and heavy! 

Need steel? Contact us, your professional metal supplier 

We’re expert stainless steel suppliers in the UK, and we also sell other types of steel. Get in touch for unusual levels of expertise in every kind of metal you need.  

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