What are Thermal Properties of Carbon Steel – Melting Point – Thermal Conductivity - Definition

Thermal Properties of Carbon Steel – Melting Point – Thermal Conductivity. Heat capacity, thermal expansion, and thermal conductivity are properties that are often critical in the practical use of solids.

Typical applications for low-carbon steel include automobile body components, structural shapes (e.g., I-beams, channel and angle iron), and sheets that are used in pipelines, buildings.

Carbon steels are iron–carbon alloys that may contain appreciable concentrations of other alloying elements. Plain carbon steels are iron-carbon alloys in which the properties are primarily derived from the presence of carbon. Some incidental elements like manganese, silicon, sulphur and phosphorus are present in small amounts due to the method of making steels and, not to modify the mechanical properties. Adding a small amount of non-metallic carbon to iron trades its great ductility for the greater strength. Due to its very-high strength, but still substantial toughness, and its ability to be greatly altered by heat treatment, steel is one of the most useful and common ferrous alloy in modern use. There are thousands of alloys that have different compositions and/or heat treatments. The mechanical properties are sensitive to the content of carbon, which is normally less than 1.0 wt%.

Thermal Properties of Carbon Steel

Thermal properties of materials refer to the response of materials to changes in their temperature and to the application of heat. As a solid absorbs energy in the form of heat, its temperature rises and its dimensions increase. But different materials react to the application of heat differently.

Heat capacity, thermal expansion, and thermal conductivity are properties that are often critical in the practical use of solids.

Melting Point of Carbon Steel

Melting point of low-carbon steel is around 1450°C.

In general, melting is a phase change of a substance from the solid to the liquid phase. The melting point of a substance is the temperature at which this phase change occurs. The melting point also defines a condition in which the solid and liquid can exist in equilibrium.

Thermal Conductivity of Carbon Steel

Low-carbon steel is a multi-element substance, principally of iron, with additions of carbon and impurities. The thermal conductivity of wrought iron is around 50 W/(m.K).

The heat transfer characteristics of a solid material are measured by a property called the thermal conductivity, k (or λ), measured in W/m.K. It is a measure of a substance’s ability to transfer heat through a material by conduction. Note that Fourier’s law applies for all matter, regardless of its state (solid, liquid, or gas), therefore, it is also defined for liquids and gases.

The thermal conductivity of most liquids and solids varies with temperature. For vapors, it also depends upon pressure. In general:

Most materials are very nearly homogeneous, therefore we can usually write k = k (T). Similar definitions are associated with thermal conductivities in the y- and z-directions (ky, kz), but for an isotropic material the thermal conductivity is independent of the direction of transfer, kx = ky = kz = k.

References:

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See above:
Carbon Steels

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