Related links:
Science Museum - Challenge of Materials gallery and COMO project
Steel's recycling properties can be explored at:
International Iron and Steel
Institute;
Steel Can
Recycling Information Bureau;
and elsewhere on our site.
In-depth articles
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Producing sustainable value
We are encouraging the use of electronic communication for its flexibility and immediacy. It also enables us to handle more information. However, more information does not necessarily mean better communication. Through this publication, we aim to draw your attention to some of the information that you can access through our web-sites for far greater detail.UK Steel is devoted to the needs and interests of steel companies and the materials they produce. Maybe you will discover something new about steel, as a result of this new approach.
Vital but 'unseen'
 Holme Bridge, Manchester © Corus Group plv |
Every thing we use in everyday life is either made from steel or using steel. Even industries producing other materials like glass, aluminium and plastics, all need steel. It is at the root of the quality of life that each of us enjoys today. However, although steel is used in many different applications, it is taken for granted by the public at large. The industry's long term commitment to the Materials Gallery at the Science Museum in London is an attempt to raise the material's profile. Visitors can see steel's versatility and enjoy some of the excitement and vitality involved in its production. |
The environment and energy efficiency
Seventy percent of today's steel grades did not exist 10 years ago, and that rate of dynamic change, every bit as impressive as the glamorous development of new telecoms products, will continue for the foreseeable future.
New steels offer new ways of withstanding the corrosive gases which need to be scrubbed clean in electricity generating plant. Theoretically, these power stations have to run non-stop for up to 40 years with the minimum of refits, and no other material compares with stainless steel in terms of initial cost or reliability.
Recycling energy is helping to meet the growing demand for electricity, with alloy steels able to withstand higher temperatures and pressures turning waste heat into an additional valuable energy source in power stations.
Power losses in transformers have been cut, thanks to the increased magnetic efficiency of modern electrical steels; these contain thousands of tiny magnetic fields which respond to electric current by constantly changing directions. Transformer wastage can be cut still further by altering the microstructure of the steel and thus training the magnetic fields to operate more efficiently.
Sustainable resource development
The steel industry has long been at the forefront of development and production of steels for tidal energy, hydro-electric schemes, wind farms and solar power. A typical fuel cell for example is 65% steel, and steelmakers can now mass produce the thin nickel clad stainless steel sheets to withstand the 650 degrees C temperatures within the cell.
But at its heart, steel's unique environmental characteristic is the ease with which it can be recycled. Because most steels are magnetic, they are easier and cheaper to sort for recycling than other materials, that have to rely on the chain from the consumer to help in the sorting process. Steel is now the most recyclable man-made material - anything from food and drink cans to oilrigs. More than half the steel around us today has already been recycled from scrap.
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© UK Steel Association,
1999
email:
webmaster@uksteel.org.uk
Last updated: 9th December 1999