Melting Point of Steel

Depends upon the composition but for carbon steel, melting temperature is 1480 degrees C; silicon steel 1475 degrees C; 300 series stainless steel 1400 degrees C; 410 stainless steel 1480 degrees C.

Refer to www.matweb.com for additional data.

Well, I melt chromium cobalt every day, and that's the most dense steel made; in fact it's made by Howmedica in West Germany. It'll tear the teeth off of a hack saw, with a melting temperature of 2750 deg. F. (under a pyrometer) It solidifies within 1/10th of a second. It's used in Dental prosthetics and surgery equipment. Now, there's no way, kerosene (A1 Jet Fuel) 1200 degree F. with forced air draft, will melt steel; don't convince me; I'm not buying it !

Yeah, I forgot, if you have a wood stove, just remember, that's made of Iron. You can turn it cherry red but it'll never crack or collapse....that's a promise. 3/8 steel boiler is the same way, but it'll soon leak at the welds, but it'll never crack or deform even if it runs out of water. All of this technology goes into the construction before it can go onto the market, it can't be left to accident or error.

What is the melting point of 1/32 stainless steel rods? I'm putting 5" pins inside heat insulating modules inside a crematory which will heat up to 2100 to 2300 degrees. When a body is cremated, metal hips/knees or other prosethics won't melt, but I'm not sure if that are different metal, possibly titanium? Any input before Monday??

FYI, my wife's artificial hip joint is definately made of titanium -- which melts at about 1670 deg. C (3038 deg. F). Parts of it are a sintered material, which allows the bone to grow right into it and form a mechanical connection. Other parts are smooth and run in a spherical teflon bushing.

M.p of pure iron 1539 C

but id change depent on alloying element

try to search for Iron Carbon Phase Diagrame

Yeah, Iron has to be hotter and much longer of an application: 1800 deg. F.

Now, I believe the grade steel used in the Towers is lower, about 2400 deg. F., but with a draft (low draft at that), the fire would have to have 8 hours of heat application in order to do any real damage to the structure, not 45 min. Also, keep in mind the Steam Fitters that installed all the mains and branch connections also adhered to a code of supporting the frame, in the event a floor would have collapsed. I'm sure these codes were not enforced during the Empire State Building construction.

There's more to this powdered collapse then what you and I are being told, and I'm sure there are some steel engineers pissed over this degradation of their work too !

Yeah, i agree, but lower inequality iron or pig iron wouldn't be acceptable in modern construction. I want to get the same steel as in the Towers to do a control test in an induction cast machine, to confirm the timing of solidity ? I have talked to a Sparrows Point steel worker and his knowledge is only based on bulk steel i.e. 400,000 tons or more, and he confirms that steel in molten amounts will stay molten, but that's because the molten steel is extremely large, which will hold it's heat much longer. In the towers, the steel was about 1 inch at the most, this will turn to slag in a matter of seconds, not 6 weeks, in the basement.

"If I knew that sulfur could prolong the liquid state of steel, hell, I would've used it in vitallium (chromium cobalt alloy), but I'd a probably got my ass kicked for using it on medical devices !" I don't know, I want to experiment more with it ;-)

Heat is not the same as temperature. forces such as sliding friction, additives to the jet feul, take affects of 2nd law of phyisics energy can not be created nor destroyed only transfered. There the pressure of the plane. Defects of the architect himself are ashamed of. The building was never up to firemarshall code. The beams did not to melt to bring down the building.

I thought MP was only applied to Steel, as in kitchen utensils ?

Oh, about Iron, I screwed up in my C to F. Iron is 1538 C. which is 2800 deg. F. This is why it is used in ductile iron and cast wet base boilers. As you can see any steel is a lower temp, but only by about 500 to 600 deg. F. Right now, I'm looking into the liquidy of steel and which ways it can be prolonged.

A nice little reference chart, in both degrees-Fahrenheit and degrees-Celsius, can be found at:

http://www.uniweld.com/catalog/alloys/alloys_melting.htm

Also, if anyone's interested, a nice chart referencing the melting points of elements can be found at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melting_points_of_the_elements_%28data_page%29

Go Cavs!

I melt gold, aluminum, lead, tin, copper, and steel. The use of a pyrometer is more accurate, then a chart. We all have to keep in mind that grades of metal change, and impurities will develop in its molten state which will affect the quality. Carbonizing is always a problem with aluminum & steel, they use to use Argon Gas to keep it from affecting the molten state from picking up too much carbon, which causes perosity.

STEEL m.p.?

1400>1500⁰C depending on Composition

Chromium Cobalt Alloy, German Steel for dental metal is 1510C (2750F).

Sorry, you guys are funny as heck on this towers stuff. Isn't it a little strange how the California bridge melted down before our very eyes? It seems there's more to the story than just the melting point.

i dunno, im tryin 2 find out da same thing init!

Hi guys! I'm not an engineer or even trained in this particular area but I have an observation to share. With the plane hitting the upper floors and causing fire there,the resulting heat rises. This being the case, the temperature at the upper floors is extremely different from the base, lower and middle floors. It seems to me that with the fact that heat rises, the out come of the 45 minute fires should have been less dramatic and left portions of the lower floors standing. Very unscientific I know but I just wanted to put my two cent in.

Allen in New Orlens

The fire wasn't limited to the impact floors though. Ignited jet fuel poured into the elevator shafts and seeped down the building, compromising the structure below. Also, although heat rises, it doesn't follow that the higher you are the hotter it is. The greatest intensity of heat will be found at the source.

Yeah...so im guessing you read the official report eh? Whatever.

The melting point is 1369 degrees celcius

Well, pure chrome is 2750 degrees F. You'll need a pyrometer in order to look at it, cause you can't look at it when it's in its melting stage. If you add more iron to the chrome (pure) steel, you'll raise the melting point, up too 3000 degrees F. It will also appear more orange as you do, but the temperature will still be over 3000 degrees F.

Hence, the more iron the less pure steel, but it doesn't mean it melts at a lower temperature; in fact, it's the opposite.

Not an expert at melting points of steel, but just a couple observations regarding the twin towers.

Heat sinks...Would the surrounding steel, located at the impact points of the jet airliners actually pull heat away from the impact areas? In my electronics classes, we use heat sinks to protect surrounding components from overheating. I know that this is a far cry from the amount of heat produced from the fuel burning at the twin towers, but doesn't the same rule apply here nevertheless?

I do believe the fires from kerosene based jet fuel never got remotely close to the melting point of any quality of steel. This is from researching off the internet. Surely, there are people here and elsewhere, who have infinite more knowledge of this than I do. However, I am getting basically the same numbers (melting points) here, as on other scientific websites. In addition, the amount of steel used in the construction of the twin towers, exceeded several hundred thousand tons.

Indeed, this fire was not only short lived, (especially the south tower hit) but never exceeded the melting point to begin with, without the controlled burn of like a foundry set up.

Granted, as stated before, I am not an expert. But simply applying the same common sense theory of heat sinks in my classes. It seems to me that steel of that magnitude, would pull away (dissipate) heat in such a manner, that it would be extremely difficult for the building to collapse.

Given the conditions that the fires could actually melt a portion of the twin tower's steel frame, I find it difficult that the momentum of the collapse could keep going all the way down to ground level. In addition, I noticed that both twin towers collapsed in the same way, even though they were hit in different locations by the jet airplanes.

Just my very unprofessional take on this...

Greg

So what is your conspiracy theory guys?????? The government wanted to destroy the towers to get into a war? Come on.

The steel never had to melt. Steel turns bright red at less than 1000 degrees and becomes much softer. The steel only had to heat to the point where it would bend under the weight of the building above the impact point and cause the chain reaction of collapses.

Has anyone ever seen a building demo'd? They don't put charges on every floor, only on one floor. Once one floor collapses the shock when the next floor collapses into it is enough to cause the chain reaction of collapses.

Is this a false report? I mean everyone knows that the steel couldn't have weakened in the towers from the fuel/debris driven fire, right?

http://articles.sfgate.com/2007-04-29/bay-area/17239903_1_tanker-truck-roadway-firefighters

OAKLAND — 2007-04-29 18:03:00 PDT OAKLAND -- Huge leaping flames from an exploding gasoline tanker melted the steel underbelly of a highway overpass in the East Bay's MacArthur Maze early this morning, causing it to collapse onto the roadway below and virtually ensuring major traffic problems for weeks to come.

The single-vehicle crash occurred on the lower roadway when the tanker, loaded with 8,600 gallons of unleaded gasoline and heading from a refinery in Benicia to a gas station on Hegenberger Road in Oakland, hit a guardrail at 3:41 a.m.

Engineers said the green steel frame of the I-580 overpass and the bolts holding the frame together began to melt and bend in the intense heat

-- and that movement pulled the roadbed off its supports.

Firefighters immediately noticed the upper connector ramp was buckling and seven minutes after they arrived -- at 4:02 a.m. -- it collapsed, Price said. Now there were no more structures threatened, the firefighters' approach shifted.

"With no structures or lives in jeopardy and with 8,000 gallons of flammable fuel involved, you're basically better off letting it burn itself out," said Price.

Dah...Steel bends and buckles at room temp. with enough weight/pressure. The steel was very weak at the temps. described.