Everyday, all around the world, we all experience steel. Our vehicles, our roofs, and the buildings we work in-they all impact us. Sometimes we can see it. Sometimes we walk on it and don't even know it. There's no mistake, though, steel is not a discretionary material.
Steel is vital to the economic stability of every developing country in the world. The steel industry supplies more that $50 billion worth of economic activity in the United States alone.
Countries like China and Russia create enormous demands for steel-straining full capacity steel suppliers.
This article examines the history of steel, the steel marketplace, and the future of steel in an increasingly "green" world.
History of Steel
Many people think steel is a product of the modern age. Not so. Some experts date steel manufacturing to 1,400 BC in Africa. The Chinese used steel, as far back as 200 BC, to successfully manufacture weapons. However, these were primitive steel making ages.
It wasn't until the 1600s that steel making became a large scale operation. Again, steel was used primarily to forge weapons. But during this time, inventors began to experiment with steel for different uses.
After hundreds of years of steel processing, different techniques introduced allowed steel to be manufactured and used on a large scale.