Background

Tungsten was among the first alloying elements systematically used - as early as the middle of the 19th century - to improve steel properties. It has been one of the most important alloying constituents in tool steels and constructional steels and was added to enhance the properties of hardness, cutting efficiency and speed of tools.

These highly alloyed steels are used primarily in working, cutting and forming of metal components. They must thus possess high hardness and strength, combined with good toughness, over a broad temperature range.
Tungsten Alternatives

During World War II, a shortage of tungsten and an increasing demand for tools forced US and European steel makers to find a substitute, and molybdenum was chosen to replace tungsten in varying percentages. This was also cost efficient as the price was lower and the atomic weight is only half that of tungsten (1% Mo is roughly equivalent to 2% of W).
Tool Steels

Tool steels are usually classified in four groups:

· Ledeburitic Cr-steels with less than 1% W - normally used for producing thread rolls and dies

· Cold work steels with 0.5 - 3% W, of which cutting tools for instance are made

· Hot work steels with 1.5 - 9% W, for dies and extrusion tools working up to 500°C and more

· Steels for plastic moulding which does not include W-bearing steel grades
High Speed Steels

When tool steels contain a combination of more than 7 % tungsten, molybdenum and vanadium, along with more than 0.60% carbon, they are referred to as high speed steels (HSS).

This term is descriptive of their ability to cut metals at the "high speeds" in use through the 1940’s.

The T-1 type with 18% W has not changed its composition since 1910 and was the main type used up to 1940, when substitution by molybdenum took place. Nowadays, only 5-10% of the HSS in Europe is of this type and only 2% in the USA.

The addition of about 10% of tungsten and molybdenum in total maximises efficiently the hardness and toughness of high speed steels and maintains these properties at the high temperatures generated when cutting metals.

The main use of high speed steels continues to be in the manufacture of various cutting tools: drills, taps, milling cutters, gear cutters, saw blades, etc., although usage for punches and dies is increasing.

Table 1. Percentage Additions of Alloying Elements to High Speed Steel Grades.

Grade	C	Cr	Mo	W	V	Co
T-1	0.75	-	-	18.0	1.1	-
M-2	0.95	4.2	5.0	6.0	2.0	-
M-7	1.00	3.8	8.7	1.6	2.0	-
M-42	1.10	3.8	9.5	1.5	1.2	8.0

Coating

In 1979, the Western World’s production of HSS reached 120,000 tons/year, which has never been achieved again. The production in 1996 was 70,000 tons. One important reason for this is the world-wide rapid spread of coating techniques like the PVD procedure, e.g. the coating of HSS tools with a thin layer of TiN and other types of coating.

Coating increases the life of drills by up to 10 times, or it enables the cutting speed (productivity) to be doubled while the lifetime remains the same as for uncoated.

Another reason for declining consumption in HSS is the increasing switch-over to cemented carbide tools.
Heat Resisting Steels

In certain cases, where corrosion resistant steels are used in higher temperature ranges, tungsten is added. Heat resisting steels are chromium/nickel steels with up to 6% tungsten. The main use is as valve steels for combustion engines, containing around 2% W. Such steels are, for instance, used for the valves on the outlet side of automotive engines, where the red-hot hardness has to be combined with high temperature corrosion resistance.

Chemical Formula

Cr
Background

Vauquelin, who later was the first to produce it on its own, discovered chromium in 1797. Chromium occurs in nature only in combination. In its pure state chromium is a steel-silvery grey with bluish tinge lustre. It is an extremely hard metal that takes a high polish. The principal ore is chromite (FeO.Cr2O3), from which it is obtained by reduction with aluminium and electrolysis. Chromium metal lacks ductility and is susceptible to nitrogen embrittlement, and is not used as a structural metal. It is resistant to oxidation and does not react with nitric acid. However, it dissolves in hydrochloric acid and slowly in sulphuric acid. It is subject to intergranular corrosion at temperatures above 816°C (1500°F).

When plated on highly polished metal chromium gives a smooth surface that has no capillary attraction to water or oil and chromium-plated bearing surfaces can be run without oil.

Commercially available grades of chromium steels are:

· Chromium metal – pure grade containing greater than 99% chromium.

· High-carbon chromium – contains a minimum of 86% chromium, 8 to 11% carbon with a maximum of 0.5% of both iron and silicon.

· Isochrome – 99.99% pure (made by the reduction of iodide).

· Alphatised (chromised) steel – is steel coated with chromium by a diffusion process.

· Securacoat GPX 9160 (of Securamax International) – is a plasma-sprayed chromium oxide coating with high resistance to oxidation, corrosion and wear. It is applied to stainless steels and titanium ball valves used in the separation of gold from sulphide ore slurries by autoclave processing in the mining industry.

Hexavalent chromium compounds are toxic.
Applications

Chromium is used in:

· Stainless steels

· Heat-resistant alloys

· High-strength alloy steels

· Electrical-resistance alloys

· Wear-resistance

· Corrosion resistance

· Decorative coatings and electroplating

Chromium compounds are used for:

· Pigments (e.g. lead chromate for yellow)

· Chemicals

· The refractory industry uses chromite in the form of bricks and shapes, due to its high melting point, moderate thermal expansion and high temperature stability.

· Chrome compounds are added to glass and give it an emerald green colour.

· Some chromium compounds can be used as catalysts.

· Dichromate’s (e.g. K2Cr2O7) are used as an oxidising agent in quantitative analysis and in the tanning of leather.

Background

Tungsten was among the first alloying elements systematically used - as early as the middle of the 19th century - to improve steel properties. It has been one of the most important alloying constituents in tool steels and constructional steels and was added to enhance the properties of hardness, cutting efficiency and speed of tools.

These highly alloyed steels are used primarily in working, cutting and forming of metal components. They must thus possess high hardness and strength, combined with good toughness, over a broad temperature range.
Tungsten Alternatives

During World War II, a shortage of tungsten and an increasing demand for tools forced US and European steel makers to find a substitute, and molybdenum was chosen to replace tungsten in varying percentages. This was also cost efficient as the price was lower and the atomic weight is only half that of tungsten (1% Mo is roughly equivalent to 2% of W).
Tool Steels

Tool steels are usually classified in four groups:

· Ledeburitic Cr-steels with less than 1% W - normally used for producing thread rolls and dies

· Cold work steels with 0.5 - 3% W, of which cutting tools for instance are made

· Hot work steels with 1.5 - 9% W, for dies and extrusion tools working up to 500°C and more

· Steels for plastic moulding which does not include W-bearing steel grades
High Speed Steels

When tool steels contain a combination of more than 7 % tungsten, molybdenum and vanadium, along with more than 0.60% carbon, they are referred to as high speed steels (HSS).

This term is descriptive of their ability to cut metals at the "high speeds" in use through the 1940’s.

The T-1 type with 18% W has not changed its composition since 1910 and was the main type used up to 1940, when substitution by molybdenum took place. Nowadays, only 5-10% of the HSS in Europe is of this type and only 2% in the USA.

The addition of about 10% of tungsten and molybdenum in total maximises efficiently the hardness and toughness of high speed steels and maintains these properties at the high temperatures generated when cutting metals.

The main use of high speed steels continues to be in the manufacture of various cutting tools: drills, taps, milling cutters, gear cutters, saw blades, etc., although usage for punches and dies is increasing.

Table 1. Percentage Additions of Alloying Elements to High Speed Steel Grades.

Grade	C	Cr	Mo	W	V	Co
T-1	0.75	-	-	18.0	1.1	-
M-2	0.95	4.2	5.0	6.0	2.0	-
M-7	1.00	3.8	8.7	1.6	2.0	-
M-42	1.10	3.8

Coating

In 1979, the Western World’s production of HSS reached 120,000 tons/year, which has never been achieved again. The production in 1996 was 70,000 tons. One important reason for this is the world-wide rapid spread of coating techniques like the PVD procedure, e.g. the coating of HSS tools with a thin layer of TiN and other types of coating.

Coating increases the life of drills by up to 10 times, or it enables the cutting speed (productivity) to be doubled while the lifetime remains the same as for uncoated.

Another reason for declining consumption in HSS is the increasing switch-over to cemented carbide tools.
Heat Resisting Steels

In certain cases, where corrosion resistant steels are used in higher temperature ranges, tungsten is added. Heat resisting steels are chromium/nickel steels with up to 6% tungsten. The main use is as valve steels for combustion engines, containing around 2% W. Such steels are, for instance, used for the valves on the outlet side of automotive engines, where the red-hot hardness has to be combined with high temperature corrosion resistance.

Used to fabricate plates, chutes, and hoppers, WELLBRAZE and WELL-CLAD suit high- and severe-wear applications. As solid sheet with manganese and nickel content, WELLBRAZE has 17-20% work hardening factor and increases in toughness with use. WELL-CLAD has impact and wearing, chromium-carbide overlay applied to low-carbon steel (.12 max) substrate that absorbs impact resulting from heavy service. Composite material can be rolled or press-brake formed without separation.

A new line of abrasion-resistant steel products is being introduced by Wellington Alloys.

WELLBRAZE and WELL-CLAD are the names of the alloy steel products developed to resist abrasion and impact in tough wear applications such as asphalt/concrete plants, coal mines, sand/gravel/rock crushing plants, power utilities, pulp mills, railroads, steel mills, foundries and refractories. The products are used in fabricating chute liners, hoppers, tumbling barrels, excavating buckets, conveyor parts, impellor fan blades, scrapers, pushers, grader and plowblades.

WELLBRAZE is a solid sheet (homogenous) with high Manganese and Nickel content. The product work-hardens (17-20% work hardening factor). The longer in service, the tougher it gets. WELLBRAZE can be welded with all low hydrogen production welding processes (E7018, E9018, E11018, E12018 and 12018 manual electrodes). It can be drilled with ordinary high speed drills. Material thicknesses up to 1" thick may be brake- formed (with proper bend allowances). Size range of material available is: Thicknness: 1/8" to 6"; Widths:48",72",96" ; Lengths: 144", 240", 288". Spec. sizes are available.

WELL-CLAD is an impact and wearing, chromium-carbide overlay applied to a very ductile, easy-to-weld, easy-to-form, low carbon steel substrate. The mild steel plate (.12 max carbon) was selected to absorb impact resulting from heavy service. The composite material (mild steel backing plate with the hardfacing overlay applied by a proprietary arc welding process) can be rolled or press-brake formed without fear of separation. WELL-CLAD was developed for severe wear applications.

The Specialty Steel Industry of North America (SSINA), Washington, says its member companies largely sustained financial losses in 2002 because of unfair trade practices.

Echoing complaints made by carbon steelmakers that eventually resulted in the Section 201 protective tariffS, the SSINA says the North American industry needs help if it is to avoid mill shutdowns, job losses and a loss of market share.

"These latest statistics reflect that for the third consecutive year, specialty steel imports captured more than a quarter of the U.S. market with little variance in the percentages," says SSINA chairman Paul A. Kelly.

A FAMILIAR WORD. Much like the aluminum and carbon steel industries before it, overcapacity is becoming a repeated word within analyses of the stainless steelmaking segment.

"Lackluster demand coupled with expanding worldwide capacity does not bode well for our industry in the short term," says Kelly. "Our goal this year is to ensure our long-term viability by working with our government representatives to take steps toward a rational global market though matching steel production with need and eliminating foreign government subsidies," adds Kelly.
The topic of eliminating government subsidies within the steel industry has been an ongoing source of conversation at meetings held by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), whose delegates meet in Paris every few months.

Delegates from some 40 nations at the two most recent OECD meetings have agreed to trim some steelmaking capacity and to continue to hash out a draft proposal to eliminate government subsidies.

In the meantime, though, the SSINA says stainless steel imports continue to pour into North America. "Imports of total stainless steel sheet/strip, plate, bar, rod and wire increased 5 percent last year to 534,000 tons," notes SSINA, a figure that is up from the 508,000 tons in 2001. This increased what SSINA calls "import penetration" to 25 percent.

Stainless steelmakers have benefited from Section 201 imports to some extent, but stainless steel bar and rod tariff rates of 15 percent recently dropped to 12 percent while the stainless steel wire tariff dipped from 8 percent to 7 percent. "The principal objective of the program is to give our companies a chance to return to normalcy after years of attack from unfairly priced, high-volume imports that were counter to free market principles," says Kelly. "We have made some progress."

Manganese alloy prices continue to come under pressure in the United States, with the news that Mittal Steel USA has extended the outage at its Weirton, W.Va., plant adding fuel to the fire.

"I guess Weirton is just one of the realities of consolidation, but I think it will probably lead to greater softness in the alloys," a trader said.

Prices for standard high-carbon ferromanganese are steady at around $550 to $560 per ton, although one market participant reported a little bit of softness," suggesting prices are moving below $550. "There's just so much excess capacity," he said.

Medium-carbon ferromanganese also is feeling the strain, with prices slipping below 65 cents per pound compared with 65 to 67 cents in early May.

Silicomanganese also is under pressure, although prices continue to hold above the 30-cent-perpound level at around 31 to 32 cents, down from 33 to 34 cents in May, traders and producers said.
The decline in manganese alloy prices has already led to the exit of producers such as Globe Metallurgical Corp. and Highlander Alloys LLC, but trade sources said the future will depend on the actions of integrated suppliers who continue to make money even at the lower price levels. "They make their money on the ore, not on the alloy. As long as they keep pumping the ore out, they'll make money," one trader said.

There have been some cutbacks, especially in China, where trade sources said producers have reduced output. Eramet SA shuttered a furnace at its Guilin plant in Guangxi, China, last month, but traders said that more is needed.

The manganese alloys markets continued to come under pressure last week amid weakening steel demand.

A series of tenders for standard ferromanganese revealed that numbers have dropped further, although exact details were sketchy. Market participants said that one steel mill had paid around $530 a long ton on an in-warehouse basis. A second mill also was in the market, and sources said that although awards hadn't officially been made it was anticipated that numbers would be in a similar range.

In-warehouse prices are typically $10 below delivered numbers, market participants said.
Traders said that at least one of the tenders was won by a South African producer which has a longstanding relationship with the mill. The strengthening of the dollar and, therefore, slight weakening of the South African rand probably helped contribute to the aggressive numbers, sources said.

"There's a little bit of a benefit for the South Africans on currency right now, so they (the South African producer) probably figures they'll take advantage--especially if they think prices will go lower," another trader said.

How low prices could go is unclear. "The producers are moaning about prices getting to below costs of production, but no one wants to take production out," one source said.

Market participants said that while traditionally $450 a long ton has been seen as the level where producers start to worry, that number might now be closer to $500. "It's different than a few years ago because costs like energy and coke are so much higher," one market participant said.

Meanwhile, silicomanganese also is under pressure and is said to be headed toward 30 cents a pound. Most sources put prices in the 30- to 32-cent-a-pound range.

During a project on the development of sensors for the powder metallurgy industry, NIST has developed a technique for production of nitrogenated stainless steel alloys with enhanced corrosion and mechanical properties. Discussions with metal powder producers are underway to develop commercial powder metallurgy alloys using the NIST process that will find applications in biomedical implant devices, light-weight armor plate, and other demanding environments. NIST developed this technique through work on a model for prediction of nitrogen solubility and microstructure in modified 300 series stainless steel alloys.

The new powder metallurgy nitrogenated stainless steel alloys are single phase (austenite) with no tendency to form the embrittling nitride and sigma phase compounds often found in high nitrogen stainless steels. The unique microstructure results in consolidated parts with superior corrosion and mechanical properties compared to commercially available wrought alloys, and reduced costs compared to other powder metallurgy nitrogenated stainless steel alloys. Three NIST scientists were awarded U.S. Patent 6,168,755 for the development.

Two Chinese private steel makers signed a strategic cooperation agreement aimed at helping them meet competition in the global steel market, after Chinese steel makers last week accepted a 19% iron ore price hike by suppliers, reported the official Xinhua News Agency over the weekend.

Under the agreement signed Sunday, Jiangsu Shagang Group Co. and Shanghai Fosun High Technology (Group) Co. will strengthen cooperation in the purchase of large quantities of iron ore, coke and scrap steel, according to Xinhua.

Last week, China's steel producers accepted a 19% price hike for iron ore fines and lump, and a 3% price cut for pellets, for 2006 contract terms with Australia's BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the U.K.'s Rio Tinto PLC (RTP), and Brazil's Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (RIO), or CVRD.

The three iron ore suppliers account for a combined 70% of global iron ore export sales.

The two Chinese companies will also strengthen their exchanges of market information and marketing experiences, and pursue cooperation over sales channels, pricing and technology development, the news agency said.

Fitch Ratings said it views the planned merger of OneSteel Ltd with Smorgon Steel Group Ltd as positive for Australia's steel sector.

The two companies announced on Monday an agreed deal under which OneSteel will acquire all of the shares in Smorgon Steel at an implied value of 1.76 aud per share or a total price of about 1.6 bln aud.

OneSteel and Smorgon Steel are Australia's second and third largest steelmakers, respectively, and are the country's only manufacturers of long steel products as well as the two major steel and metal distributors.

Fitch Ratings noted OneSteel's expanded steelmaking capacity of 2.7 mln metric tons a year, following the proposed acquisition, although small on a global scale, will account for about 35 pct of Australia's production.

BlueScope Steel is the country's largest and the only other steelmaker with annual capacity of 6.8 mln tons.

OneSteel has signalled its intention to demerge or sell Smorgon Steel's metal and steel merchandising business – which has sales of 1.4 bln aud annually and earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 90 mln aud to reduce the chances that the merger may be blocked by the competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Fitch Ratings said while the combined group will hold major domestic market positions for a number of long steel products, a significant level of import competition and the intention to sell Smorgon Steel's merchandising business may alleviate ACCC concerns in relation to potential lessening of competition.

'The acquisition is consistent with the global trend of consolidation in the international steel sector in recent years,' the firm said.

The nation's largest steelmaker POSCO is to hike the price of hot-rolled coil and cold-rolled coil starting next month.

The steel giant said Tuesday a recent price increase in iron ore in the global market forced it to raise some product prices including hot-rolled coil produced in blast furnaces by W20,000-40,000 per ton (US$1=W958) or 3.3-8.3 percent starting from July 13.

Major global iron ore suppliers including Brazil's CVRD concluded negotiations with global steelmakers last month, which produced a 19 percent increase in prices.

But POSCO says it will not immediately raise prices for thick steel plates for ships, wire rods and other products, whose prices will be adjusted according to future changes in the global market.

"On top of a sharp increase in the iron ore price, recovering demand in the U.S., Europe and China is also raising prices of steel products," a POSCO staffer said.