Any of a number of alloys consisting predominantly of iron with varying proportions of carbon (up to 1.7%) and, in some cases, small quantities of other elements (alloy steels), such as manganese, silicon, chromium, molybdenum, and nickel. Steels containing over 11–12% of chromium are known as stainless steels. Adding carbon to iron to make steel can improve some of the properties of iron, e.g. by making it harder.
Carbon steels exist in three stable crystalline phases: ferrite has a body-centred cubic crystal, austenite has a face-centred cubic crystal, and cementite has an orthorhombic crystal. Pearlite is a mixture of ferrite and cementite arranged in parallel plates. The phase diagram shows how the phases form at different temperatures and compositions.
Steels are manufactured by the basic-oxygen process (L-D process), which has largely replaced the Bessemer process and the open-hearth process, or in electrical furnaces.