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Verence17 t1_jabu2yc wrote

Cast iron is even less "iron" than steel, it's just called that way. Iron is a base metal. Steel is an iron-carbon alloy with the right proportion of carbon, where the carbon makes it harder. "Cast iron" is not iron but it's another iron-carbon alloy with too much carbon, so the carbon makes it brittle.

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georgecoffey OP t1_jac3lmb wrote

This is why I am asking this, they are both alloys of iron and carbon, but is there an exact divide? Is it just some percentage everyone agrees on? Does each alloy get assigned to one group? And if they do, what defines what group they get assigned to?

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Verence17 t1_jac41rt wrote

The commonly used divide between pure iron and steel is around 0.02% carbon, between steel and cast iron is 2.14% of carbon. For more complex alloys, where there isn't just steel and carbon but a sizeable portion of other things, it can be complicated.

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[deleted] t1_jabwcyn wrote

[removed]

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AsFarAsItGoes t1_jabx9dd wrote

Rule 4: “Explain for laypeople (but not actual 5 year olds)”

I think the explanation absolutely works.

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