Commercial welders often say that steel includes many different types of metals that are made of iron. Approximately 85 % of the metal that is produced is steel. In general, steel is the alloy of iron and carbon. However, steels often contain other metals as well including nickel and chromium, as well as manganese, as well as different nonmetals such as silicon and carbon sulfur and phosphorus.

Multiprocess welders confirm that there are various kinds of steels and sometimes even they are confused to identify the steel that is used. For example, steels could be stainless steels and structural steels, hot rolled steels, and reinforcing steels, low alloy high strength steel, cast steels, tool steels, etc. On some occasions steels are named after the main ally they have, as for example chrome-molybdenum steel, chrome-manganese steel and carbon steel.

The first of the steel types to be presented here is the low-carbon steel and low-alloy steel. Stick welders know that the low-carbon steels are from the AISI series C-1008 to C-1025. The carbon here ranges from 0.10 to 0.25%, while the manganese ranges from 0.25 to 1.5%, and the phosphorous is 0.4% maximum, while the sulfur is 0.5% maximum.

These steels are widely used for industrial construction and fabrication and the acr welder can use them to perform a weld through arc, gas, and resistance welding processes. Steels like these include low-to-medium nickel steels, low-manganese steels, molybdenum steels, low nickel-chromium steels, nickel-chromium-molybdenum steels, chromium-molybdenum steels, etc.

When it comes to steel pipes, the deep penetrating characteristics of the cellulose-covered electrodes make them ideal for cross-country pipe welding. Stick welders know that the alloy steel pipe is thin and it is welded with cellulose-covered electrodes at very high currents. The welding pass here is very thin and the weld metal is aged before the pipe is put into service. This is done for the hydrogen to be absorbed, which will then affect the service life of the pipeline.