Steel – the everyday metal
Sujata C
You’ll find it everywhere – at home, in the school, in hospitals, offices, science labs and skyscrapers. Steel is the all weather, all terrain metal that gives shape to a new world. A project on steel should be easy to do with many promises of learning beyond the classroom. Plan out the project to see how many subjects you can cover with steel.
Steel is malleable, strong, anti-corrosive, hygienic, recyclable, and so dependable. No metal is as all pervasive as steel is since its invention almost 4000 years ago.
The Indian steel industry is almost a hundred years old. The per capita consumption of steel in India is only 29 kg and has to go a long way to reach the consumption levels of around 400 kg in developed countries like the USA.
India had three steel plants at the time of Independence: TISCO, IISCO, and Vishveshvarayya Iron and Steel Co. Bengal Iron Works set up in 1847 in Asansol, West Bengal, was the first plant where steel was made in India. Bhilai Steel Plant and Bokaro Steel Plant were amongst the earliest ones in India.
Prepare a timeline that shows the setting up of major steel plants in India.
Prepare a chart representing the qualities of steel
Steel in ancient history: Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. In that sense, the history of steel is linked with that of iron. The Rig Vedas mention the concept of metallurgy. Archery was a common way of waging wars and hunting 5000 years ago in ancient India when people might have made their bows and arrows with iron. But Greek emperors are known to have employed Indians for their steel making skills in 400 BC. Soldiers in steel armour were so essential to win a war!
The Iron Age witnessed many changes in the way of life of humans along with the widespread use of iron. When man started cultivating
land, farming equipment and weapons began to be made with iron. Indian archeologists have found evidence of iron implements in the Central plains of Uttar Pradesh dating back to 1800-2000 BC.
The first form of crucible steel was known to have been made in India in 300 BC. The Iron Pillar next to the Qutub Minar was built in 350-380 BC, and is regarded as a marvel in metallurgy as it has not rusted till date. Steel structures are known to have been used in the temples of Konark.
Have students prepare a timeline chart of the history of steel.
How steel gets made: Steel was made in ancient steel plants known as bloomeries in the Middle Ages by heating iron and coking coal together. The blast furnace was made in the 17th century. It is around 30 metres high and lined with fireproof bricks.
Make a presentation on the founding fathers of the steel industry (the world and India). Find out if India has any state-of-the-art furnaces to make steel.
Iron ore and coal are two essential ingredients in steel production. Coke is burnt to produce carbon monoxide. The reduction of iron takes place in several steps and at temperatures as high as 1400-1500°C. The molten iron is poured into moulds and is called cast iron. Iron and coke are then combined to form an alloy called steel which is chemically represented as Fe3C.
Make a pie chart showing the distribution of iron ore and coal mines in the world. Examine the steel industry map of India and write down what kind of resources are available at each steel plant.
Types of steel
Steel can be moulded, recycled, anodized, galvanized, etc. There are many types of steel available depending on what needs to be made – carbon steel, alloy steel, stainless steel, etc. Find out more on the types of steel available and make a poster with details of the combinations of iron, coke, and other metals.
Chemistry: Use the Periodic table to find out the atomic number of metals that are used to make the different types of steel, in addition to iron and coke. Find out why these metals are suitable to be in a steel alloy.
Steel is made in the form of sheets, bars, ingots, and wires. A steel plant should ideally be located near the place where resources are available, like gas or coal mine or iron ore mine.
Stainless steel that is used to make utensils is corrosion proof and contains 11 percent chromium and some nickel apart from iron and carbon. In the olden days, steel was the common man’s silver. It was expensive and only essential items like knives, blades, swords, were made with steel. Advances in technology made steel cheaper later on.
Steel spurs development
Steel spawns a chain of ancillary industries and downstream units. It also almost immediately develops a transportation network, mainly rail and road to facilitate movement of man and materials like iron ore and coal from mines to the plants, and the manufactured steel to ports and consuming areas. Soon the town grows to meet other needs including supporting commercial activities, housing, schooling, higher education, and so on.
Make a sketch to show how a steel plant transforms a small town.
That steel plays a definitive role in the development of a nation is clear from the fact that the postal department of the Government of India released a Rs.10 stamp in 1955. In those days Rs.10 was a lot of money!
Stamp collection: Look for steel industry related Indian stamps. Look for the first stamp on steel displayed at the National Philatelic Museum in New Delhi.
Steel production and consumption
India is the fifth largest producer of steel in the world. China is the largest producer and consumer of steel. Arcelor Mittal is the world’s largest steel producing company. It has eight times the capacity of Steel Authority of India. The company has contributed steel used in the particle accelerator at CERN.
Prepare a fact sheet on the present and projected consumption of steel in India. Which country is the largest steel consumer in the world? Is there a difference in the steel consumption of rural India and urban India? Find out the total number of steel producers in the world. Find out the steel consumption of different countries and depict it on a bar graph.
Steel is consumed by major sectors of industry. The automobile industry is one of the most important consumers of steel.
Find out how much steel is consumed by different sectors of industry in India and other countries.
Environment: A steel plant triggers growth like no other industrial activity, but if this is done without a thought to the environment, it leads to irreversible harm. The iron and steel industry comes under the Red category of industries identified by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India as heavily polluting. Steel plants must obtain an ISO certification for environmental compliance and allocate some acres for tree cover to offset the polluting effects of the plant.
What are the different types of polluting effects of a steel industry – write a note.
You can discuss an interesting case study while on the subject of pollution. The case of Kudremukh Iron Ore Company is noteworthy for ravaging the biodiversity of the Western Ghats, which is the ‘hottest of hotspots of biodiversity’ and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Kudremukh mine is one of the largest iron ore open cast mines in the world.
Collect pictures of Kudremukh landscape in the 1980s and 2000s. Observe the stark difference.
Find out where major iron ores and coal mines exist in the world.
Art with steel: Nothing is too mundane for the artistic eye. Some great artists have used ordinary steel vessels to create works of art.
Photography: Steel vessels, pots, and pans arranged neatly in an Indian kitchen can make for an interesting topic for photography. Children of higher classes can explore this through the lens and display their work in class.
Touch the skies with steel: Steel has made it possible for engineers to push the limits of construction. A sky scraper is a tall habitable building, at least 150m (492 feet) in height. The steel skeleton of the building carries the weight of the building as well as the weight of the people and things inside that building. Hongkong tops the list of cities with as many as 302 skyscrapers.
Make a list of cities with most high-rise buildings in the world. You can divide the list based on the height of the building – above 150m, above 300m, above 500m, etc. Who is the father of modern skyscrapers?
Discuss why steel is suitable for skyscrapers. Many skyscrapers are under construction and ready to beat the existing ones. Make a list of the future tallest buildings of the world. Which country will have the most number of skyscrapers by 2020?
While a skyscraper defies gravity, there is another steel marvel that pushes the limits horizontally – the Bullet Train. The fastest bullet train runs in China.
Find out the speed at which the fastest bullet train travels. Prepare a fact sheet on bullet trains. Which was the first country to have a bullet train?
Read about some other marvels in steel like the steel tunnel in the Hadron Collider at CERN and the longest underground railway tunnel in Japan and the Channel Tunnel between England and France, the longest undersea tunnel in the world.
Find out where the rest of these underground wonders are in the world with their facts and figures.
The spirit of steel: What can steel teach us for our personal selves? Is the tensile strength of steel not quite like the human quality of endurance and determination? Explain to students how this quality gives people the capacity to withstand the blows of life that come unannounced. Many of the steel companies have to do just that, when they are faced with the ups and downs of industry fluctuations. Once this project is done, you can hope that steel will always remind your students to stay the course, in tough times. If you want to take it further, help your students develop a mind like a steel trap that can think quickly and intelligently with a memory that has a vice like grip on things.
BOX 1: Activities you can do
Create interesting patterns with steel spoons, fruit forks, forks, knives and bowls by arranging them on the floor much like a flower carpet or rangoli.
Check out the tool box – how artistic can you get with it. Visit art galleries to see the work of artists in your city.
Try creating a piece of art with stuff lying around in your house, or transform an object into a piece of art.
Art appreciation: Study each picture in the poster carefully and write down what the artist’s inspiration could have been for the various sculptures. What is the artist trying to say, what does it convey to you, what is your experience, do you see what there is or do you see something else too? Write down your response.
The author is a freelance writer based in Hyderabad. She can be reached at sujata117@gmail.com.
