Editing Metal (section)

===The age of steel===
[[File:Allegheny Ludlum steel furnace.jpg|thumb|right|White-hot steel pours like water from a 35-ton electric furnace, at the Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation, in [[Brackenridge, Pennsylvania|Brackenridge]], [[Pennsylvania]].]]

The modern era in [[steelmaking]] began with the introduction of [[Henry Bessemer]]'s [[Bessemer process]] in 1855, the raw material for which was pig iron. His method let him produce steel in large quantities cheaply, thus [[mild steel]] came to be used for most purposes for which wrought iron was formerly used. The [[Gilchrist-Thomas process]] (or ''basic Bessemer process'') was an improvement to the Bessemer process, made by lining the converter with a [[basic (chemistry)|basic]] material to remove phosphorus.

Due to its high [[tensile strength]] and low cost, steel came to be a major component used in [[building]]s, [[infrastructure]], [[tool]]s, [[ship]]s, [[automobile]]s, [[machine]]s, appliances, and [[weapon]]s.

In 1872, the Englishmen Clark and Woods patented an alloy that would today be considered a [[stainless steel]]. The corrosion resistance of iron-chromium alloys had been recognized in 1821 by French metallurgist [[Pierre Berthier]]. He noted their resistance against attack by some acids and suggested their use in cutlery. Metallurgists of the 19th century were unable to produce the combination of low carbon and high chromium found in most modern stainless steels, and the high-chromium alloys they could produce were too brittle to be practical. It was not until 1912 that the industrialization of stainless steel alloys occurred in England, Germany, and the United States.