Editing Steel (section)

==Production==
{{Main|Steelmaking}}
{{See also|List of countries by steel production}}
[[File:LightningVolt Iron Ore Pellets.jpg|thumb|[[Iron ore]] pellets used in the production of steel]]
When iron is [[smelting|smelted]] from its ore, it contains more carbon than is desirable. To become steel, it must be reprocessed to reduce the carbon to the correct amount, at which point other elements can be added. In the past, steel facilities would [[casting (metalworking)|cast]] the raw steel product into [[ingot]]s which would be stored until use in further refinement processes that resulted in the finished product. In modern facilities, the initial product is close to the final composition and is [[continuous casting|continuously cast]] into long slabs, cut and shaped into bars and extrusions and heat treated to produce a final product. Today, approximately 96% of steel is continuously cast, while only 4% is produced as ingots.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|Hashemi|2006|p=361}}</ref>

The ingots are then heated in a soaking pit and [[hot rolling|hot rolled]] into slabs, [[Billet (semi-finished product)#Billet|billets]], or [[Billet (semi-finished product)#Bloom|blooms]]. Slabs are hot or [[cold rolling|cold rolled]] into [[sheet metal]] or plates. Billets are hot or cold rolled into bars, rods, and wire. Blooms are hot or cold rolled into [[structural steel]], such as [[I-beam]]s and [[rail tracks|rails]]. In modern steel mills these processes often occur in one [[assembly line]], with ore coming in and finished steel products coming out.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|Hashemi|2006|pp=361–362}}.</ref> Sometimes after a steel's final rolling, it is heat treated for strength; however, this is relatively rare.<ref>{{harvnb|Bugayev|Konovalov|Bychkov|Tretyakov|Savin|2001|p=225}}</ref>