What is the difference between cast iron and cast steel?
Both of cast iron and cast steel are Fe-C alloys. Due to the different content of carbon, silicon, manganese, phosphorus, sulfur and other chemical elements, they offer different metallographic structure and show many different mechanical properties and castabilities. It is generally considered that carbon content above 2% is cast iron while contains between 0.1–0.5% carbon is as cast steel. Let’s take a look at the difference between steel castings and iron castings according to its classification and applications. Cast Iron Gray cast iron. High carbon content (2.7% ~ 4.0%). Gray cast iron is the most widely used cast iron containing flake graphite (accounting for more than 80% of the total production of cast iron). Carbon is mainly in the form of flake graphite, grey colored, offers low melting point (1145 ~ 1250℃) and small shrinkage during solidification, close to carbon steel in compressive strength and hardness, good shock absorption, used for manufacturing machine to...