cast steel

Definitions

1. The steel making up a steel casting, in the sense of one cast to finished (net) or near-net shape: the product of a steel foundry (as opposed to a steel mill); the steel counterpart to cast iron.
   countable, uncountable
2. Steel that has been poured from (cast out of) a vessel (e.g., crucible, ladle, or furnace) while molten, as opposed to blister steel, which has been formed by carburizing and hammering iron bars.
   archaic, countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“CAST⟳ STEEL / A search⟳ for metals of lighter, and more durable qualities than iron⟳ led to a new process⟳ in producing steel. In 1740 Benjamin Huntsman, a watchmaker, searching for a lighter, and less brittle metal than the old blister steel, hit upon melting steel in a crucible, or in a pot, lined with clay and graphite. The crucible could withstand⟳ the high temperatures necessary to melt⟳ metals in a container. To the product of the crucible was given the name⟳ "cast⟳ steel." [because it was poured (cast⟳) from a melted state, unlike blister steel] / A DISTINCTION OF TERMS / Readers are cautioned at this point⟳ to understand⟳ that the terms "cast⟳ steel" and "steel castings" are not interchangeable, and, in fact, bear⟳ very little relationship to each other. It is true that steel castings must be made of "cast⟳ steel," but not all "cast⟳ steel" goes into the manufacture⟳ of steel castings. "Cast⟳ steel" merely describes the mass of metal which, after being melted, is poured into a mold of one sort⟳ or another, whether steel ingot molds or castings. Steel castings are objects which are given their final form⟳ in sand-filled molds. "Cast⟳ steel" may be poured into molds to form⟳ steel castings but it may also find⟳ its way, eventually, into structural steel, rolled steel or forgings; steel castings are the products of the steel foundry.”

“Several journals make⟳ a note⟳ of the fact that the William Butcher Steel Works supplied 3000 tons of cast⟳ steel for the building of the Eads Bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Louis, and the content of the statements may lead⟳ readers to assume⟳ that these were steel castings. In the opinion of Mr. John N. Mudd, historian of the Midvale Steel Company, the materials furnished the bridge builders in St. Louis were cast⟳ steel and not steel castings.”

CEFR level