Alloy Steels- Technical and Economic Background

THIS contribution is meant to serve as a general intro-duction to the symposium on Alloy Steels, which is being
held at the National Metallurgical Laboratory,Jamshedpur, and which is hoped to encourage India to make and use alloy steels.As such, the first question which we must
try to answer is, ` What are alloy steels ? ' This is a question which has not, so far, much been asked in India, yet one of which the answer should be of particular inte-rest to industrialists and to those concerned, on the Government side, with determining and administering
the iron and steel policy of India, as well as to the general public. The short answer is that alloy steels are steels with deliberately introduced quantities of elements other than iron or carbon or manganese (beyond 1.2 per cent ). We hear a great deal about expansion of steel production in India and of measures aimed at economy in steel utilization, but at present this is mainly concerned
with non-alloy grades of steel, although freer use of alloy steels should effect greater economies and limit somewhat the need for expansion of the Indian steel industry. It would also allow the development of more
advanced engineering techniques than can at present be employed without resort to imported materials, and these would in turn result in achievements with lasting advant- ages.