Iron oxide is reduced in a blast furnace using carbon. The iron produced has impurities making it hard and brittle, so it only has uses as cast iron. However pure iron is too soft for many uses.
Most iron is used to make steels; steels are alloys of iron as they are a mixture of carbon and other elements. Alloys can be made so that they have specific uses.
Depending on the amount of carbon in a steel, depends on it’s properties.
Low-carbon steels are easily shaped and high-carbon steels are hard.
Some steels such as Stainless steels, contain larger quantities of other metals which help them resist corrosion.
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