Alloy steel In addition to iron and carbon, a small amount of alloying elements such as chromium and vanadium are added. The effect of these additional elements is to significantly alter the properties of the steels and make them more suitable for specific applications than plain carbon steels. Two widely used alloy steels are:

Chrome vanadium steel – this steel has a lower tendency to solidify than ordinary carbon steel;

Silicon Manganese Steel – A less expensive and more readily available material than Chrome Vanadium Steel, although the physical properties of the two steels are nearly identical.