HIGH CARBON STEEL
High carbon steel offers the greatest strength and hardness compared to mild and medium carbon steel plate. However, high carbon steel is less ductile than lower carbon steels, meaning it is much harder to machine or form.
Like medium carbon steel, high carbon steel can also be heat treated to further enhance hardness and wear resistance for use in applications where steel faces particularly high levels of stress.
The high carbon composition of high carbon plate grades gives them great strength, hardness and wear resistance, which are properties ideal in applications where steel must regularly endure extreme wear without breaking, such as cutting and chiseling tools.
VERY HIGH CARBON STEEL
Some applications require steel material that can endure forces even greater than that of high carbon steel. In those applications, very high carbon steel, the strongest type of carbon steel, is used. Very high carbon steel is nearly impossible to weld, machine or shape due to its incredible strength and is therefore far less common than the other types of carbon steel.