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I'm not sure innovation is really the issue, this article never actually goes into the alloys US Steel developed (of which there are many), and alloys are what
by ApolloFortyNine 3y ago
I'm not sure innovation is really the issue, this article never actually goes into the alloys US Steel developed (of which there are many), and alloys are what makes steel steel really. It's always been fascinating to me how the just a tiny percent of another element in a metal can have an absolutely dramatic affect on the strength/resilience of the material.
And they tried more complicated alloys, for instance they developed Corten steel, the biggest example of which is probably the US Steel building in Pittsburgh, [1]. It's a steel where it's 'rust' essentially works as a protective layer.
More than anything this article shows US Steel simply couldn't compete with foreign suppliers. It's interesting to me that they don't even mention the Steel Workers Union, which was/is one of the largest and most powerful unions in the U.S. I'm not saying the cause, but if you need 5% more steel to cover the deficiencies in foreign steel in strength, but it's 20% cheaper, than it's simply cheaper to import more foreign steel.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weathering_steel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weathering_steel
- rhapsodic 3y ago>And they tried more complicated alloys, for instance they developed Corten steel, the biggest example of which is probably the US Steel building in Pittsburgh. It's a steel where it's 'rust' essentially works as a protective layer. Also worthy of mention is the New River Gorge Bridge. [1] And the recently-collapsed Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh. [2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_River_Gorge_Bridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_River_Gorge_Bridge [2] https://www.carboline.com/solution-spot/posts/pittsburgh-bridge-coating-corten-steel/ https://www.carboline.com/solution-spot/posts/pittsburgh-bri...
- steveklabnik 3y agoOr… the US Steel Tower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Steel_Tower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Steel_Tower
- shrubble 3y agoIs Corten used in shipping containers (I seem to recall that it is)?
- hulitu 3y ago> More than anything this article shows US Steel simply couldn't compete with foreign suppliers Because the only inovation came from stolen patents from eastern europe. You can survive doing nothing until your competitor comes with something new.