铁矿石、废钢和其他原材料质量的恶化对炼钢实践和成品钢的性能产生了深远的影响。这些反过来会影响焊接等制造过程。因此，本文是及时的。不可避免的是，必须以钢铁生产商现在可以获得的原材料为背景来讨论钢铁规格。同样不可避免的是，过去的情况正在对现在的情况产生重要影响，而这些情况反过来又可能对未来产生重要影响。美国的钢铁工业现在在生产和技术方面处于世界领先地位。直到最近几年，高科技的发现和使用才刺激和滋养了它的发展- 优质铁矿石、优质冶金炼焦煤和充足的优质钢铁废料供应。近年来史无前例的钢铁生产耗尽了我们的高级原材料储备，以至于已知的剩余材料要么质量低劣，要么远离已建立的钢铁生产中心。这些原材料的劣质造成了困难的技术问题，其中一些后果可能必须暂时或永久地转嫁给钢铁消费者，这取决于它们的成功解决方案和经济应用。

The deterioration of the quality of iron ore, scraps and other raw materials has had a profound effect on steel making practice and the properties of the finished steel. These in turn affect fabrication processes such as welding. This article is therefore timely.It is unavoidable that steel specifications must be discussed against the background of the raw materials which are now available to steel producers. It is also unavoidable that conditions of the past are exerting an important influence on present conditions and that those, in turn, may have important effects in the future.The steel industry of the United States now leads the world in production and technology. Until recent years, its growth was stimulated and nourished by the discovery and use of high-grade iron ores, excellent metallurgical coking coals and plentiful supply of good iron and steel scrap.The unprecedented production of iron and steel in recent years has depleted our reserves of high-grade raw materials to such an extent that the known remaining materials are either inferior in quality or remote from established centers of steel production. The inferior quality of those raw materials imposes difficult technological problems, some of the consequences of which may have to be passed on to consumers of steel either temporarily or permanently, depending upon their successful solution and economic application.