The difference between iron and steel is simply that iron is an element and steel, in its most basic form, is an alloy of iron and carbon.
Volume of global casting production from 2018 to 2020, by country.
The most obvious reason to choose the casting process over other processes is it’s the most simple and direct method to obtain a near net shape component for further processing.
There are primarily 4 different types of cast iron. Different processing techniques can be used to produce the desired type
World crude steel production for the 64 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 158.1 million tonnes (Mt) in June 2022, a 5.9% decrease compared to June 2021.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on production as nearly all countries—except China—reported fewer shipments in 2020.