1. Different composition: High carbon steel refers to steel with a carbon content between 0.6% and 1.5%. It has higher strength and hardness and also improves the wear resistance and heat resistance of the material. However, due to the high carbon content, it is prone to problems such as cracks and deformation and requires appropriate heat treatment.
Alloy steel refers to the addition of alloy elements such as chromium, molybdenum, nickel, etc., to ordinary steel to improve certain properties of steel. Alloy steel not only has high strength, corrosion resistance, and heat resistance but also has good toughness and plasticity.

2. Different performance: Due to the addition of alloy elements, alloy steel has better corrosion resistance, thermal strength, and toughness, while high carbon steel has higher strength and wear resistance;

3. Different applications: High carbon steel is suitable for manufacturing knives, springs, auto parts, etc., while alloy steel can be used to manufacture aviation parts, motors, electrical parts, etc.

1. High carbon steel has poor hardenability
After water quenching, the critical quenching diameter of carbon steel is 15~20mm. For parts with a diameter greater than 20mm, it is impossible to quench even with water quenching, and it cannot be guaranteed that the entire cross section will obtain consistent comprehensive mechanical properties. Therefore, for large parts with high requirements, carbon steel is definitely not suitable. Alloy steel has high hardenability and can be used to manufacture parts with large cross-sections and complex shapes.

2. High carbon steel has low high temperature strength and poor red hardness
When carbon steel is used at temperatures above 200℃, its strength and hardness will decrease rapidly. Alloy steel has good stability after tempering. Good red hardness and can work at higher temperatures.

3. High carbon steel cannot obtain good comprehensive performance
For example, when using quenching and tempering treatment to try to obtain good comprehensive performance, if you want to ensure higher strength, the toughness is low, and if you want to ensure better toughness, the strength is low. This is due to the poor tempering stability of carbon steel. Therefore, the comprehensive performance obtained by carbon steel is far worse than that of alloy steel; that is, alloy steel has very good strength and toughness.

4. High carbon steel does not have special properties
For example, high temperature hardness or tensile strength, oxidation resistance, corrosion resistance, special electrical and magnetic properties, etc., cannot be obtained with carbon steel, and only alloy steel can be used to meet the above requirements. Carbon steel also has some advantages. For example, by changing its carbon content and performing appropriate heat treatment, many properties required in industrial production can be obtained. Because carbon steel is low in price, easy to produce, and has good processing performance, it is still a very widely used steel material in industry, accounting for more than 80% of the total steel consumption.

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