# Is there a name for an alloy of tin and steel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 12, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722 "2003-03-12T02:40:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722/1 "2003-03-12T02:40:48Z")
I just found out my father’s surname means “tin” and my mother’s maiden name means “steel”. I am the alloy:) ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722/2 "2003-03-12T02:55:30Z")
I do believe that if you take tin and add it to iron, you get steel. So do you have a relative by the name of Vulcan? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722/3 "2003-03-12T03:04:10Z")
[Nitpick] Carbon+iron = Steel. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722/4 "2003-03-12T03:20:49Z")
If you add carbon to iron, you get steel. If you add tin to iron, you just get tin plus iron. I can’t find anything like “an alloy of iron and tin”, and I’ve never heard of such a thing. Tin used to be alloyed with lead to make pewter, and it’s still alloyed with lead to make solder and with copper to make bronze, but I don’t see it alloyed with iron for anything. Now, a “tin can” is actually made out of steel coated with tin, but it isn’t an “alloy”. Carlotta Tin Can? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![johnboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e47c2d/32.png) [@johnboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnboy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722/5 "2003-03-12T04:08:57Z")
Stanley+Ferris? Good guess? ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722/6 "2003-03-12T04:27:31Z")
What about [Green Steel](http://www.newswise.com/articles/1999/6/LEADFREE.PIT.html)? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722/7 "2003-03-12T05:58:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by carlotta \* > \*\*I just found out my father’s surname means “tin” and my mother’s maiden name means “steel”. I am the alloy:) \*\* Was your mother’s first name Svetlana? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722/8 "2003-03-12T06:00:35Z")
That Green Steel site was really interesting. I notice that it is a fairly recent development. Prior to reading that, I’d have guessed (based on associations with my metallurgist/founder father) that tin and iron could not even _be_ alloyed as the melting point of the two metals is pretty far apart, meaning that attempts to alloy them would result in the tin floating off with the slag during the foundry process. (Of course, I don’t know how they got the lead that the tin replaced into the steel, either.) > [@](#): > > Tin used to be alloyed with lead to make pewter This is a technically true statement, but it should be nuanced. Roman pewter had high lead content and there was a period in the 17th-18th century when British pewter also had a high lead content. However, the principle alloys with tin in the making of pewter have traditionally been (and almost exclusively are, today), antimony and bismuth. The “knowledge” that pewter is made with lead is so prevalent, that most pewter shops make a point of stressing that they have “lead free” pewter, but the reality is that virtually all pewter, today, is lead free and the same has been true through much of history. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722/9 "2003-03-12T06:02:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rabid\_Squirrel \* > \*\*[Nitpick] > > Carbon+iron = Steel. \*\* Thanks, but that deserved more than a [nitpick]. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722/10 "2003-03-12T17:48:48Z")
> [@](#): > > What about [Green Steel](http://www.newswise.com/articles/1999/6/LEADFREE.PIT.html)? From that site: > [@](#): > > one of the most important innovations […] in the last 30 years What more could **carlotta** ask for? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722/11 "2003-03-12T18:48:37Z")
I presume if you try to pour molten tin into molten steel you get “tin pest,” the tin turn to little dust-modules that get all over your equipment. OTOH I have never tried to do it. Howabout Iron and pork chops? ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722/12 "2003-03-12T22:04:17Z")
Hey thanks guys! Green Steel huh? Well carlotta green steel sounds a little better than carlotta tin can. The names were german, but if I told you what they were, well, that would be telling 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722/13 "2003-03-12T23:19:28Z")
What is Pewter? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722/14 "2003-03-13T00:08:37Z")
It’s whatcha use ta get on th’ innernet. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722/15 "2003-03-13T03:31:37Z")
I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, **carlotta** , but you are hardhead, a useless slag containing tin and iron that is often formed in the smelting of tin ore. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-an-alloy-of-tin-and-steel/160722/16 "2003-03-13T04:03:10Z")
Lemme get this straight, **bib**. You and **manny** are the two biggest hardheads here, and you’re saying that’s a _bad_thing? I ask merely for informational purposes.