I. Reading Activity and Speech Practice. Text C: New Steels Meet Changing Needs

1. Since steel is the most popular structural material available, steel-makers make every effort to meet the changing needs of these markets. New, more sophisticated processes for steel- making and treatment have led to steel products of higher grade and greater variety.

2. As a structural material steel has two drawbacks; its weight and its susceptibility to rust. However, due to its advantages, steel has long been used, and in great quantities, in structural applications from bridges and buildings to ships, automobiles and household appliances. Steel is superior to other structural materials in strength, toughness, workability and other properties that are critical for such applications, and it is mass-produced with uniform, reliable quality and at low cost.

3. The need for lighter weight is really a requirement for materials having higher specific strength (strength/ specific gravity). Materials offering new properties not found in conventional materials will include new breeds of steel, hybrid materials and truly novel materials such as amorphous metal. The need for maximum performance calls for materials approaching the limits of durability, toughness and the like. Finally, the need to reduce costs is leading to materials diversification in which steel materials precisely suited to a specific application are developed.

4. Yet, it can no longer be said that a steel product is satisfactory if it is simply a good structural material. Today’s market needs can be classified broadly as: 1). the need for lighter weight; 2). the need for new propertied; 3). the need for maximum performance; and 4). the need for cost reduction.

III.2 Write out from paragraphs 3 and 4 word combinations to speak about the main requirements to modern engineering materials.

III.3 Complete the scheme using the information from the text. Be ready to speak about modern engineering materials.

Steel has

Advantages and Drawbacks

1. 2. 1. 2. 3.

III. 4 Translate paragraphs 3 and 4 into Russian in written form.

Unit 2