Electrical steel commodity Critical Material
Specialty iron-silicon alloy steel commodity engineered for magnetic core applications, including grain-oriented electrical steel, non-grain-oriented electrical steel, and amorphous steel within the scope of the 2023 US Department of Energy Critical Materials Assessment and Final 2023 Critical Materials List (88 FR 51792-51798). The DOE Notice defines electrical steel as essential to clean energy transformers and electric-motor technologies and designates it as a critical material for energy under Section 7002(a) of the Energy Act of 2020. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 tracks grain-oriented electrical steel as a distinct defense-stockpile material line item within the Iron and Steel chapter (printed p. 100, PDF p. 104) and documents ferrosilicon consumption by the steel industry in the Silicon chapter (printed p. 170, PDF p. 174). This record represents the manufactured alloy commodity rather than elemental iron (cmmmech:iron), elemental silicon (cmmmech:silicon), a natural mineral species, or undifferentiated carbon and structural steels. No ChEBI or IMA identifier applies to this multi-grade engineered steel family, and no microbial extraction, processing, or recovery mechanism is asserted.
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Criticality Designations
| Jurisdiction | List Name | Edition / Document | Classification | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Department of Energy Final 2023 Critical Materials List (Critical Materials for Energy) | 2023 final notice, published 4 August 2023 (88 FR 51792-51798) | critical |
doe_2023_fr
|
Sources & References
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doe_2023_fr: US Department of Energy, Notice of Final Determination on 2023 DOE Critical Materials List, 4 August 2023, Federal Register Vol. 88, No. 149, pp. 51792-51798 (Document 2023-16611): electrical steel definition including grain-oriented, non-grain-oriented, and amorphous steel on p. 51793; short-term (2020-2025) and medium-term (2025-2035) importance to energy and supply-risk scores in Table 1 (pp. 51795-51796); final critical materials for energy list on p. 51797.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-08-04/html/2023-16611.htm (accessed 2026-10-18) -
usgs_mcs2026_iron_steel: US Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Iron and Steel, printed pp. 100-101 (chapter PDF pp. 1-2): Government Stockpile table recording FY 2025 potential acquisitions of 3,200 metric tons of grain-oriented electrical steel alongside general domestic raw steel and pig iron statistics.
https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2026/mcs2026-iron-steel.pdf (accessed 2026-10-18) -
usgs_mcs2026_silicon: US Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Silicon, printed pp. 170-171 (chapter PDF pp. 1-2): ferrosilicon production and consumption in ferrous foundry and steel industries.
https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2026/mcs2026-silicon.pdf (accessed 2026-10-18)
Curation History
| Timestamp | Curator | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
2026-10-19T05:22:00Z |
antigravity | CREATE | Created electrical-steel commodity record from the 2023 US DOE Final Critical Materials List Federal Register notice and 2026 USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries Iron and Steel and Silicon chapters, preserving grain-oriented, non-grain-oriented, and amorphous steel scope boundaries and separation from elemental iron and silicon. |
Record source: data/records/electrical-steel.yaml