At what temperature does steel melt?
Electroless nickel
Unlike electroplated nickel, electroless nickel deposits do not have a precise melting point but rather have a melting "range". Pure nickel has a melting point of 1455 °C (2650 °F), however EN is an alloy and as the phosphorus content is increased within the film, the deposit begins to soften at lower temperatures and continues to soften until it eventually melts. The melting range decreases linearly as the phosphorus levels increase. The eutectic or lowest melting point for NiP alloys is 880 °C (1620 °F) and occurs at a deposit phosphorus content of 11% b.w. The highest melting point is for low Phosphorus deposits (less than 3%) that claim to have melting points at 1,200 °C (2,200 °F). EN has failed in some high temperature applications since it was not fully recognized that even with a relatively high melting range the deposit may still have a liquid phase at lower temperatures. Figure 3 illustrates what happens when you subject EN to temperatures above its melting point.
Steel
Crucible steel is steel that has been melted in a crucible rather than having been forged, with the result that it is more homogeneous. Most previous furnaces could not reach high enough temperatures to melt the steel. The early modern crucible steel industry resulted from the invention of Benjamin Huntsman in the 1740s. Blister steel (made as above) was melted in a crucible or in a furnace, and cast (usually) into ingots.