What Type of Steel Do I Need?

Customers are often confused when it comes to the difference between hot rolled steel and cold rolled steel and hence about which steel is important for their project. However, when beginning to work on a project, it is extremely important to know the type of steel that will best meet your requirements. Prior knowledge of the difference between the two methods can help companies save on time as well as raw material cost.

HOT-ROLLED STEEL 

Hot rolling is the name given to a mill process where you roll the steel at a temperature that is above its recrystallization temperature. This usually requires a heat that exceeds 1000° F.

Once the steel is heated past this recrystallization point, it becomes more malleable and hence can be properly formed and shaped according to requirement. It also allows the manufacturer to produce larger quantities of steel in one go. The steel is then cooled down at room temperature. This storage “normalizes” it and eliminates the possibility of stresses arising in the material while quenching or work-hardening.

While cooling off the steel will shrink non-uniformly. This leads to the manufacturer having slightly less control on the overall size and shape of a hot-rolled product once it is finished

For this reason, hot-rolled steel typically remains with a scaly surface finish. For projects where the appearance of the material matters, the scales can also be removed by several techniques such as pickling, sandblasting, or grinding.

These properties of hot rolled steel make it the most suitable for structural components and other applications where extreme precision of shapes is of lesser importance. These include, but are not limited to, railroad tracks, automotive frames, I-beams, agricultural equipment, and sheet metal

COLD-ROLLED STEEL

The manufacturing process behind cold-rolled steel is a bit different from that of hot rolled steel. Despite the name, the steel is not exposed to cold temperature, it refers to steel that is pressed with a roller at normal room temperature.

When compared to hot-rolled steel, cold-rolled steel is nearly 20% stronger due to the use of strain hardening. After a series of breaking down, semi-finishing, sizing, semi-roughing, roughing, and finishing cold roll steel is finally created.

Cold rolling steel allows manufacturers to create very precise and exact shapes. By virtue of the process being performed at normal room temperature, the steel does not shrink at any point as it cools, which occurs in the hot-rolled process.

The exterior finish of cold-rolled steel is very smooth and appealing, especially when aesthetics, as well as visual appeal, are a major concern in your project.

However, cold-rolled steel is limited to only a couple of shapes, namely square, round, flat, and variations of these. Cold rolled steel is typically used for strips, bars, rods, home appliances, roof and wall systems, metal furniture and for the structure of aerospace vehicles.

WHICH ONE DO I NEED?

Making the distinction between the do mostly clarifies all doubts regarding the type of steel that is needed specific to certain projects. If one requires large structural components, hot rolled steel can be used to make the parts. Cold rolled steel, on the other hand, is better for more precision and strength needed in smaller parts. With this information, customers can arrive at the correct decision.