Investors in the steel industry generally occur throughout terms including slab, hot dip galvanised sheet, or coated sheet – but the definitions of these terms and interrelationships among the different steel items in the manufacturing chain are by no means constantly clear. on this article, the authors describe the steel product ‘production’ chain and the flow of items from semi-finished to completed product.

The 3 Semi-Finished Product Groups

The 3 principal completed steel product groups are tube, flat items and long products Tin Plate Coil . These completed items are produced from semi-finished steel items which are typically produced by steady casting of fluid steel. These so-called semis comprise,
billet: usually a rectangular some 6 or twelve metres in length with cross-sectional region of 100 – 120 mm rectangular to some highest of 180 – 200 mm rectangular – employed for long items and seamless tube
slab: typically as a great deal as twelve metres in length and conventionally from ~150 mm as a great deal as ~400 mm thick – employed for flat items (and subsequently, welded tube)
bloom: typically above 180 or 200mm rectangular to close to 300 – 360 mm rectangular (to a highest of ~400 mm square) – employed for large part and long products.

The completed Products

Turning for the different completed product groups,
billet is normally hot-rolled into light long products. These items generally comprise bar – which could be round, square, angled etc. This light long class generally consists of merchant bar items (rounds, squares, hexagons, rectangles, flats etc employed mainly as assistance structures for building, construction, machinery) and also reinforcing bar (typically 8 – 18 mm in diameter, and employed for concrete reinforcement). Light long items also can include cable rod, which can be generally below 13.5 mm in diameter, and is formed in coils instead than in lengths. Steel wire, steel mesh, nails and other fasteners are usually produced from cable rod.
slab is normally hot rolled into plate or into hot rolled coil. past this step, there is chilly rolling, which typically takes hot rolled steel coil and even more reduces the gauge to produce cold-rolled coil. Cold-rolled steel could be employed as such (e.g. in machine components), but is generally coated to produce zinc coated sheet or tin plate. Zinc coated sheet is generally processed even more still – to make so-called organically grown coated sheet – where a plastic material coating even more adds for the anti-corrosive components with the steel.
bloom is usually rolled inside a blooming mill, to produce large sections or very large bar shapes.
welded tube in turn is typically produced by bending of hot rolled coil or sheet (made from slab); although plate or cold-rolled steel also can be employed for welded tube making based on the desired wall thickness.
seamless tube is typically produced by billet piercing.

The stainless steel bar  manufacturing procedure chain in summary therefore, typically consists with the following steps:
production of fluid steel
production of semis
hot rolling of semis to make light long items such bar or hot rolled plate or coil
cold rolling with the hot rolled bar or coil product, to produce cold-rolled coil or chilly drawn items including steel wire.

For even more support in knowing the different steel manufacturing processes, please contact steel industry consultants Metals Consulting International. Please also really feel totally free to travel to MCI’s internet site for the latest steel news, steel costs and other industry reports; or our steel industry weblog for associated discussions.