Alloy Steels
Alloy steels have enhanced properties due to the presence of 1 or more special elements, or to the presence of larger proportion of elements such as manganese and silicon than are present in carbon steels.
Billet
A semi-finished steel product that has been rolled or forged from an ingot or strand cast. It is smaller and longer than a bloom, it's usually a square cross section less than 36 square inches. Bars, pipes, wire and wire products are made from billets.
Blast Furnace
The blast furnace is a furnace used to produce iron. Iron ore, coke and limestone are heated to temperatures in excess of 3,000° F by blasts of hot air. The coke burns, emitting gases that reduce the ore to metallic iron. The limestone combines with impurities and forms slag.
Bloom
A bloom is a semi-finished steel product that has been rolled or forged from an ingot or strand cast. It usually has a square cross section exceeding 36 square inches. Blooms are frequently used in the manufacturing of building beams and columns.
Bar
A Bar is a finished steel product, most often produced in flat, square, round or hexagonal shapes. Rolled from billets, bars are produced in two major types, merchant and special.
Basic Oxygen Steel Making
The process where as hot metal and steel scrap are charged into a basic oxygen furnace (BOF). High purity oxygen is then blown into the metal bath, combining with carbon and other elements to reduce the impurities in the molten charge and convert it into steel.
Carbon Steels
The largest percentage of steel production. Common grades have a carbon content ranging from 0.06% to 1.0%.
Cast Iron Pipe
Used as a pressure pipe for transmission of water, gas and sewage, and as a water drainage pipe,
Cold Drawing
The process of reducing the cross-sectional diameter of tubes or wire by drawing them through dies without heating the material.
Cold Rolling
After hot rolling, annealing and pickling, coils are cold rolled to reduce them to the proper thickness for sale or additional processing. The passing of a sheet or strip that has previously been hot rolled and pickled through cold rolls, i.e. below the softening temperature of the metal. Cold Rolling makes a product that is thinner, smoother, and stronger than can be made by hot rolling alone.
Continuous Casting
A faster method of making steel than traditional methods. A caster accepts molten steel from the basic oxygen furnace and casts it into slabs, blooms or billets, which are then sent to a finishing mill. The caster eliminates the need to pour liquid steel into ingots and can literally accept pours on a continuous basis.
Cupping
The process of forming tubular or closed-cylindrical products from a flat plate. The plate is heated prior to forming.
Coal
The primary fuel for integrated iron and steel producers.
Coil
A finished steel product such as sheet or strip which has been wound or coiled after rolling.
Continuous Casting
A process for solidifying steel in the form of a continuous strand rather than individual ingots. Molten steel is poured into open-bottomed, water-cooled molds, and then as the molten steel passes through the mold, the outer shell solidifies.
Crude Steel
Steel in the first solid state after melting, suitable for further processing or for sale. Synonymous to raw steel.
Culvert Pipe
uses for culvert pipe in the construction industry include: The construction of driveways, temporary river bridges, and let's not forget one of the biggest uses for culvert grade pipe, running water systems
Ductile Pipe
Ductile iron pipe is commonly used for potable water and sewage distribution
Electric Arc Furnace (EAF)
A method of producing steel to exact specifications. Steel scrap, limestone and other additives are placed in the furnace. Three carbon electrodes are lowered into the furnace until they meet the cold scrap. Electric arcs then produce intense heat, transforming the scrap into molten steel.
Electrical Steels
Electrical steel is a specially manufactured cold rolled sheet and strip containing silicon, processed to develop definite magnetic characteristics for use by the electrical industry.
Galvanized Steel
Galvanized steel is a product that is produced when hot or cold rolled sheet or strip is coated with zinc either by the hot-dipping process or electrolytic deposition process. Zinc coating applied by the hot dip method is normally heavy enough to resist corrosion without requiring additional protective coatings.
Materials electrolytically galvanized are not used for corrosion resistant applications without subsequent chemical treatment and painting except in mild corrosive conditions, due to the thin coating of zinc. Galvanize is a pure zinc coating. A special heat-treating process converts the pure zinc coating to a zinc/iron alloy coating, and the product is known as Galvanneal.
Hot Rolling
Hot rolling is the process of reheating slabs, billets or blooms and running them through a series of hot mills, where they are reduced to an intermediate thickness and then coiled.
Hot Metal
Hot metal is molten iron produced in the blast furnace.
Hot Rolling
Hot rolling is the rolling of semi-finished steel after it has been re-heated.
Iron Ore
The primary raw material in the manufacturing of steel.
Limestone
Used by the steel industry to remove impurities from the iron made in blast furnaces. Magnesium-containing limestone, called dolomite, is also sometimes used in the purifying process.
Line Pipe
Is used in the industry for transportation of gas, oil or water generally in a pipeline or utility distribution system.
Mechanical Tubing
Welded or seamless tubing produced in a large number of shapes to closer tolerances than other pipe.
Mandrel
A shaft on which steel that has been previously bored is mounted for turning and milling. It also can be a rod that is used to retain the cavity in hollow metal products during further processing.
Oil Country Tubular goods (OCTG)
Pipe used in wells in oil and gas industries, consisting of casing, tubing, and drill pipe. Casing is the structural retainer for the walls; tubing is used within casing oil wells to convey oil to ground level; drill pipe is used to transmit power to a rotary drilling tool below ground level.
Open-Hearth Process
The Open Hearth process is used for making steel from molten iron and scrap. This process has been replaced by the basic oxygen process in most modern facilities.
Piercing
Piercing is a process used to make seamless pipe and tubing from semi-finished products, called tube rounds.
Planishing
Production of a superior finish on a previously rolled or forged product, accomplished by passing the steel bar or other product through chill cast or hardened steel rolls or by hammering with a smooth-faced hammer.
Pig Iron
High carbon iron made by the reduction of iron ore in the blast furnace.
Reversing Mill
Rolling mill designed so the direction the rolls are turning can be reversed following each pass of the steel. This rotation can be repeated until the desired reduction is attained.
Roughing Stand
Mill used for preliminary rolling.
Sheet
A flat rolled product over 12 inches in width and of less thickness than plate.
Sheet Piling
Sheet piling is rolled sections with interlocking joints (continuous throughout the entire length of the piece) on each edge to permit being driven edge-to-edge to form continuous walls for retaining earth or water.
Slab
A wide semi-finished product made from an ingot or by continuous casting. Flat rolled steel products are made from slabs.
Stainless Steel Pipe
Stainless steel pipes offer a superior corrosion resistance due to the addition of chromium and/or nickel to the molten steel.
Standard pipe
Standard pipe is used for low-pressure conveyance of air, steam, gas, water, oil or other fluids and for mechanical applications. Primarily in machinery, buildings, sprinkler systems, irrigation systems, and water wells rather than in pipelines or distribution systems.
Structural Shapes
Rolled flange sections, sections welded form plates, and special sections with at least one dimension of their cross-section 3 inches or greater. Included are angles, beams, channels, tees and zees.
Structural Pipe & Tubing
Welded or seamless pipe and tubing generally used for structural or load-bearing purposes above-ground by the construction industry, as well as for structural members in ships, trucks, and farm equipment.
Skelp
Steel sheet or plate from which welded tubing or pipe is made.
Tin Coated Steel
Cold rolled sheet, strip, or plate coated with tin or chromium. Alloy Steels
Alloy steels have enhanced properties due to the presence of 1 or more special elements, or to the presence of larger proportion of elements such as manganese and silicon than are present in carbon steels.