You see steel products every day, but do you know how it is processed?
We can see steel products from time to time. It is widely used in infrastructure, appliances, vehicles, wind turbines and many more applications. But, do you know how steel is made?
Hot rolling is one of the most important and commonly used processing methods of steel.
Hot rolled steel is steel that is rolled at very high temperatures (over 1,700 degree F), above the recrystallization temperature of most steels. This makes the steel easier to form and produces a product that is easier to work with.
To process hot-rolled steel, manufacturers first start with a large rectangular piece of metal, called a billet. The billet is heated and sent for pretreatment, where it is flattened into a large coil. From there, it is held at high temperatures and passed through a series of slugs to reach its final size. White-hot strands are pushed across the spokes at high speed. For sheet metal, rolled steel is spun into coils and cooled. For other forms, such as bars or sheets, the material is divided and packaged.
Steel shrinks slightly as it cools. Because hot-rolled steel cools after processing, it has less control over its final shape, making it less suitable for precision applications.
Hot rolled steel is often used for applications where a specific size is not critical. Railroad tracks and construction projects often use hot rolled steel.
