Scrap steel comes from many different sources because it is very easily recycled. Some scrap comes from within the steelworks, where it might have been damaged or is at the end of a batch of one type of steel. It also comes from old car bodies, old ship containers, and buildings that have been…
Hot rolled steel is steel that has been roll-pressed at very high temperatures. Hot rolled steel is steel that has been roll-pressed at very high temperatures—over 1,700˚F, which is above the re-crystallization temperature for most steels. This makes the steel easier to form and resulting in products that are easier to work with. Hot rolled…
Cold Rolled Steel is essentially hot rolled steel that has been through further processing. Once hot rolled steel has cooled, it is then re-rolled at room temperature to achieve more exact dimensions and better surface qualities. Cold “rolled” steel is often used to describe a range of finishing processes, though technically “cold rolled” applies only…
A wire is a single usually cylindrical, flexible strand or rod of metal. Wires are used to bear mechanical loads or electricity and telecommunications signals. Wire is commonly formed by drawing the metal through a hole in a die or draw plate. Wire gauges come in various standard sizes, as expressed in terms of…
Rebar (short for reinforcing bar), known when massed as reinforcing steel or reinforcement steel is a steel bar or mesh of steel wires used as a tension device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid the concrete under tension. Concrete is strong under compression but has weak tensile strength. Rebar significantly…
The structural channel, also known as a C-channel or Parallel Flange Channel (PFC), is a type of (usually structural steel) beam, used primarily in building construction and civil engineering. Its cross section consists of a wide “web”, usually but not always oriented vertically, and two “flanges” at the top and bottom of the web,…
Steel Angles are the most basic type of roll-formed steel. They are formed by bending a single angle in a piece of steel. Angle Steel is ‘L’ shaped; the most common type of Steel Angles are at a 90 degree angle. The legs of the “L” can be equal or unequal in length. Steel angles…
A beam is a structural element that primarily resists loads applied laterally to the beam’s axis. Its mode of deflection is primarily by bending. The loads applied to the beam result in reaction forces at the beam’s support points. H beam is a structural beam made of rolled steel. It is incredibly strong. It gets…
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. Iron makes up close to 5% of the Earth’s crust. It takes around 1.6 tons of iron ore…
Sponge iron, also called direct reduced iron, is the product created when iron ore is reduced to metallic iron, usually with some kind of carbon (charcoal, etc.), at temperatures below the melting point of iron. This results in a spongy mass, sometimes called a bloom, consisting of a mix of incandescent wrought iron and…