Different types of steel are produced and presented in a wide range and at https://metinvestholding.com/. Thus, a regular customer may be confused with a number of metal characteristics. Let’s talk about the differences and the advantages of cold-rolled steel.
How Is Cold-Rolled Steel Produced?
A cold-rolled sheet is run between rollers without preheating. That is a heavier job, and the process takes a long time. The iron sheet, in this case, has a homogeneous structure with low plasticity. The result is a perfectly smooth surface. The finished sheet is crimped and fired to eliminate tension in the metal, which does not affect its consumer properties.
Cold-rolled sheets are in demand in the construction, space, machinery, and shipbuilding industries. It has excellent external characteristics and high strength. The hot-rolled sheet doesn’t have such properties.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Cold-Rolled Steel
Among the advantages of the material:
- perfect geometric characteristics;
- internal uniformity;
- smooth and flat surface.
Cold-rolled metal is also used to produce steel sheets when creating a piece of modern furniture. Furniture made of such material is delivered for medical purposes, chemical industry, laboratories. Thin cold-rolled metal is used in the manufacture of beautiful kitchen utensils.
A flexible hot-rolled steel plate is used as a blank, which is passed through rolls under pressure. Before this operation, the surface of the billet is etched to achieve a higher quality product. After rolling, the sheet thicknesses range from 0.35 mm to 5,00 mm.
As for the disadvantages of cold-rolled sheets:
- rusts quickly in the open air without additional treatment;
- the price is higher. Much more power is required to roll the cold-rolled metal.
Fundamental Differences Between Cold-Rolled and Hot-Rolled Sheets
Hot-rolled sheets can be made from low-grade steel grades and cold-rolled — only from quality grades. Hot-rolled sheets have non-uniform composition, namely — the middle of the sheet “sags,” so products are used in the construction and welding of steel structures.
The hot-rolled sheet is distributed unevenly, making it “leads” when welding, the cold-rolled sheet is evenly distributed when welding behaves perfectly. Hence, it’s more used in automotive, instrumentation, and aircraft construction.
Cold-rolled sheet thickness is up to 5 mm, and the hot-rolled sheet thickness is up to 200 mm.
Precise production of the cold-rolled sheet is higher than that of the hot-rolled sheet: width, length, angles.
A hot-rolled sheet is cheaper than a cold-rolled sheet, but when cooling, the sheet is compressed, and it is impossible to predict the size and shape as with a cold-rolled sheet.
Cold-rolled sheets do not crack when bent. The strength and reliability of hot- and cold-rolled sheets do not differ.
What Kind of Steel Sheet to Choose?
When you choose a sheet metal, you have to consider the scope of its application. To manufacture rough building structures, you can choose hot-rolled sheets that are not distinguished by aesthetics but provide high strength of shaped products.
For the production of steel tiles or steel sheet furniture, it’s better to use cold-rolled products that are free of scale and other defects. It’s always tough to tell if cold-rolled steel is stronger or not than any other steel. You always have to be guided by your goals.