When cold drawn, stainless steel may reach tensile properties of 2, MPa or greater, but such high strength levels are usually limited to fine wire sizes. Size is a concern due in part to the quick work hardening rate of stainless steel, which yields diminishing tensile strengthening at the core of a wire as its diameter increases. A fast work hardening rate provides certain benefits, as well. Common applications include the manufacturing of nuts and bolts, machine parts, cryogenic machinery and hospital equipment.
The martensitic group, in particular, displays the highest levels of hardness and corrosion resistance among the stainless steel categories, making it a popular alloy for the production of tools, valve parts, bearings, and cutlery. Work hardening can also increase the magnetism of stainless steel. While its magnetism tends to be relatively slight, grades with higher work hardening rates exhibit higher levels of magnetic capacity after treatment.
Stainless steel also undergoes greater deformation at slower forming speeds, requiring some high-speed forming processes to be slowed down to improve their work hardening efficiency. Grades , , and achieve resistance to chipping when alloyed with manganese sulfide. Due to the decreased ductility and corrosion resistance that comes with the addition of manganese sulfide, these grades have limited machining applications, though several free-machining grades have been developed to address the problem.
To overcome the limits of machining certain types of stainless steel, some companies have incorporated exclusive steel melting techniques to improve the machinability of commonly-used austenitic grades. The Manufacturing Process: How to Make Stainless Steel Once the raw materials are gathered, the rest of the stainless steel manufacturing process can begin.
Here are the basic steps: Melting the Raw Materials. The different stainless steel materials are placed in a furnace typically an electric furnace for modern stainless steel manufacturing applications and heated to their melting point. This process can take anywhere between 8 and 12 hours, according to metalsupermarkets. Once the metal is molten, stainless steel manufacturing can proceed to the next step. Removal of Excess Carbon. The molten material placed into a vacuum oxygen decarburization VOD or argon oxygen decarburization AOD system to remove excess carbon.
Depending on how much carbon is removed, this process could result in a standard or a low-carbon variant of the alloy—for example, versus L stainless steel. This can affect the tensile strength and hardness of the final product.
Tuning or Stirring. This helps to ensure that the stainless steel is of uniform quality and will meet the specifications required by end users like Marlin Steel. Forming the Metal. As the stainless steel begins to cool, it is put through a variety of forming processes—starting with hot rolling while the steel is still above its crystallization temperature.
Hot rolling helps get the steel into a rough shape, and is often used to create billets or blooms of metal. To create metal blooms or billets of precise dimensions, the stainless steel may be cold rolled. Cutting and Shaping. After the annealing process, stainless steel is put through a variety of cutting and shaping processes to create an ideal final product for the application. For example, the steel may be cut mechanically with large metal shears if making thick metal plates. Meanwhile, CNC punch or laser cutting machines may be used to cut shapes out of thinner metal sheets.
Our team of experts are ready to fill your order from a single custom piece to a full line of stainless steel fabrication. Fabricated Products. Fabrication Services. Contact us for more info on our other services such as:. Fabrication Operations. Fabrication Capabilities. Precision Welding.
0コメント