Steel is termed as a commodity product having has a wide range of uses. Right from the zipper of your bags and clothes to the tallest skyscrapers all require steel as a main ingredient in varying quantities. There are different grades of steel each of which has found its way into some application or the other.
Steel is used in various forms such as plates, tubes, pipes, bars etc. They can be listed as follows:
Flat Items
Several product groups come under this category. Some of them are:
Steel plates: Steel plate suppliers will emphasize the importance of this form of steel in ship building, military equipment like armoured tanks, personal carriers and into the making of bigger sized pipes.
Hot rolled sheet and coil: This application includes roll-formed sections required in construction, auto chassis components, machine parts; low pressure tanks, water and gas pipes, heavy ducts and channels.
Cold rolled sheet and coil: This form goes into the making of roofing products, packaging, refrigerators and freezers, enamel lined kitchen utensils, brackets for machinery and construction.
Coated steel items: Tin and zinc coated steels are utilized for making ventilation shafts for air conditioning, cabinets, lockers, metal boxes, railway wagons, roofing products, motorway crash barriers; the list here is almost endless.
Long Items
The product categories that are included within long items are:
Light sections: The applications of this form are reinforcing bars used for horizontal and vertical reinforcing of concrete, merchant bars that go as support structures for machinery and construction and engineering steel products utilized in the manufacture of gear box gears, crank shafts, hydraulic components etc. Alloy steel round bars suppliers will vouch for the importance of this product category.
Heavy sections: Beams included in this product group are used as load support in construction of buildings or bridges besides being used in railway rails.
Wire products: This form is used in the manufacture of mechanical springs, fasteners, wire mesh and fencing products.
Seamless pipes: Seamless pipes in bigger diameters are used in gas and oil exploration and in applications involving high pressures and temperatures. They work best for applications which need to withstand corrosive environments. Casing pipes suppliers normally stock this product category.
Welded pipes: This form includes pipes in large, medium and small diameters which are used in water and gas piping, furniture and construction projects. Pipes of very large diameters are highly useful for intercontinental, under-water or cross-country transport of gas and oil.
Highly specialized applications of steel also exist such as high speed steels required for metal-cutting, tool steels utilized for production of tools like shear blades, stamping dies, wrenches etc., steel forgings with a wide range of industrial applications.
The stainless steel sub-group of steel has more than hundred grades of which a few are being used in normal applications. Some examples of product groups that are used in several applications include stainless steel seamless pipes, plates, tubes etc. A wide range of industries rely on stainless steel mainly because of its properties of superior strength, corrosion resistance and low maintenance. Details of stainless steel plates suppliers and suppliers of other product categories can be found from online directories.