The sheet metal used in your sheet meetal fabrication includes a very broad list of possible materials. Making the best choice for your products includes decisions about the type of metal, its thickness, and a choice of form. What you choose should be based on your overall expectations, desired end product, and recommendations from your sheet metal fabricator contractor manufacturing services

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Sheet metal is made from a variety of metals that each have their own unique properties and offer unique benefits. A list of the most common sheet metal materials used for fabrication have been summarized below.

Hot rolled steel is produced when steel is processed by a series of roll presses at temperatures over °F. The process creates a steel that is easily formed or shaped into large pieces and is best used where tolerances aren’t as important.

Q235 and Q355 are 16 Mn steel grade with good formability and weldability properties. It’s commonly used for structural applications and parts for a variety of industries. Q355 offers better performance at low temperatures and offers better steel strength.

SAPH440 is commonly used for automotive frames, wheels, and other parts. It has very good tensile strength making it a good choice for load bearing or structural uses.

Advantages:

• Good flexibility making it ideal for structural components
• Well suited to high production runs
• Suitable for a variety of shapes and forms
• Cooling process hardens and normalizes the material which prevents any internal stresses
• Lower cost than cold rolled steel
• Good mechanical performance in terms of toughness

Disadvantages

• Surface isrougher than cold rolled steel and can have imperfections
• Looser tolerances than cold rolled steel
• Require surface finishing to avoid corrosion
• Available only in thicknesses over 3mm (0.12 inches)
• Less formability than cold rolled steel
• Material mechanical performance fluctuate across a single sheet / batch
• Unstable spring back during CNC bending

Commonly used for:

• Rail tracks, hopper cars, components
• Construction including i-beams, metal buildings, doors, shelving
• Vehicle frames, agricultural equipment
• Water heaters, pipes, tubes
• Cross-sections
• Sheet metal

Cold rolled steel (CRS) is essentially hot rolled steel that has gone through an additional rolling process at room temperature.

This additional processing produces a steel with closer tolerances and a broader range of finishes. The result is an increase in strength by as much as 20% compared to hot rolled steel. SPCC is commonly used for automotive parts and some construction applications. SPCC can be used for galvanized products, appliances, containers, and other products.

Advantages:

• Harder and stronger than hot rolled steel
• Good for tight tolerances, creating shapes that are square with true edges and corners
• Allows for precise dimensions
• High quality smooth surface and finish
• Easier to process than hot rolled steel with less spring back during bending
• Stable mechanical performance across multiple batches
• High formability

Disadvantages:

• Additional steps required after production to prevent corrosion
• Higher cost than hot rolled steel
• Cold rolled steel can be more expensive than hot rolled steel
• Only available up to 3 mm (0.12 inches) thick

Commonly used for:

• Machine and automotive parts
• Metal furniture, desks, cabinets
• Home appliances
• Lighting fixtures
• Construction products
• Steel drums, cabinetry, water heaters
• Strips, bars, and rods

The category of spring steel includes several high yield strength steels including low-alloy manganese, medium-carbon steel, or high-carbon steel. They are primarily used to manufacture springs as the steel will return to its original shape after twisting or load bearing.

A carbon steel can be used for small springs, but large springs are best when an alloy is used. High carbon spring steel is a common choice, inexpensive, and easily processed. It is not suited to extreme temperatures or for shock/ impact loads. Alloy spring steel are well suited to shock or impact loads or conditions with high stress. Stainless spring steel can be used in some forms at extremely high temperatures (288°C) and are corrosion resistant. 65Mn is a high carbon with manganese to improve hardenability. It has good wear resistance and good workability.

Advantages

• High yield strength, resistingdistortion when twisted or compressed
• Products can withstand continuous twisting, compression etc and return to original shape
• Good hardness, elasticity, and hardenability

Disadvantages

• Some metals can have issues when overheated including brittleness
• Requires tempering after heating and quenching to relieve material stresses
• Not all are well suited to welding
• Difficult to form in hardened and tempered state

Commonly used for:

• Valve springs
• Clutch springs, brake springs
• Grinder spindles
• Coil springs, leaf springs, and s-tines
• Piano wire, guitar strings, precision tool wires
• Washers
• Lock picks
• Antennas, scrapers
• Blades

Aluminum is a pure metal that is easily alloyed with small amounts of other materials like copper, manganese, silicone, or magnesium. It is not magnetic or combustible and is a good conductor of electricity. Aluminum offers good corrosion resistance and is generally easy to form and process. It comes in several different grades and is often used because of its weight. It weighs about 1/3 of other materials like iron, steel, copper, and brass. It conducts heat well and is non-toxic making it a good choice in a variety of applications.

AL is a wrought alloy with high electrical conductivity, corrosion resistance, and workability but somewhat low mechanical strength. It’s commonly used in electrical and chemical industries. AL is most often used for architectural applications or trimming. It has high tensile properties and offers good finish options. It also offers high corrosion resistance and is a good option for anodized applications. AL is the most flexible heat-treated alloy with excellent workability. It’s well suited to most processes and has good corrosion resistance. AL is the highest strength non-heat-treated aluminum alloy and offers very good fatigue resistance. Highly workable, AL can be formed into complex shapes and offers good saltwater corrosion resistance.

Advantages

• Corrosion resistant and generally offers a maintenance-free finish
• Much lighter weight than alternatives like iron, steel, copper, and brass
• Great heat conductivity
• Nontoxic so it’s suitable for food exposure and other specialized applications
• Non-combustible and reflective so often used for lighting
• Good formability, workability, weldability and machineability

Disadvantages

• More expensive than steel
• Steel is a better option where strength is a primary concern and weight isn’t an issue
• Some alloys are less corrosion resistant than a stainless steel option
• Can affect taste of food so it’s less common for food or cooking applications

Commonly used for:

• Window frames
• Aircraft and automotive parts
• Kitchenware
• Food packaging
• Lighting
• Electrical products
• Machinery and equipment

Stainless steel includes a variety of sheet metals which contain at least 10.5% chromium. There are many different grades available, offering corrosion resistant and a commercially familiar appearance. Standard or austenitic stainless steel (300 series steels) is very common and does not require heat during the manufacturing process. They offer good corrosion resistance, formability, and weldability.

SS301 has high work hardening and is commonly used for trailer bodies and fasteners. SS304 has low carbon, is an economical grade but is not seawater resistant. SS316 has higher molybdenum content that improves its resistance to seawater corrosion. A lower carbon version (SS316L) is available for better corrosion resistance after welding.

Advantages

• Chromium content creates a corrosion resistant finish
• Good combination of strength and hardness
• Available in a variety of widths, thickness, and hardness levels
• Can be used for hot or cold treatments/ processes
• Suitable for a variety of processing techniques including spinning, brazing, polishing, buffing
• Weldable and suitable for soldering or riveting processes
• Very machinable
• Recyclable

Disadvantages

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• Can have corrosion at thick welding points
• Possible chipping during processing
• Tends to be more expensive
• Shows dirt and smudges easily and sometimes difficult to clean
• May require polishing and finishing

Commonly used for:

• Construction products like roofing, cladding, building structures, doors and windows
• Food processing equipment, cookware, and appliances
• Cooking utensils, kitchen sinks
• Vehicles including subways, cars airplanes
• Fuel and chemical containers

Cold galvanized steel has a zinc coating painted to the steel surface to protect it from corrosion. The coating will provide both a barrier protection and a galvanic protection to help extend the life of the product. It can be applied with brushes, rollers, sprayers, or through electro galvanizing. The paint includes special binders so it will mechanically bond to the steel. SGCCis a galvanized steel with good weldability and formability. It can have a pure zinc coating or have a Zn/Fe alloy coating.

Advantages

• Protection in corrosive environments with a barrier and potentially cathodic protection for the steel
• Surfaces are generally easy to clean
• Low maintenance and good life expectancy for finished product
• Cost effective, fast application process
• Better than hot-dipped galvanization for small parts and components
• Can topcoat without any additional preparation

Disasdvantages

• Surface of the steel must be clean and dry before application. This requires an extra step but is less demanding than hot-dipped applications
• Doesn’t offer as good durability, abrasion resistance, or cathodic protection as hot-dipped galvanizing
• Physical damage can compromise the coating and result in corrosion
• Surface can include spangles

Commonly used for:

• Roofing, shutters, and other covers
• Equipment bodies

The yield strength of a metal is the point at which applied stress will cause it to deform and not return to its original shape. It provides an indication of a metal’s elasticity and the maximum force you can apply to it before it will permanently deform, buckle, or even fail. Processes like annealing can impact the yield strength of some materials.

• High yield strength metals: spring steel, cold galvanized steel, cold rolled steel, hot rolled steel, titanium, stainless steel, aluminum alloys
• Low yield strength metals: copper, brass, some aluminum alloys

Tensile strength refers to ability of a metal to resist force. Higher tensile strength requires more force to snap it for example. If the product you’re producing doesn’t need to bear any load, then a metal with less tensile strength might be the best choice. Keep in mind that how you form the sheet metal can impact its strength and the load it can bear.

• High tensile strength metals: spring steel, hot rolled steel, cold rolled steel, cold galvanized steel, stainless steel, titanium
• Low tensile strength metals: aluminum

The material you choose should take into consideration the environment it will be exposed to. Some metals respond better than others to factors like water, oxidation, or other elements it will be exposed to. Some metals, like stainless steel, won’t corrode but they can develop an oxide film. Also keep in mind that galvanic corrosion can occur when to dissimilar metals are in contact with each other.

• Less corrosion resistant metals: cold-rolled carbon steel
• More corrosion resistant metals: copper, stainless steel, aluminum, nickel, titanium, tin

How To Choose The Right Carbon Steel Sheet Metal Material

When looking at the correct carbon steel sheet metal for your manufactured parts, there are several types to pick. A few basic questions exist that need answering before choosing the right material:

• Will the parts be cut using a laser, plasma, or punched?
• Will the parts finished be indoors or outdoors?
• Does your parts need to be painted?
• Does your parts need to have a better finishing?

These are some of the factors used in choosing the correct type of sheet metal material. Today, we will take this article to introduce the carbon steel sheet material characteristic.

Below are main carbon steel material type and specification.

• Galvanized Steel Sheet

How to form a galvanized sheet from a carbon steel sheet is by using a continuous hot-dip process. It coats the carbon steel with zinc on both sides. The zinc coating possesses an added advantage by improving the properties of carbon steel. It becomes more laborious than a regular galvanized coating and is more resistant to scratching and manufacturing damage. However, one disadvantage is the harder coating being susceptible to powdering if the sheet is severely formed during fabrication.

Creatingway advocates Galvanized sheet specific use in the painted condition. When painted, the combined paint/galvanized coating offers perfect resistance to peeling and blistering. It also improves the corrosion resistance of the paint, compared with the conventional galvanized sheet. It is after the careful selection of primers and paints used in the painting process.

For the main application, we recommend the use of galvanized steel in painted parts and parts that remaining outside during its use. For processing, it can be laser cut, punched, and formed with exceptional results. The overall surface finish, adhesion, and paint quality are usually best with galvanized material.

• Hot Rolled Sheet

The process of forming hot rolled sheets is by rolling material at elevated temperatures on rolling mills. It generates material that is resistant to work hardening and exhibits reduced levels of deformation residual stress. The addition of a process downstream is necessary to eliminate coil memory. It includes temper passing or stretcher leveling. One major demerit is hot-rolling leaves surface imperfections such as scale or pits which require additional finishing for a smooth surface.

If you are a customer keen on saving expenditure, hot rolled steel (HRS) is the ideal metal sheet for you. Especially when the cost is more important than the surface finish. For processing, it is mainly punched instead of being cut on the laser. Forming a hot-rolled sheet is not a complicated process, thus allowing us to process on time.

• Cold Rolled Sheet

The key role of cold rolling is to treat hot rolled steel sheet further. It results in an increase in strength and the strength-to-weight ratio of the final rolled metal sheet. It enables it to hold tighter tolerances during fabricating and machining. The process results in a stiffer material, smooth surface, and more consistent metal thickness. It is possible by compression of the grain structure of a hot-rolled sheet during the cold rolling process.

Painting immediately of parts made from a cold-rolled sheet is necessary to prevent surface rust. Processing of cold-rolled sheet is by laser cutting, punching, and forming with excellent results. The surface finish of painted parts is usually exceptionally good with a cold-rolled sheet.

What Factors did the carbon steel sheet metal material have?

In picking the right sheet metal for your next project, there are lots of options. You must compare up the options carefully as there is a possibility of compromising both function and form. With that in mind, our experts at Creatingway present what we suggest are the most crucial sheet metal selection criteria to consider.

• Strength

Strength becomes vital if you need metal to bear heavy loads. A polished sheet of aluminum looks excellent but does not offer much in the terms- of tensile strength. That is unless you form it into a profile, which gives it more rigidity.

• Corrosion resistance

Examples of metal sheets that do not corrode stainless, aluminum and copper but develop oxide films. For cold-rolled steel, it rusts quickly if left unprotected thus we paint to protect the metal sheet surface.

• Appearance

The finishing process vary when dealing with metal sheet fabrication. It does not matter too much what the sheet metal looks like If you are applying a plated, painted or powder finish. Some applications require the bare metal look thus skipping the finishing process.

• Formability

For sheet metals, some are easier to bend than others. Stainless steel is very prone to cracking on bending. Most aluminum grades, for example, are very ductile while low carbon steels fall somewhere between the two. We use the feature of easy formability to our advantage to combining separate pieces. It effectively replaces welding or screwing with bending. It simplifies assembly and reduces piece count, thus a bonus for easily formed metals.

When you trust a reliable, experienced company, you should not have any problems with copper sheet metal fabrication. Creatingway is a sheet metal expert who can explain to you in detail the facts about sheet metal fabrication, ensuring you end up with a perfect finish every time. Our four criteria should help you narrow down the options and work through the selection issues. If you need advice, we’re always happy to talk.

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