Steel Key Terms

Term : Basic Oxygen Furnace Description : A pear-shaped furnace, lined with refractory bricks, that refines molten iron from the blast furnace and scrap into steel. Up to 30% of the charge into the BOF can be scrap, with hot metal accounting for the rest. BOFs, which can refine a heat (batch) of steel in less than 45 minutes, replaced open-hearth furnaces in the 1950s; the latter required five to six hours to process the metal. The BOFs rapid operation, lower cost, and ease of control give it a distinct advantage over previous methods. Scrap is dumped into the furnace vessel, followed by the hot metal from the blast furnace. A lance is lowered from above, through which blows a high-pressure stream of oxygen to cause chemical reactions that separate impurities as fumes or slag. Once refined, the liquid steel and slag are poured into separate containers.

Term : Bars Description : Long steel products that are rolled from billets. Merchant bar and reinforcing bar (rebar) are two common categories of bars, where merchants include rounds, flats, angles, squares, and channels that are used by fabricators to manufacture a wide variety of products such as furniture, stair railings, and farm equipment. Rebar is used to strengthen concrete in highways, bridges, and buildings. Term : Basic Oxygen Process Description : A steel making process wherein oxygen of the highest purity is blown onto the surface of a bath of molten iron contained in a basic lined and ladle shaped vessel. The melting cycle duration is extremely short with quality comparable to Open Hearth Steel. Term : Basic Steel Description : Steel melted in a furnace with a basic bottom and lining and under a slag containing an excess of a basic substance such as magnesia or lime. Term : Bauxite Description : The only commercial ore of aluminum, corresponding essentially to the formula Al2O3xH2O. Term : BEAM Description : A bar or straight girder used to support a span of roof between two support props or walls.

Term : Bearing Load

Description : A compressive load supported by a member, usually a tube or collar, along a line where contact is made with a pin, rivet, axle, or shaft. Term : Bending Description : The forming of metals into various angles. Term : Beryllium Copper Description : An alloy of copper and 2-3% beryllium with optionally fractional percentages of nickel or cobalt. Alloys of this series show remarkable age-hardening properties and an ultimate hardness of about 400 Brinell (Rockwell C43). Because of such hardness and good electrical conductivity, beryllium-copper is used in electrical switches, springs, etc. Term : Bessemer Process Description : A process for making steel by blowing air through molten pig iron contained in a refractory lined vessel so that the impurities are thus removed by oxidation. Term : Billet Description : A solid semi-finished round or square product that has been hot worked by forging, rolling, or extrusion. An iron or steel billet has a minimum width or thickness of 1 1/2 in. and the cross-sectional area varies from 2 1/4 to 36 sq. in. For nonferrous metals, it may also be a casting suitable for finished or semi-finished rolling or for extrusion. Term : Binary Alloy Description : An alloy containing two elements, apart from minor impurities, as brass containing the two elements copper and zinc. Term : Black Plate Description : A light weight or a thin uncoated steel sheet or strip so called because of its dark oxide coloring prior to pickling. It is manufactured by two different processes. (1) Form sheet bar on single stand sheet mills or sheet mills in tandem. This method is now almost obsolete. (2) On modern, high speed continuous tandem cold reduction mills from coiled hot rolled pickled wide strip into ribbon wound coils to finished gage. Sizes range from 12 to 32 in width, and in thicknesses from 55 lbs. to 275 lbs. base box weight. It is used either as is for stampings, or may be enameled or painted or tin or terne coated.

Term : Blanking

Description : An early step in preparing flat-rolled steel for use by an end user. A blank is a section of sheet that has the same outer dimensions as a specified part (such as a car door or hood), but that has not yet been stamped. Steel processors may offer blanking for their customers to reduce their labor and transportation costs; excess steel can be trimmed prior to shipment. Term : Blast Furnace Description : A vertical shaft type smelting furnace in which an air blast is used, usually hot, for producing pih iron. The furnace is continuous in operation using iron ore, coke, and limestone as raw materials which are charged at the top while the molten iron and slag are collected at the bottom and are tapped out at intervals. Term : Blister Description : A defect in metal, on or near the surface, resulting from the expansion of gas in a subsurface zone. Very small blisters are called pinheads or pepper blisters. Term : Bloom Description : A semi-finished steel form, with a rectangular cross-section that is more than 8. This large cast steel shape is broken down in the mill to produce the familiar I-beams, H-beams, and sheet piling. Blooms are also part of the high-quality bar manufacturing process: Reduction of a bloom to a much smaller cross-section can improve the quality of the metal. Term : Bloomery Description : A primitive furnace used for direct reduction of ore to iron. Term : Blooming Mill Description : A hot rolling mill that takes continuously cast slabs or ingots and processes them into blooms. Term : Blowhole Description : A cavity which was produced during the solidification of metal by evolved gas, which in failing to escape is held in pockets. Term : BOS vessel Description : A furnace where blasts of oxygen are used to transform iron into steel.

Term : Brownfield Expansion Description : A brownfield contrasts to a greenfield (or a facility new from the ground up). A brownfield expansion means adding on to an existing facility. Term : Capped Steel

Description : Semikilled steel cast in a bottle-top mold and covered with a cap fitting into the neck of the mold. The cap causes to top metal to solidify. Pressure is built up in the sealed-in molten metal and results in a surface condition much like that of rimmed steel. Term : Cast Iron Description : Iron containing more carbon than the solubility limit in austenite (about 2%). Term : Cementation Description : (1) Introduction of one or more elements into the outer layer of a metal object by means of diffusion at high temperature. (2) An obsolete process used to convert wrought iron to blister steel by carburizing. Wrought iron bars were packed in sealed chests with charcoal and heated at about 2000 F (1100 C) for 6 to 8 days. Cementation was the predominant method of manufacturing steels particularly high-carbon tool steels, prior to the introduction of the bessemer and open-hearth methods. Term : Bronze Description : Primarily an alloy of copper and tin, but additionally, the name is used when referring to other alloys not containing tin, for example, aluminum bronze, manganese bronze, and beryllium bronze. Term : Carbon Steel Description : Steel containing carbon up to about 2% and only residual quantities of other elements except those added for deoxidization, with silicon usually limited to 0.60% and manganese to about 1.65%. Also termed plain carbon steel, ordinary steel, and straight carbon steel. Term : CAST Description : A directed throw; in open-cut mining, the overburden is cast from the virgin ore or coal to the previously mined area. Cast Steel Description : Steel in the form of castings, usually containing less than 2% carbon.

Term : Chromium-Nickel Steel Description : Steel usually made by the electric furnace process in which chromium and nickel participate as alloying elements. The stainless steel of 18% chromium and 8% nickel are the better known of the chromium-nickel types. Term : Cluster Mill Description : A rolling mill where each of the two working rolls of small diameter is supported by two or more back-up rolls.

Term : Coated steel Description : Steel sheet coated through a heat process or through electrolysis with a layer of substance to protect the base metal (substrate) against corrosion. The most commonly used material is zinc which can be applied either using the heat process (hot-dip galvanising) or using electrolysis (electro-galvanising). An organic coating (paint, plastic) can also be deposited on the layer of zinc. The zinc-coated steel is often referred to as "galvanised steel". Term : Coke Description : De-volatilised coal, produced in a coke oven, used as a reductant in the blast furnace and in foundries. Term : Cold Finished Bars Description : Hot rolled stainless steel bars that are annealed and cold worked to produce a higher surface quality and higher strength. Term : Cold Rolled Products Description : Flat rolled products for which the required final thickness has been obtained by rolling at room temperature. Term : Cold-Rolled Strip Description : Sheet steel that has been pickled and run through a cold-reduction mill. Strip has a final product width of approximately 12 inches, while sheet may be more than 80 inches wide. Cold-rolled sheet is considerably thinner and stronger than hot-rolled sheet, so it will sell for a premium (see Sheet Steel). Term : Continuous Strip Mill Description : A series of synchronized rolling mill stands in which coiled flat rolled metal entering the first pass (or stand) moves in a straight line and is continuously reduced in thickness (not width) at each subsequent pass. The finished strip is recoiled upon leaving the final or finishing pass.

Term : Corrosion Description : The attack upon metals by chemical agents converting them to nonmetallic products. Stainless steel has a passive film created by the presence of chromium (and often other alloying elements, nickel, molybdenum) that resists this process. Term : CRM Description : Customer Relationship Management is not a software program but a holistic business philosophy. The aim of CRM is to create added value for both customers and suppliers on the basis of long-term business relationships. The customer relationship is intensified at all process levels and tailored to the customer in order to strengthen customer loyalty and raise relationship exit barriers.

Term : Cross Rolling Description : The rolling of sheet so that the direction of rolling is changed about 90 (degrees) from the direction of the previous rolling. Term : Electric arc furnace Description : A furnace for scrap-based steelmaking. Once the furnace is charged and covered, graphite electrodes are lowered through holes in the roof. The electric arc travelling between the electrodes and the metallic charge creates intense heat which melts the scrap. Alloying elements can be added during the process. Term : Electric Furnace Steel Description : Steel made in any furnace where heat is generated electrically, almost always by arc. Because of relatively high cost, only tool steels and other high-value steels are made by the electric furnace process. Term : Electric Resistance Welded Pipe Description : Pipe made from strips of hot-rolled steel which are passed through forming rolls and welded. While seamless pipe is traditionally stronger and more expensive than comparable ERW pipe, ERW technology is improving and the technique now accounts for approximately 48% of OCTG shipments by tonnage Term : Electric sheets Description : These sheets are produced from steel alloyed with silicon (up to 3.5%) and are used in the manufacture of alternators, transformers and motors. Grain oriented electrical sheets have a high silicon content and are used for the manufacture of large transformers. Non-oriented products are used in electric motors and small transformers Term : Electrogalvanized Description : Zinc plating process whereby the molecules on the positively charged zinc anode attach to the negatively charged sheet steel. The thickness of the zinc coating is readily controlled. By increasing the electric charge or slowing the speed of the steel through the plating area, the coating will thicken.

Term : Electro-Galvanizing Description : Galvanizing by Electro deposition of zinc on steel. Term : Erosion-Corrosion Description : An accelerated loss of material concerning corrosion and erosion that results from corrosive material interacting with the material. Term : Feedstock

Description : Any raw material. Substrate. Term : Ferroalloy Description : Metal products such as ferrochrome, ferromanganese, and ferrosilicon that are commonly used as raw materials to aid various stages in stainless steel making. Term : Ferrochrome Description : An alloy of iron and chromium with up to 72% chromium. Ferrochrome is commonly used as a raw material in the making of stainless steel. Term : Ferrous Description : Related to iron (derived from the Latin ferrum). Ferrous alloys are, therfore, iron base alloys Term : Finished Steel Description : Steel that is ready for the market without further work or treatment. Blooms, billets, slabs, sheet bars, and wire rods are termed semi-finished produced by the in-the-line thermal treatment following electrodeposition Term : Flat products Description : A type that is produced by rolls with smooth surfaces and ranges of dimension, varying in thickness. The two major flat steel product categories are thin flat products (between 1 mm and 10mm in thickness) and plates (between 10mm and 200mm in thickness and used for large welded pipes, ship building, construction, major works and boilers). Term : Flat-Rolled Steel Description : Category of steel that includes sheet, strip, and tin plate, among others. Produced by passing ingot/slab through pairs of rolls Term : FOB Pricing Description : Phrase that explains whether the transportation costs of the steel are included. FOB Mill is the price of steel at the mill, not including shipping. Term : Feedstock Description : Any raw material. Substrate. Term : Ferroalloy Description : Metal products such as ferrochrome, ferromanganese, and ferrosilicon that are commonly used as raw materials to aid various stages in stainless steel making Term : Ferrochrome

Description : An alloy of iron and chromium with up to 72% chromium. Ferrochrome is commonly used as a raw material in the making of stainless steel. Term : Ferro-Manganese Description : An alloy of iron and manganese (80% manganese) used in making additions of manganese to steel or cast-iron. Ferroalloy, An alloy of iron with a sufficient amount of some element or elements such as manganese, chromium, or vanadium for use as a means in adding these elements into molten steel. Term : Ferrous Description : Related to iron (derived from the Latin ferrum). Ferrous alloys are, therfore, iron base alloys. Term : Fiber or Fibre Description : Direction in which metals have been caused to flow, as by rolling, with microscopic evidence in the form of fibrous appearance in the direction of flow. Term : Finery Description : A charcoal-fueled hearth furnace used in early processes for converting cast iron to wrought iron by melting and oxidizing it in an air blast, then repeatedly oxidizing the product in the presence of a slag. The carbon oxidizes more rapidly than the iron so that a wrought iron of low carbon content is produced. Term : Finish Coat Description : The topcoat or exposed prime side paint film. Term : Finished Steel Description : Steel that is ready for the market without further work or treatment. Blooms, billets, slabs, sheet bars, and wire rods are termed semi-finished produced by the in-the-line thermal treatment following electrodeposition Term : Finishing Description : Operations such as straightening, cutting, etc. designed to give steel products their desired appearance after shaping Term : Flat products Description : A type that is produced by rolls with smooth surfaces and ranges of dimension, varying in thickness. The two major flat steel product categories are thin flat products (between 1 mm and 10mm in thickness) and plates (between 10mm and 200mm in thickness and used for large welded pipes, ship building, construction, major works and boilers). Term : Flat Wire

Description : A flat Cold Rolled, prepared edge section up to 1 1/4 wide, rectangular in shape. Generally produced from hot rolled rods or specially prepared round wire by one or more cold rolling operations, primarily for the purpose of obtaining the size and section desired. May also be produced by slitting cold rolled flat metal to desired with followed by edge dressing. Term : Flatness Description : Flatness is a measure of a cut length sheet's ability to conform to a flat horizontal surface. Maximum deviation from that surface is the degree to which the sheet is out of flat. Flatness is often expressed quantitatively in either Steepness or I-Units. Term : Flat-Rolled Steel Description : Category of steel that includes sheet, strip, and tin plate, among others. Produced by passing ingot/slab through pairs of rolls. Term : Forge Welding Description : Welding hot metal by applying pressure or blows. Term : Forging Description : Plastically deforming metal, usually hot, into desired shapes with compressive force, with or without dies. Term : Forming Description : A process that brings about a change in the shape of stainless steel by the application of force (i.e. cold forming, hot forming, wire forming). Term : Full Hard Cold Rolled 1 Description : Hot rolled pickled steel that is cold reduced to a specified thickness and subject to no further processing (not annealed or temper rolled). The product is very stiff; it is not intended for flat work where deformation is very minimal. Term : Full Finish Plate Description : Steel sheet or strip, reduced either hot or cold, cleaned, annealed, and then coldrolled to a bright finish. Term : Galling Description : Developing a condition on the rubbing surface of one or both mating parts where excessive friction between high spots results in localized welding with substantial spalling and a further roughening of the surface. Term : Galvanized Steel Description : Steel coated with a thin layer of zinc to provide corrosion resistance in underbody auto parts, garbage cans, storage tanks, or fencing wire. Sheet steel normally must be cold-rolled prior to the galvanizing stage.

Term : Galvanize Coatings Description : Free zinc coatings applied to a hot-rolled or cold-rolled steel to produce Galvanized steel. The coating can be applied by the hot-dip or electrodeposition process. Term : GigaJoule Description : A measure of energy. A GigaJoule equals 1,000,000,000 Joules. A 100-watt light bulb turned on for one second consumes 100 Joules. Term : Hot Band (Hot-Rolled Steel) Description : A coil of steel rolled on a hot-strip mill (hot-rolled steel). It can be sold in this form to customers or further processed into other finished products. Term : Hot Band (Hot-Rolled Stainless Steel) Description : Stainless steel that has been rolled on a hot-strip mill. It can be sold directly to customers or further processed into other finished products. Term : Hot Metal Description : The name for the molten iron produced in a blast furnace. It proceeds to the basic oxygen furnace in molten form or is cast as pig iron. Term : Hot Mill Description : The rolling mill that reduces a hot slab into a coil of specified thickness; the processing is done at a relatively high temperature (when the steel is still red). Term : Hot Rolled Sheet Description : Steel sheet that is processed to its final thickness by rolling at high temperatures on a specially designed hot-rolling facility. Also commonly known as hot rolled unprocessed.

Term : Hot Rolled Sheet Products Description : Flat steel products that are brought to final thickness by rolling through a Hot Strip Mill at high temperatures Term : Hot-rolled sheet Description : Sheet cut from hot-rolled wide strip, usually with a thickness of 15 (max. 20) mm. Term : Integrated Mills

Description : Facilities that combine all the stainless steel making facilities from melt shop through hot rolling and cold finishing, to produce mill products. Term : I-Beams Description : Structural sections on which the flanges are tapered and are typically not as long as the flanges on wide-flange beams. The flanges are thicker at the cross sections and thinner at the toes of the flanges. They are produced with depths of three inches to 24 inches. Term : Ingot Iron Description : Commercially pure open-hearth iron. Term : Iron Carbide Description : One of several substitutes for high-quality, low-residual scrap for use in electric furnace steelmaking. Iron carbide producers use natural gas to reduce iron ore to iron carbide. Term : Iron Ore Description : Mineral containing enough iron to be a commercially viable source of the element for use in steelmaking. Except for fragments of meteorites found on earth, iron is not a free element; instead, it is trapped in the earths crust in its oxidized form. Term : Iron-Based Superalloys Description : These alloys are at the highest end of the range of temperature and strength. Additives such as chrome, nickel, titanium, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, silicon, and carbon may be used. These superalloys are also referred to as super chrome stainless steels. Term : Lead-Time Description : Delivery time for an item of inventory to be moved from a source location to a destination via a specific route. Detail is specific to the level of the location. Also the time to produce a customers order from order placement to shipment.

Term : Light-Gauge Stainless Steel Description : A very thin sheet of stainless steel that has either been temper rolled or passed through a cold reduction mill. Term : Light-Gauge Steel Description : Very thin steel sheet that has been temper-rolled or passed through a cold-reduction mill. Light gauge steel normally is plated with tin or chrome for use in food containers Term : London Metal Exchange (LME)

Description : A metals trading center for the Western World. The LME also determines the metal price for aluminum trading for current and future delivery. Term : Long (net) Ton Description : 2,240 pounds. Term : Long Products Description : Category of stainless steel that includes rods, bars, and structural products that are described as long rather than flat. Term : Man-Hours per Ton (M-H/T) Description : This is a measure of labor efficiency the ratio of total hours worked by steel employees to the tons shipped for a given period of time. Changes in the inventory level and work that is contracted out will affect the reported measurement. Term : Metal Description : An opaque, lustrous, elemental substance that is a good conductor of heat and electricity and, when polished, a good reflector or light. Most metals are malleable and ductile and are, in general, denser than other substances. Term : Metric ton Description : 1,000 kilograms. (2,204.6 pounds or 1.102 short tons). Term : Nickel Description : (Chemical symbol Ni) Element No. 28 of the periodic system; atomic weight 58.69. Silvery white, slightly magnetic metal, of medium hardness and high degree of ductility and malleability and resistance to chemical and atmospheric corrosion; melting point 2651 (degrees) F.; boiling point about 5250 (degrees) F., specific gravity 8.90. Used for electroplating. Used as an alloying agent, it is of great importance in iron-base alloys in stainless steels and in copper-base alloys such as Cupro-Nickel, as well as in nickel-base alloys such as Monel Metal. Its principal functions as an alloy in steel making: (1) Strengthens unquenched or annealed steels. (2) Toughens pearlitic-ferritic steels (especially at low temperature). (3) Renders high-chromium iron alloys austenitic. Term : Non-Ferrous Metal Description : Metal or alloy that contains no iron. Term : Order Rate Description : The ratio of new orders recorded to the mills capacity to produce the steel to fill the orders. Many analysts view trends in the order rate as harbingers of future production levels. Term : Ore

Description : A mineral from which metal is (or may be) extracted. Term : Peak Earnings Description : The ultimate earnings level of a company at the top of the business cycle. This is the expected profit during the time of the highest commodity demand and the strongest product pricing. Term : Pellets Description : Fine particles of iron ore mixed with bonding clay and roasted into hard round balls for blast furnace feed. Term : Pig Iron Description : Iron produced by reduction of iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron contains approximately 92% iron and about 3.5% carbon. Balance largely silicone and manganese with small percentages of phosphorus, sulphur, and other impurities. Term : Powder Metallurgy Description : The art of producing metal powders and of utilizing metal powders for the production of massive materials and shaped objects Term : Powder Metals Description : Fabrication technology in which fine metallic powder is compacted under high pressure and then heated at a temperature slightly below the melting point to solidify the material. Primary users of powder metal parts are auto, electronics and aerospace industries. Term : Preheat Furnace Description : Furnace positioned before the direct fired furnace, which can be used to heat the strip slightly prior to entry to remaining furnace. Term : PVC steel Description : Sheet steel coated with plastic, used in whitegoods manufacture such as washing machines and refrigera Term : Red Brass Description : 85% Copper -- A copper-zinc alloy containing approximately 15% zinc, used for plumbing pipe, hardware, condenser tubes. Because of its color, is used or vanity cases, coins, plaques, badges, etc. It is somewhat stronger than commercial bronze and is hardened more rapidly by cold working. Term : Refractories Description : Heat resistant materials, often bricks, that are used as the linings of furnaces and ladles.

Term : Recycling Description : Reintegration of a material or component into the manufacturing cycle to produce a new end product. With Recycling, scrap is turned into a raw material for the production of steel. Because of its 100-percent recyclability (involving no loss of quality), stainless steel is a particularly environmentally friendly material. Its recyclability is thus an important material property. Term : Rod Description : Round steel bar, ranging from 5.5mm to 12.7mm diameter, produced in coils. Used as feed for wire mills.