Viscosity— the property of a metal (alloy) to stretch before breaking when a load is applied.
Vacuum Degassing — a steel refining process using a unit that removes oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen under low pressure (in a vacuum) to produce high-quality steel.
G
Galvanization — the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron to prevent rust or corrosion.
Hot Rolling — performed at temperatures above 926°C, which is above the recrystallization temperature of steel. Under these conditions, the metal can be easily shaped, making it easier to work with.
D
Finishing — heat treatment, cooling, galvanizing, cutting to size to give steel certain qualities.
Shot Blasting — cleaning and removing scale from metal using a stream of abrasive powder or shot. The shot can be sand, small steel balls of various diameters, silicon carbide granules, and other suitable particles.
Zh
Heat Resistance — the ability to withstand mechanical loads at high temperatures.
Heat Resistance (Scale Resistance) — the ability of metallic materials to resist chemical surface destruction.
Z
Quenching — a heat treatment method involving heating, holding, and cooling steel. It is used to improve various characteristics (e.g., increasing hardness) of inexpensive steel grades, non-ferrous metals, and alloys, thereby reducing the cost of the resulting products and structures.
I
Tool Steel — this alloy usually includes tungsten, molybdenum, cobalt, and vanadium. There are six grades: air-hardening, water-hardening, type D, hot-work, shock-resistant, and oil-hardening. Tool steels are typically used in cutting and drilling equipment due to their higher heat resistance and hardness, which are imparted by the materials they contain.
K
Red Shortness — the property of steel to crack during pressure treatment (forging, stamping, rolling) at red or yellow heat temperatures (850–1150°C).
Red Hardness (Heat Resistance) — the ability of steel to maintain high hardness and wear resistance when heated to red heat temperatures.
L
Alloy Steel — in this alloy, in addition to iron, carbon, and manganese, other elements are also used that affect the characteristics of the metal: chromium, nickel, copper, molybdenum, vanadium, and aluminum. They help change plasticity, impart strength, machinability, and corrosion resistance.
M
Magnetic Permeability — the relative ease with which a ferromagnetic material can support a magnetic field.
Metal — a chemically simple substance that is usually solid, shiny, malleable, fusible, and ductile, with good electrical and thermal conductivity.
Metals — from iron and aluminum to copper and titanium — play an important role in everyday life. They are used everywhere — in construction, industry, medicine, electronics. Wherever you are now, look around — you will find many objects, at least created using metals and their alloys. The device on which you are reading this text could definitely not have been created without copper, cobalt, iron, tin, and other metallic substances. Below, we will look at the basic metallurgical terms that will help you better understand the world of metals.
Mechanical Properties — properties related to the behavior of materials under load during standard mechanical tests, such as elasticity, tensile strength, elongation, hardness.
Microalloying — the addition of small amounts of alloying elements, such as niobium, vanadium, or titanium, to improve yield strength and tensile strength in advanced fine-grained steels.
N
Stainless Steel — steel containing at least 10.5% chromium (usually around 11-12%). It is easily identified by its shine and is commonly used in the food, medical, and architectural industries.
O
Annealing — a thermal cycle involving heating and holding the material at a certain temperature, followed by cooling at the required rate, to reduce hardness, improve machinability, facilitate cold working, create the desired microstructure, or obtain desired mechanical or other properties.
Tempering — heating to 200–700°C to make steel harder and less brittle.
P
Plasticity — the property of metals that allows them to be mechanically deformed in the cold state without breaking. In steel, plasticity is usually measured by elongation and reduction in area, determined during a tensile test.
Creep — time-dependent deformation of metal or alloy that occurs under load.
Hardenability — the property that determines the depth and distribution of hardness in an alloy after heating and quenching.
Strength — the ability of metal to absorb energy and plastically deform before breaking.
Ultimate Strength — the maximum load applied to break a test specimen in a tensile test, divided by the original cross-sectional area of the specimen. Also called ultimate tensile strength.
Yield Strength — the load per unit of original cross-sectional area at which a noticeable increase in deformation occurs in mild steel without an increase in load, i.e., at constant or reduced load.
Elastic Limit — the maximum stress that a material can withstand without permanent deformation.
Precision Alloys — highly alloyed metallic combinations with a predetermined set of properties and characteristics, produced with strict adherence to technology and without foreign inclusions in the structure (more details can be read here).
Rolling — a production process for metals and alloys to improve their characteristics. There are two types: cold and hot (more about both types of rolling can be found here).
R
Refining — the removal of impurities from metals and alloys (usually in the liquid state) to improve quality. There are physical (liquation (seigeration), precipitation of intermetallic compounds, distillation or distillation refining (drossing)), chemical (selective oxidation and sulfidation, chlorination), and electrochemical (electrolytic refining — electrolysis of aqueous solutions or melts) refining methods.
Cutting — a metalworking process typically used to cut a wide steel coil into one or more narrower ones.
S
Sintering — the process by which iron-containing particles combine into small granules.
Alloy — a compound made by combining two or more metals, for example, to give the final material greater strength or corrosion resistance.
Steel — an alloy of iron and carbon containing less than 2% carbon and 1% manganese, as well as small amounts of silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, and oxygen. There are four types, which are further divided into grades. Each type has unique characteristics that allow them to be used in appropriate areas.
T
Hardness — the resistance of a material to plastic deformation by indentation or penetration. It is determined by the strength and plasticity of metals. Indentation methods are typically used to measure the hardness of metals.
Heat Treatment — heating and cooling a steel product to achieve desired characteristics or properties.
Thermomechanical Processing — a production method that gives steel the desired strength and other properties through a careful combination of mechanical processing (rolling) and temperature control.
U
Resistivity — the resistance of a material to the flow of electric current.
Fatigue — the change in mechanical and physical properties of metals that occurs under prolonged action of cyclically varying loads.
Carbon Steel — steel usually containing up to 2% carbon; the most common type of steel, accounting for about 90% of production. It is divided into three main subcategories: low-carbon steel, also known as mild steel, medium-carbon steel, and high-carbon steel.
F
Formatting — cutting steel plates or sheets to the sizes required by the customer.
Kh
Brittleness — the fracture of metal under the influence of impact loads or a large temperature difference.
Cold Rolling — reprocessing of material that has already undergone hot rolling, but this time at room temperature.
Ts
Galvanizing — protecting metal from the occurrence and development of corrosion by applying a coating to its surface, the chemical composition of which can contain up to 95% zinc. It is carried out using various technologies (hot, cold, galvanic, gas-thermal, thermodiffusion methods), each of which is used in certain situations and has both advantages and disadvantages.
Color Coating (Coil Coating) — the process in which a cold-rolled strip is additionally coated with organic paint to improve corrosion protection and achieve a decorative, pleasant appearance.
E
Elasticity — the property that allows a material to return to its original shape and size.
