Producing manufacturing and producing stainless steel items from the raw materials takes more effort, skills and techniques. While billions of households use stainless steel items around the globe, not every individual understands the science and technicalities behind the manufacturing process of these products.
Indeed, the manufacturing process of stainless steel products can be pretty intriguing since it sheds more light on how far craftwork has come since the early age of the Iron Age and Industrial Revolution. This post discusses essential steps to consider in the manufacturing process of stainless steel products. Read on to learn more about steel products.
Stainless Steel Melting and Casting
The initial step of making stainless steel items involves melting raw materials under high temperatures in huge powered furnaces. After that, the molten material is then moulded (cast) into the required semi-finished forms. Depending on your preferences, you can choose different shapes, including billets, slabs, rods, blooms or rounded tubes.
Stainless Steel Forming
After you've melted and cast stainless steel raw materials, the semi-finished shapes must pass through a number of steel forming processes. The steel can be subjected to extreme heat rolls where the shapes, especially the billets and blooms, are formed into bars and wires. Additionally, the slabs can be converted into sheets or plates.
Most manufacturing firms prefer forming semi-finished steel into bars because of its versatility. Besides, they come in different sizes and grades, including rounded, square, hexagonal or even octagonal bars suitable for different applications.
Heat Treatment
After you've formed your stainless steel into your preferred bars, wires, plates or sheets, you must pass them through the heat-treatment process. Also known as annealing, heat treatment is applied to the stainless steel, followed by controlled cooling in predefined environments. Heat treatment is primarily done to minimise tensile stress inside the material and soften it to adapt to different uses and applications.
Descaling
Stainless steel might present or form scales on its surface during the heat treatment process. You must, therefore, remove these scales through a variety of methods known as descaling processes. One of the most common processes includes pickling.
Cutting and Finishing
After heat treatment and descaling, you must cut the stainless steel into various shapes. You can consider using guillotine cutters, high-speed blades, or other methods to achieve your preferred shape that fits your market demands and requirements.
Finally, you must apply the correct finish to help the cut products achieve their signature aesthetics. Furthermore, you might require the proper finishing to smoothen and clean the stainless steel products, an essential sanitary requirement for manufactured products.
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