5 Benefits of cold-rolled steel guide, Architectural metal sheets, Durability thickness and strength
5 Advantages of Cold-Rolled Metal Products
20 Jan 2022
Steel mills produce rolled metal sheets by pressing metal billets through specialized rolling facilities at temperatures above 1,700° F.
This process is called hot rolling. When the resulting metal sheets get rolled again at room temperature, it’s cold rolling.
Flattening metal at room temperature improves its physical and mechanical characteristics, although it comes at a price. On average, cold-rolled steel prices are 30% higher.
But the following advantages of cold-rolled steel compensate for its slightly higher price above and beyond. Keep reading to learn about the five fascinating benefits of cold-rolled metal.
Superior Durability
Cold-rolled metal sheets become more durable due to the nature of work hardening. This process involves an increase of metal strength under mechanical pressure.
Metal becomes harder due to structural changes as metal crystals dislocate, flatten, slip against each other, and tighten during cold rolling. As rollers exert high pressure, they pack metal grains as tightly as possible. As a result, this type of steel appears to be 20% more durable than its hot-rolled counterpart. Due to this, it doesn’t require further budget-straining heat treatment. That is why many businesses prefer cold-rolled steel.
Tight Dimensions
Cold-rolled metal sheets vary in thickness, but they’re generally much thinner than hot-rolled sheets. Steel mills produce cold-rolled coils within the 0.060” – 0.105” thickness range.
Due to work hardening, one can produce cold-rolled coils of tighter dimensions without compromising their strength. Such metal is lightweight and durable. Thus, a cold-rolled steel sheet exhibits strength comparable to a 50% thicker hot-rolled one.
Cold-rolled metal products come in handy for metal projects that require strength encapsulated in small dimensions, like metal furniture, roofs, car parts, home appliances, etc. On top of that, low weight combined with the superior durability of such steel allows you to save on transportation costs.
Steel mills offer a wide selection of cold-rolled steel dimensions, grades, and strength levels – check these parameters at: https://metinvestholding.com/en/products/steel-coils/cold-rolled-coils.
Smooth Texture
When a rolled sheet cools down, it acquires a rough finish due to naturally reformed metal crystals. They rearrange and form coarse metal grains. Besides, metal oxides and non-metallic inclusions get pressed into the metal surface during hot rolling. These features explain why hot-rolled metal is so rough, has a stained surface, and looks “dirty” in general.
But cold rolling is a whole different story. As the rollers compress and flatten metal billets even further, their metal grains get elongated at a microscopic level. This process affects the texture of the final steel coils, smoothing and tightly packing their metal crystals. It reduces most surface imperfections, giving the steel a polished texture, free of any projections or indentations.
Increased Dimensional Accuracy
As the volume of metal expands at high temperatures, it shrinks back to normal in the process of cooling. It causes the edges of hot-rolled coils to distort a little as the metal cools down unevenly.
Since metal doesn’t expand at room temperature, coils retain their shape after cold-rolling. It allows producing steel sheets with straight edges and maintaining overall dimensional accuracy as high as possible.
Ease of Application
The nature of cold-rolled metal allows customers to save dozens of hours and thousands of dollars on metal processing. The steel comes already hardened and shiny, and businesses can save on heat treatment and polishing.
Additionally, you can save on metalworking since cold-rolled coils have much straighter edges and don’t require as much forming and grinding as hot-rolled metal. These features make such steel ready-to-use and, therefore, cost-efficient.
The Bottom Line
Cold-rolled steel coil has a smooth texture, mirror finish, tighter, more accurate dimensions, and higher durability compared to hot-rolled steel.
On top of that, cold-rolled metal doesn’t require a lot of processing at the customer’s end. It’s ready for use and suits metal projects where aesthetics, precision, and high durability play a big role.
If you need steel for metal furniture, car parts, metal doors, or any precision projects, you can opt for cold-rolled coils without hesitation.
Comments on this guide to the 5 Benefits of Cold-Rolled Steel article are welcome.
Building Articles
Residential Architecture
Architectural Designs
Contemporary Architecture Designs – architectural selection below:
Galleria
Design: Plus Architecture
image : Tom Roe
Galleria Apartment Tower
Fairfield Primary School, Fairfield
Architects: NBRS ARCHITECTURE and Fleetwood Australia
photography © Joe Vittorio
Fairfield Primary School
Steel
Building Steel posts:
Why You Should Build With Steel
9 Design Trends For Steel Staircases In 2021
Top uses for cold rolled steel
Why It’s Crucial to Prime Before Painting Steel
Comments / photos for the 5 benefits of cold-rolled steel explained advice page welcome