What is Stainless Steel Coil

Stainless steel coils are manufactured using hot rolling stainless steel slabs in a reheat furnace at a certain high temperature between 1,100° C to 1,300° C depending on the grade of the steel used for the manufacturing process. After continuously running it through heating and rolling mills, the product is coiled. Finally, the stainless steel coils are passed through the annealing and pickling lines for softer and brighter surface finish.

What are the types of stainless steel coils?

As discussed above, steel coils are made by winding or coiling a steel strip or sheet under very high temperatures. Depending on the production method, we can classify steel coils into four main types: hot rolled, cold rolled, carbon coil, galvanised

Let us understand the types and uses of stainless steel coils:

Hot rolled steel coil: Made from semi-finished products, these steel coils are rolled, annealed, and reduced to a certain thickness and rolled into coils. This type of steel coil is used in manufacturing pipes, steel doors and tanks and can be further processed into cold rolled steel. Hot-dip galvanised steel coils are also available with a pure zinc coating that offers economy, strength and formability. Hot-dip galvanised steel is used in building roofs, doors, windows, roller shutter doors and electric equipment.

Cold rolled steel coil: Made by ‘pickling’ hot rolled plate in a weak acid solution to remove rust, it involves cleaning, brushing, drying, oiling, uncoiling, and cold rolling. It is then wound into coils after passing it through a size reduction machine. A higher finished product cold rolled steel coils has a smoother surface, higher dimensional accuracy and bigger strength. Cold rolled steel coil finds maximum use in the automotive industry. It may be mentioned that stainless steel differs from carbon steel in its chromium and nickel content.

Carbon coil: Apart from carbon, carbon coil has small quantities of silicon, manganese, sulfur and phosphorus. It is good for second grade applications and comes in a variety of grades and thicknesses.

Galvanised coil: The process of making galvanised coil is by hot-dipping or electrolytic deposition of hot or cold rolled sheet in zinc. It helps resist corrosion and is used in the automotive industry or in roofing.