Steel plates vary in terms of their widths, thicknesses, chemical compositions and in other ways, but they are consistently valued for their strength and durability. Read More…
Leading Manufacturers
Block Steel Corp.
Skokie, IL | 847-966-3000Block Steel Corp, ISO/TS 16949 Certified, specializes in aluminized steel and is the country’s largest aluminized steel distributor. We also stock Aluminized Stainless, Hot Dipped Galvanized, and distribute tubing.
Mainline Metals Inc.
Bala Cynwyd, PA | 800-355-0888At Mainline Processing, we utilize our own facilities and equipment to meet our customers’ needs with an organized and growth-driven model. We stock large quantities of material in our inventory so that our customers can take advantage of purchasing opportunities where they can feel confident that they have the proper steel for the proper end use.
O'Neal Steel, Inc.
Birmingham, AL | 800-462-2034We are the nation’s largest family-owned metals service center. In business for 85 years, our steel service center is the source for all metal needs. Our structural steel includes many shapes such as steel tubing, along with cold rolled steel, tool steel, alloy steel, plate steel and carbon steel.
King Steel Corporation
Grand Blanc, MI | 888-273-8299As a world-class source for steel products, King Steel Corporation supplies companies across North America with what they need to get the job done. For over 50 years, we have continued to invest a great amount of both time and capital into purchasing new equipment and streamlining our processes. We’ve worked diligently to develop and maintain a reputation in our industry that represents growth, professionalism, value, and prosperity for both our customers and suppliers.
Curtis Steel Co., Ltd.
Houston, TX | 800-749-4621Cold Rolled Steel is a mill product made with a high degree of gauge accuracy and uniformity of physical characteristics. The smooth deoxidized matte finish gives an excellent base for paint, lacquer and enamel. Box annealing and absence of scale permit stamping and moderate drawing operations. Sheets bend flat on themselves without cracking. Our Cold Rolled sheet and coil conform to ASTM A1008.
Steel Plates - Block Steel Corp.Steel plates are very commonly used in construction and engineering in the construction of buildings, heavy equipment, municipal utilities and other structures that must be built with very strong materials. After service centers prepare steel plates, they are purchased and used in the building, automotive, electronics, shipbuilding and aerospace industries, among many others.
Steel plates can be used in the construction of ship hulls, truck beds, bridges, freight liners, oil rigs, workbenches, shelving, freight elevators and many other kinds of buildings, vehicles and equipment. Because of their qualities of strength, durability and impact resistance, steel plates are used widely by defense contractors, law enforcement bodies and militaries for the protection of vehicles and buildings against explosions and ballistics. Steel plate armor remains and indispensable tool for protecting people from harm in many contexts.
Steel plates can be formed in a few ways. Hot rolling is among the most common steel plate shaping methods. Hot rolling processes are performed above the recrystallization temperature of the steel material. Recrystallization temperature is the temperature at which the structure of the material changes to the point where it loses its rigidity and becomes ductile. In other words, when enough heat is applied to steel, it can overcome its hardness and can be shaped easily.
The steel, once it reaches this temperature, is passed through a series of rollers, which squeeze the steel into a flat shape. This process gives the steel its shape, and it also determines, to a significant extent, the steel plate's qualities of strength and durability. Steel plates can also be cold rolled, which is very similar to hot rolling except for the fact that the steel in cold rolling processes is not heated.
This reduces the risk of oxidation and imparts compressive stress onto the material, which strengthens it. Hot rolling, though, produces few deformational stresses in the material than does cold rolling. Other plate forming services include plate sawing, heat treating, stress relieving, annealing, normalizing, flame cutting, special testing, milling, deburring, straightening and shot or sand blasting. Steel plates are often pickled in steel service centers, which is a treatment used to clean or remove impurities on steel by applying sulfuric or hydrochloric acid to the surface.