Hot-rolled Steel Billets
Hot-rolled steel billets are the most commonly used semi-finished steel products in the steel industry. They are initially cast in the form of long bars and then brought to the hot rolling mill, which transforms them into billets of regular form, size and quality. Hot-rolling steel billets is a method for obtaining semi-finished products with better mechanical characteristics, superior ductility and malleability than those obtained by any other steel manufacturing process.
This production method allows manufacturers to obtain a uniform and homogenous distribution of material properties, usually with excellent mechanical properties, due to the hot rolling process. Hot-rolled steel billets are supplied in different sizes and lengths, and the most common dimensions are: round (diameters of 50 to 100 mm) and square (50 to 200 mm).
The hot rolling stage is the most important step during the production of hot-rolled steel billets. The raw material passes through three rolls in order to obtain the desired shape and size. The rolling is usually done at a temperature of around 1,000 degrees Celsius.
The properties of hot-rolled steel billets depend mainly on their composition and the rolling temperature. The most common elements that are used in this type of steel are iron, carbon, manganese, silicon and sometimes aluminum. Other elements may be added to obtain better mechanical and physical properties, such as vanadium, chromium, molybdenum, and copper.
The use of hot-rolled steel billets has been rising steadily due to their capabilities to be processed into a variety of finished products, such as bars, rods, sheets, meshes and other semi-finished steel components.The most common applications for this type of steel include general construction works, reinforcing bars for reinforced concrete, metal frames, shafts for mechanical engineering, automotive parts and transmission lines in the electric power sector.
In conclusion, hot-rolled steel billets are a popular choice of semi-finished products for many manufacturers. The production process consists of rolling the raw material in high-temperature mills, which provides better consistency in steel strength, ductility and malleability. The resulting steel billets can be further processed into bars, rods, sheets and other components for a wide range of industrial uses.
