Carbon Steel Company

Several key benefits of carbon steel make it the workhorse material for oil and gas applications. Durability and shock resistance are its key attributes, allowing it to resist natural disasters such as earthquakes and tornadoes.

Xometry partners with a leading carbon steel company that offers a unique, innovative approach to melting and refining metals. They use advanced techniques to increase melt optimization, resulting in greater efficiency and quality assurance.

What is Carbon Steel?

Carbon steels have higher concentrations of carbon than other metals, which gives them their strength. These steels are used in a wide variety carbon steel company of construction, transportation and industrial applications. They are available in several categories based on the level of carbon, which affects properties such as hardness, toughness and ductility.

Low carbon steel, commonly called mild or regular carbon steel, contains less than 0.25% carbon. This makes it easy to weld and form into components like pipes, automobiles and machinery. Its ductility is high, and it is also very durable. Mild carbon steel is often found in construction materials, rails and bridge components and manufacturing equipment like gears and nuts.

Medium carbon steel has a carbon content between 0.3% and 0.6%, which increases its toughness and strength. It’s ideal for areas with heavy traffic and other infrastructure, and it’s common in car parts and tools that require strength, toughness and good wear resistance.

High carbon steel, with up to 2% carbon, is hard and durable. It is used for tools, cutting equipment and truck springs. It requires specialized treatment to reduce its susceptibility to corrosion. It is often alloyed with nickel, chromium, molybdenum and manganese to improve corrosion resistance and other properties.

High-Carbon Steel

Distributor of carbon and high-carbon steel materials in bar, strip and plate form. Serves industries including manufacturing, transportation, government, railroads, construction and petrochemical. Products include hot rolled round, square, flats, angles and channels bars, tubing & pipe and plate. Custom fabrication and metal forming services also available.

Mild steel contains 0.08-0.3% carbon; medium-carbon steel has 0.6-1.50% carbon; and high-carbon steel is more than 1.75% carbon, which is what you’ll find in knives, hand tools and springs. Higher-carbon alloys have greater strength and hardness, but less ductility than low-carbon steels.

Increasing the carbon content of steel makes it harder, but also more difficult to work with. It’s more difficult to galvanized steel supplier weld, and it easily enters the hard and brittle martensite phase when cooling from welding. High-carbon steels are often quenched after welding to help prevent this.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, one Three D Metals customer sourced high-carbon steel to create small washers for use in their medical machines, replacing plastic ones that weren’t holding up. It was an excellent example of how, even though steel is a simple material, its use can vary based on the end-use application. That’s why it’s important to work with a supplier who knows your needs. They can ensure you get the right grade of steel, processed and packaged to your exact specifications.

Low-Carbon Steel

Manufacturer and distributor of carbon steel in bar, rod, coil, sheet, flange and plate form. Value added services include shearing, forming, welding and cutting. Serves aerospace, military, medical, construction and automotive industries.

Low-carbon steel is any type of carbon steel with a carbon percentage below 0.2 %. It is commonly known as mild steel and makes up a large portion of the world’s production. This class of steel cannot be hardened by heat treatment, and it has microstructures that are comprised of ferrite and pearlite constituents. This class of steel is extremely ductile and strong, but it can be difficult to machine because it is prone to galling (a wear condition caused by adhesion between sliding surfaces). Adding small amounts of sulfur to the mixture reduces this problem.

Some low-carbon steel is galvanized (coated with zinc). Galvanized steel is typically supplied in the form of coils and may have various coating weights on one or both sides of the product. Low-carbon steel is also available in a range of shapes, including I-beams and structural shapes used in buildings and pipelines. Steel service centers typically sell these shapes in addition to bars, rods and sheets. Some also offer billets, slabs and blooms for use in powder metallurgy.

Applications

Carbon steels are used across a range of domains, from construction projects to manufacturing and utility applications. Their significance stretches into the oil and gas industries, where they are employed for pipelines, natural-gas networks, and the conveyance of crude and refined petroleum. They also make up a significant portion of ducts, heating setups, and structural components found in building structures.

In the automotive industry, carbon steels are integrated into multiple areas of a vehicle to deliver strength and performance. They are integral to the exhaust systems that manage and expel gases, as well as suspension components and clutch housings. They are also a component of decorative sections and nuts, bolts, and screws. The push to improve fuel economy has encouraged car manufacturers to increase the use of lighter, carbon-steel alloys in their vehicles.

When used for the underwater transportation of oil and natural gas, carbon-steel pipes feature a number of key attributes that ensure safety and efficiency. These include resistance to corrosion and high levels of strength. To address these concerns, the pipe must undergo a heat treatment process known as quenching and tempering. Quenching involves rapid cooling to adjust a metal to a desired state, while tempering slows the cooling process and increases toughness.

The choice of a particular type of carbon-steel alloy is based on the balance between strength and flexibility required for a specific application. Low-carbon steels, for example, exhibit desirable weldability and ductility, while very low-carbon (VLC) grades offer valuable case hardening properties. VLC steels are often chosen for the bodies of subsea valves, where they meet specific requirements for material selection, including the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard A350 LF2.