Polished Stainless Steel: How It’s Made

Polished Stainless Steel: How It's Made

Polished stainless steel is one of the most popular types because when the steel has this finish, it becomes smooth creating a sanitary finish when specified. If you are considering using polished stainless steel in one of your projects, you may be curious about polished stainless steel and how it's made. To answer that question, below is an overview of the stainless steel manufacturing and polishing processes.

How Stainless Steel Is Made
Stainless steel is an alloy, which means it is made up of many different elements that are combined. The primary element of the alloy is iron, and the alloy must contain at least 10.5% chromium. Chromium is the element that gives stainless steel its corrosion-resistant nature. The higher the chromium percentage of the stainless steel is, the more resistant to corrosion it will be. Stainless steel typically includes other elements like nickel, carbon, nitrogen, manganese, silicon, and others in smaller or trace amounts. The manufacturing process involves a combination of these many elements.

• Melting

The elements of the stainless steel are first melted down together in a furnace for 8-12 hours. Often, scrap metal and recycled stainless steel are used for this process. The temperature at which the metal is melted will vary based on the grade of steel being made.

• Carbon Removal

After the mixture is melted, extra carbon content must be removed. While carbon is an essential part of stainless steel, too much can create issues. Carbon can be removed in one of two ways: either through processing in an argon oxygen decarburization (AOD) converter, or through vacuum oxygen decarburization (VOD). When using an AOD, an oxygen-carbon mixture is injected into the molten metal, which removes the extra carbon. With VOD, oxygen is injected into the metal in a chamber, and the released carbon gas is vacuumed out.

• Tuning

After carbon removal, the metal mixture is fine-tuned to ensure that it meets the standard requirements of its grade. This involves the removal of excess elements and the balancing of the chemicals in the metal.

• Casting and Forming

Next, the mixture is cast or formed into its shape. Some typical forms include blooms, billets, slabs, rods, and tubes. From here, the steel will be crafted into its final form.

• Hot Rolling

Hot rolling is done at a temperature above the recrystallization temperature of the stainless steel. In this process, the metal is rolled, and the approximate form given at casting is made into a more precise form.

• Cold Rolling

Cold rolling occurs just below the recrystallization temperature of the metal. This process uses multiple rollers and gives the metal an even more precise shape and a nice finish.

• Annealing

During the annealing process, the metal is repeatedly heated and cooled. This helps to soften the steel and improve certain qualities like ductility.

• Descaling

By this point in the manufacturing process, scale has generally formed on the steel. Scale can be detrimental to the steel and must be removed. This is achieved either by heating and cooling the metal further in an environment without oxygen, or by covering the metal in an acid mixture.

• Cutting

After all these steps are completed, the steel can finally be cut. Several methods can be used to cut stainless material. It can be cut mechanically with guillotine knives, circular knives, high-speed blades, or by using metal punches and dies. It can also be cut using flame cutting or plasma jet cutting, which uses a torch or ionized gas and an electric arc, respectively.

• Finishing

The final stage of stainless steel manufacturing is the finishing. Stainless steel comes in a variety of finishes achieved by different finishing methods. Among these are sandblasting, wet etching with acid, buffing, and polishing.

Polished Stainless Steel Sheets for Sale

Product: Polished Stainless Sheet Metal

Grade: GNEE Steel can provide many grades, such as 201/304/430/polished 316 ss sheet, etc.

Finish: No.1, 2B, No.4, HL, BA, 2BA, No.8/mirror polished stainless plates, etc.

Size: GNEE Steel can provide different sizes or polished stainless steel sheets cut to the size that you need according to customers' requirements.

Color: We can provide colored polished stainless steel sheet metal, and also support customized colors.

Flim: According to customers' requirements.

Description About Polished Steel Sheets Surface

#3 / No.3 – (0.4 ~ 3.0mm) 100 # ~ 130 # (line discontinuous, coarse sand)

#4 / No.4 – (0.4 ~ 3.0mm) 150 # ~ 180 # (line discontinuous, fine sand)

#5 / No.5 – (0.4 ~ 3.0mm) 320 # (finer than No. 4)

HL /Hairline Finish – (0.4 ~ 3.0mm) 150 # ~ 320 # (line continuous, commonly known as straight hair, hair silk surface, the general use of 240 # grind)

6K/8 polished ss sheet/mirror polished stainless steel plate/super mirror polished stainless sheet

 

If you don't see what you're looking for just call one of our team members. No inquiry is too large or too small, we specialize in locating hard to find items. If you do see what you are looking, we would love to assist you and give you a quote today!ss@gneesteel.com