September 2008
Peter Anniss and Peter Jeffries, Datum Alloys Ltd.
Structure of Metal and Manufacturing Process
Stainless steel mills produce hundreds of tons of stainless
steel strip per week and even sometimes per day. Stainless
steel that is produced for pipes, structural items, slabs, bars,
and strip derives from the same virgin material that enters
into stainless steel production. Because of the volumes
produced, industries such as the Photochemical Machining
Industry do not have material that is solely produced for it
from virgin material. The steel will have gone through many
processes (figure 1) before the rolling mill that makes the
initial strip product receives the material.
