Structure of Metal and Manufacturing Process

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.