COLD ROLLED STRIP

Cold rolled strip* steels are produced from a hot rolled pickled coil which has been given substantial cold reduction at room temperature, in a similar practice to cold rolled sheet, but to much closer tolerances. The resulting product usually requires further processing (annealing/temper passing—see below) to make it suitable for most applications.

In general, cold rolled strip is also a more “engineered” product than cold rolled sheet in regards to hardness, properties, microstructure, edge, and surface. Cold roll strip products are available in all the grades of steel that are made into hot roll sheet.

*Technically, strip is defined as up to .300” thick and less than 24” wide, however, strip tolerance products are available at wider widths depending upon manufacturer capability.

FURTHER PROCESSING

One-pass cold roll strip is a proprietary product innovation that consists of hot roll products submitted to a small cold reduction percentage to tighten thickness tolerances, without the added steps of annealing or temper passing. One-pass cold roll strip products are not defined by industry standards.

Annealing, a heat treat process that restores some or nearly all of the ductility lost from mechanical work (cold rolling). The annealing process causes a recrystallization of the grains which returns them to their pre-cold roll conditions. This process makes the steel ductile and less hard, for better forming/shaping.

A further process is temper rolling, which is used to give steel its final mechanical properties and surface finish.