Annealing furnace for coils of flat roll steel showing hot inner cover.

Advanced Steel Annealing

Where Heat and Time Equal Formable, Strong, and Stress-Free Steel.
Annealing furnace for coils of flat roll steel showing hot inner cover.

ANNEALING IMPROVES PROPERTIES

You can use our state-of-the-art annealing to produce improved mechanical properties for full-hard cold reduced steel. Annealing creates a consistent, quality material that improves machinability, facilitation of cold-work, mechanical and electrical properties, and dimension stability.

Closeup of three steel gears connected together.

How It Works

Changing steel’s properties for further processing.

Cold rolling flattens the grains of steel, resulting in harder, less ductile material. The annealing process softens the steel by reshaping grains to their prior circular shape. Steel is annealed in atmospheres that protect the steel from oxygen, heated to a specified temperature, held for a specified length of time, and cooled.

Microscopic view of the microstructure of steel. It has various shades of grey spots on the surface

Why Anneal Steel?

Creating cleaner steel to work with.

Steel hydrogen annealing softens metals, and simultaneously changes the properties of the metal, allowing for further processing and an overall cleaner product. The resulting microstructure also makes it easier to stamp parts. Other benefits of hydrogen annealing include:

  • Higher heat diffusivity
  • More uniform properties
  • Cleaner surface/less smut
  • No nitrogen pickup at surface
Two Worthington Steel employees in PP&E looking at a computer with blueprints on it.

Leading In Annealing

Best-in-class knowhow and process.

Worthington Steel was one of the first independent steel processors to offer hydrogen annealing, and we continue to lead with our expertise and materials support. We use high convection bases to drive heat into the coils at an equal rate. Material is heated and held at a specific temperature followed by a controlled cooling process. Collaborate with our Materials Support team to decide how and when to use annealing for your project.

Person measuring precise bearing with micrometer.

Maximum Specs

Our 100% hydrogen batch annealing fits your needs.

Technical DataUSMetric
Number of Bases60N/A
Coil OD (max)1828.8mm1828.8mm
Stack Height (max)R170”170”
Weight (max)165,000 lbs74,842.7 kg

 

Flat roll galvanized steel being processed with hightech inspection equipment.

Full Capabilities

Check out our wide-ranging capabilities.

Collaborate with us to create the exact steel you need. We have the expertise, experience, and capacity to make your process even more efficient by adding:

  • Pickling, skin pass temper rolling
  • First operation blanking, dry lube
  • Slitting, oscillate slitting
  • Cold rolling, one-pass rolling, temper rolling
  • Cut-to-length sheets
  • Galvanizing, galvalume, acrylic

 

A blue and black desk with rockwall tester at Worthington steel Columbus labs

Technical Solution

Heat-treated parts not cutting it?

Achieving the right hardness can be hard. Our Materials Support team recommended solutions for better consistency.

Helpful Resources

 How much do you need? What are the specs?
Recently, we scored 100% for quality, delivery, cost, safety,  practices, and partnership—on an outside research assessment.

Have Questions?

We have ears to listen. And experts who answer.