10 Best Steel fabrication Processes You Need to Know!

Hardly anyone today needs an explanation on the role of steel fabrication in the lives of people and the commercial industries. However, there may be instances when the depth of the topic is looked for. Here the blog intends to portray a clearer picture of the steel fabrication & sheet metal chichester industries.

Steel Fabrication

A sheet of metal, steel in case of steel fabrication, of an appropriate thickness which is pliable for shaping undergoes through various process. These processes give it a particular shape as per the demand of the project, which takes tremendous skill, expertise, precision, planning and experience.

Steel fabrication process is generally undertaken by workshops specialized and equipped for the job. Companies often outsource their projects to such workshops if they do not want to get it done in-house, which also an option many companies make use of.

Steel Fabrication Processes

Depending on what kind of shape has to be given to the steel sheet, various kinds of processes are put to use. More often than not, there are several processes rather than just one to get the desired shape. Geometry of the desired design, the usage it would be put to and the grade of steel used are among the prime factors on which the selection of the right method or combination of methods depends. The combination could be from any of the following:

1. Forging: Raw metal is fed to huge high-pressure machines to melt it enough to give it the desired shape, bend, etc.
2. Drawing: Liquid metal is literally ‘drawn’ into a tapered die employing the tensile strength of the metal.
3. Casting: Slightly different from the drawing process, the molten metal is put into a predesigned cast and left it there to cool and attain that shape.
4. Cutting: This one’s a no-brainer as the name is self-explanatory and often the most fundamental method with which working on the steel metal sheet fabrication gets started.
5. Drilling: The process is used to make circular holes in the metal for specific purposes.
6. Punching: For various reasons like decoration or utility, a metal sheet is subjected to punching to create patterns already designed on the metal.
7. Milling: Generally, non-circular bores are created by this process. A milling mechanism is employed to perform the task.
8. Extrusion: The process is used to produce pipes and cylinders out of steel by forcing a billet through a cast using a ram to create these shapes.
9. Turning: Radial cuts are made on a steel sheet using a spinning table and thus the process is termed turning.

There could be many more (secondary) processes like welding, soldering, peening, deep drawing, grinding, bolting, deburring, riveting and painting but the above mentioned are used most commonly to create the basic design/structure.

Benefits

Even today when many industries are facing replacement of metal with high grade plastics, metal is crucial for many steel fabrication crawley industries. Steel fabrication is still an important process and finds its application beneficial due to many reasons. Superior strength (including tensile strength as well), being stronger than most of the metals and plastics, aesthetical appeal, resistance to heat and cost efficiency are some of the major benefits due to which metal fabrication in general and steel fabrication in particular would ever go out of industrial manufacturing landscape.

Industries that Require Steel Fabrication

Major industries employ steel fabrication as their prime process. They produce automotive bodies and parts, tools and hardware, gadgets like laptop and smartphone bodies, kitchen appliances, electric and electronic items, medical equipment, shipbuilding, mining infrastructure, residential and commercial construction, railheads and what not.

The scope of application of steel fabrication is limited only in the sense when there’s scarcity of time to list them all.

Cook Hood is a freelancer social media expert love to write on various topics.