Steel

Types of Steel

Steel is a diverse metal. There are many different grades, types, and processes for steel that change its properties. Essentially there are four main types of steel and two finishes you will find on this page. The four types can be remembered with the acronym CAST. Use the easy navigation links below.

Carbon Steel, Alloy Steel, Stainless Steel, Tool Steel

The two finishes are Hot Rolled and Cold Rolled.

Carbon Steel

Carbon Steel makes up our other main category. As the name implies, it is mostly alloyed with carbon. There are different ranges of carbon steel, from Low Carbon (Mild Steel), to Ultra-High Carbon. Most of our inventory is Mild Steel or Medium Carbon steel, though we do have some High Carbon grades as well.

Alloy Steel

Alloy Steel is a type of steel that is alloyed with many other elements to give it benefits. Often, these types of steel have higher strengths, toughness, and wear resistance than other steels. The most popular type of alloy steel is Chromoly steel, which has high amounts of chromium and molybdenum.

Stainless Steel

Stainless Steel, less commonly known as inox steel, has a minimum of 10.5% chromium. The high chromium and carbon content give stainless steel its iconic corrosion resistance, hardness, and strength.

Tool Steel

Tool Steel is particularly well-suited for making tools because of its distinctive hardness, resistance to abrasion and ability to hold a cutting edge at elevated temperatures. All of our tool steels need to be quenched to achieve desired hardness after being shaped into the tool you need.

Production Finishes

All of our steel is finished in one of two ways
Hot Rolled steel has a scaly surface, loose tolerances, and is inexpensive.
Cold Rolled steel has a smoother surface, much tighter tolerances, is stronger, and more expensive than Hot Roll.

If you are looking for more detailed information, we have Product Guides for all of our individual alloys. We also have blog posts explaining the differences between the types of steel as well as the differences between Hot Rolled and Cold Rolled steel.