Stainless Steel
At thyssenkrupp Materials (UK) we have a wide range of stainless steel products in all the required forms. Our stock range includes stainless steel sheets, coil, plates, bars, angles and tube as well a full range of pipe and fittings in our UK warehouses.
'Stainless' is a general term for stainless steel which requires a minimum of 10.5% Chromium. The Chromium content in the steel is very important as it creates a thin layer of chromium oxide on the surface of the metal to prevent corrosion and usage of the metal. We stock vast quantities of grades to cater for projects of all sizes and complexities.
What is stainless steel?
Stainless steel is an iron alloy, containing a minimum of 10.5% chromium. Although grades such as 304 and 430 are popular grades, the term ‘stainless steel’ covers a wide variety of metals, each enhanced with various alloying elements to give specific properties such as increased corrosion resistance or improved strength.
Stainless steel has become very popular due to its relatively low cost, aesthetic appearance, high corrosion resistance and low maintenance.
What makes it stainless?
Stain’less’ steel is just that…stain’less’ and not stain’never’. The chromium in the stainless steel reacts with the oxygen in the air creating a very thin, protective chromium oxide layer on the surface of the metal. This layer is not visible to the naked eye and protects the surface from corrosion. The layer can be damaged by scratches and sustained exposure to aggressive chemicals, however, because the layer is formed by the reaction of the chromium with air, when the surface is suitably cleaned, the protective chromium oxide layer self-repairs to continue to protect the steel.
One of the leading suppliers across the UK
We are a long established supplier of stainless steel to all industries with a network of branches and our own logistics division meaning that wherever you are located, we can offer the right products for you.
In addition to our standard products, we also have a vast range of stainless steel tubing. This tubing is supplied as both solid and perforated tube in grades 304 (1.4301) and 409 (1.4512).
Common grades provided
Stainless Steel is a widely used material across industries because of its corrosion resistance and high versatility. Notably, this tough metal requires relatively low maintenance.
The grades vary depending on the amounts of Carbon, Silicon, Manganese and other elements used in the properties. It is commonly referred to by its grade numbers. We offer a wide range of grades including 301, 303, 304, 304L, 310, 316, 316L, 321, 410, 416, 420, 430 and 440. The grade of steel required depends on your application and use.
We are also able to call upon the unrivalled range of stainless steel products that are available from our extensive network of European warehouses to ensure that we can offer the products that our customers require, no matter how diverse.
As well as our extensive stock range of “standard” products we are also able to offer industry and customer specific services via our service centres in the UK and Europe.
Services Include:
Coil slitting - With a recent addition of a new 1850 mm wide Georg slitting line, we have state of the art technology capable of slitting and blanking both aluminium and stainless steel.
Coil polishing - Using a powerful abrasive belt on the surface of the metal to achieve a polished finish.
Cut to length non-standard sheet lengths - With precision machinery, we have the ability to offer high tolerance cut to length solutions in aluminium and stainless steel.
Laser profiling
Bar cutting – We offer bespoke solutions to cater our customer’s needs. We have 7 plate saws, 13 bar saws, 4 vertical band saws, 2 poly-coating machines as well as overhead cranes with vacuum lifting equipment.
Recyclability
The steel is a 100% recyclable metal due to the relative ease of extraction of its main alloys - chromium, iron, nickel etc. Using recycled metal is a much cheaper process than producing stainless steel from new raw materials and so it is much more cost effective for manufacturers to use recycled metal as much as possible. In addition to the cost benefits of using recycled metal, the CO2 emissions produced from recycling are much less than those produced from manufacturing from new.