Steel availability vs form
Steel availability vs form
(OP)
Hello to all,
Well, this is my first post.
I'm a mechanical engineer with ~10 years experience.
Each time I have a steel selection to do, I have a real hard time finding a "commonly available" type of steel (with a required yield strenght, for example) versus the shape required.
For example (but not actual questions):
- Is 4140 available in 6" round bars?
- Is A572 GR 80 available in 1" plate?
I believe at some point it is the same question every mechanical engineer has when choosing a material (Required specs VS availability VS price).
Does anyone have tips on material selection VS availability? A book to suggest? A program? A website?
Thank you very much
Well, this is my first post.
I'm a mechanical engineer with ~10 years experience.
Each time I have a steel selection to do, I have a real hard time finding a "commonly available" type of steel (with a required yield strenght, for example) versus the shape required.
For example (but not actual questions):
- Is 4140 available in 6" round bars?
- Is A572 GR 80 available in 1" plate?
I believe at some point it is the same question every mechanical engineer has when choosing a material (Required specs VS availability VS price).
Does anyone have tips on material selection VS availability? A book to suggest? A program? A website?
Thank you very much





RE: Steel availability vs form
When dealing with metals, soon or later one will run into the awkward situation in which the material that best fits a certain application is not available in the desired shape/size. Just to give a general example, in Europe martensitic stainless steels are more common as long products rather than flat products.
In my personal experience, I have dealt with the problem via the database Total Materia, which collects direct and indirect suppliers for a certain combination of material, size, and shape. Starting from this, one can get in touch with potential suppliers and ask for quotations.
Of course the overall process is quite time-consuming, and the database is not always accurate or up-do-date, so suggestions on how to speed it up are more than welcome.
RE: Steel availability vs form
Regards,
Mike
The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand
RE: Steel availability vs form
Now its all online.. Thats where I go first..
http://www.centralsteel.com/products/central-steel...
http://www.ryerson.com/en/products/stock-list
RE: Steel availability vs form
I've looked into Total Materia. It seems great but a bit expensive...
RE: Steel availability vs form
If you are dealing mainly with German suppliers, you may want to try WIAM. Key to Steel seems to be another valuable option, but I have no first-hand experience with it.