Steel availability vs form

[Chiwahua]

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

 

[mp87]

There is a nice quote from James Kelly, former Technical Director at Rolled Alloys, which says that "availability is the most important material property".

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.

 

[SnTMan]

Chiwahua, I deal with this all the time, either as raw stock or as components. Best I can tell you is, get to know the buyers...

Regards,

Mike

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand

 

[mcgyvr]

I used to have a handful of the printed "stock list" catalogs (image of the book shown in the link below) from the steel suppliers..
Now its all online.. Thats where I go first..

http://www.centralsteel.com/products/central-steel-products.php

http://www.ryerson.com/en/products/stock-list

 

[Chiwahua]

Thank you for your answers.

I've looked into Total Materia. It seems great but a bit expensive...

 

[mp87]

In my company we have been using it since quite a long time so we get good discounts. Moreover, a corporate license provides the access to an unlimited number of people via IP recognition (useful if you are part of a big company).

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.