Steel making/raw material question..?

Question

I want to buy a certain kind of steel (cor-ten aka ASTM a588) at a certain size (9mm thickness). This is sooooo difficult to find. I finally found a supplier who said they will make it, but suddenly, they changed their mind and now they say they can't make it because they can't find the raw material.

My question is this, if I paid a steel mill double, would they take corten plates that they've already got, melt them again and make my 9mm thick plates?

I realise there is not much demand for it, but technically, is there a reason why NO ONE will make 9mm plates?

Thanks guys!

Shant

Answer 1

The reason behind the denial (steel manufacturers) of making an unconventional size is quiet obvious,as they follow some thumrulesto satisfy the Govt rules like ISO2000,ISI standards(in India)etc.They make standard items(sizes)as per specifications from engineering industry and they get them marketed easily.And their production nature is attributed to controlled limits in gauge size,template configuration and their production capability is cyclic and mass production basis.It is almost a fixed and non variant. Where as your requirement  some times may be limited to till the completion of a short duration project. But you can reforge certain limited small sizes to higher thickness from a smithy forge shop in smaller quantity.Then annealing , hardening and tempering has to performed to revive the orginal material quality.

Answer 2

It is due only to the cost and hassle to produce a one off set of plates. A new set of rollers would have to be used.

Why not just use an available thickness.

Answer 3

They will normally make it if you order a mill run, typically 50,000 lb of steel or more. Now, mills are so busy with standard products that they are not very interested in making specials.

You should redesign to use  standard materials and thicknesses that are stocked.

If you can not re-design, get the next thickest plate and grind off 1/2 the extra thickness from each side. This keeps the plate reasonably flat.