Metal Glossary

Designed to be a quick reference guide for customers, the Cashmores glossary provides definitions of the latest metal industry terms.

Metal Glossary

Designed to be a quick reference guide for customers, the Cashmores glossary provides definitions of the latest metal industry terms.
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  • Recrystallisation
    The change in crystal structure of a cold worked metal that occurs when heated through a specific temperature range.
  • Roll Marks
    Periodic surface marks on a work-piece caused by imperfections on the surface of a roll.
  • Rolled-in Scale
    A surface defect caused by patches of scale that were pressed into the surface of the work-piece during rolling.
  • Roller Levelling
    The process of flattening sheet metal by passing it through a roll train of staggered rolls. Levelling is achieved by precisely bending metal strip back and forth as it is passed through a the series of small-diameter offset rolls.
    More information: http://www.thefabricator.com/article/coilprocessing/roller-leveling-101
  • Sensitisation
    Sensitisation occurs because Chromium has a higher affinity for Carbon than does Iron. Welding and some heating cycles provide the thermal energy for chromium carbides form in preference and these precipitate within the microstructure. This process causes the steel to become susceptible to corrosion as the matrix areas around the carbide are depleted in Chromium and cannot form the protective oxide film.
    Related Terms: Carbide, Inter-granular Corrosion, Sensitised, Stabilised Grades
  • Sensitised
    This describes the condition of a stainless steel that, having been welded or otherwise thermally processed, now has chromium carbide particles present in the grain boundaries. In this condition the steel becomes susceptible to corrosion as the matrix areas around the carbide are depleted in chromium and cannot form the protective oxide film.
    Related Terms: Carbide, Inter-granular Corrosion, Sensitisation, Stabilised Grades
  • Sheared Edges
    The cut edges that are produced when a wide sheet or coil is sheared or slit, by rotary cutters or a guillotine, into narrower widths/lengths.
  • Shearing
    The operation of cutting sheet or strip to the required size with a guillotine.
  • Sinking, Sink Drawing
    The cold drawing of a tube without a mandrel in the bore to control bore dimensions. It enables closer tolerances to be achieved on the outside diameter and increases mechanical properties.
    Related Terms: Cold Drawing
  • Skin Passing, Pinch Passing
    A cold rolling pass, with minimal reduction of thickness, of annealed sheet or strip. It reduces the tendency to kinks, flats and stretcher strains on subsequent manipulation. Flat material so treated is described as 'skin passed', 'pinch passed', 'non-kinking', 'non-flatting' or 'killed'. The material will also be brighter and have closer tolerances.
  • Slab
    A hot rolled or forged primary feedstock for rolling or forging. The cross-section is rectangular, typically with a width more than twice the thickness.
  • Slitting
    The operation of continuously cutting a wide coil of strip into a narrower strips by rotary cutters. The narrower strips are usually re-coiled after slitting.
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