Ackerman Steel

We are a distributor of general line and specialty metals in the form of bar, plate, sheet, structural’s, pipe and tube.Our corporate headquarters are conveniently located in southwest Ohio; specializing in logistics, value added processing and inventory, Ackerman Steel services several markets with single and JIT deliveries. We can even provide the labor for those that pass the paper.

• Martin Ackerman established Ackerman Steel Company in 1988 specializing in alloy & carbon steels.
• New plant expansion in 1997 to a customer designed building in Southwest Ohio
• Opportunistic products (aluminum, nickel, stainless, titanium and red metals) become core products with plant expansion.
• Today Ackerman Steel Company’s markets include but are not limited to automotive, commercial, construction, energy, medical, oil & gas, petro-chemical and aerospace.
• Every member of the Ackerman Team is empowered.
• Communications, inventories, logistics, processing and service are designed to meet world class expectations.

Hot Rolling

Hot rolling is a metalworking process that occurs above the recrystallization temperature of the material. After the grains deform during processing, they recrystallize, which maintains an equiaxed microstructure and prevents the metal from work hardening. The starting material is usually large pieces of metal, like semi-finished casting products, such as slabs, blooms, and billets. If these products came from a continuous casting operation the products are usually fed directly into the rolling mills at the proper temperature. In smaller operations the material starts at room temperature and must be heated. This is done in a gas- or oil-fired soaking pit for larger workpieces and for smaller workpieces induction heating is used. As the material is worked the temperature must be monitored to make sure it remains above the recrystallization temperature. To maintain a safety factor a finishing temperature is defined above the recrystallization temperature; this is usually 50 to 100 °C (122 to 212 °F) above the recrystallization temperature. If the temperature does drop below this temperature the material must be re-heated before more hot rolling.[3]

Cold rolling

Cold rolling occurs with the metal below its recrystallization temperature (usually at room temperature), which increases the strength via strain hardening up to 20%. It also improves the surface finish and holds tighter tolerances. Commonly cold-rolled products include sheets, strips, bars, and rods; these products are usually smaller than the same products that are hot rolled. Because of the smaller size of the workpieces and their greater strength, as compared to hot rolled stock, four-high or cluster mills are used.[2] Cold rolling cannot reduce the thickness of a workpiece as much as hot rolling in a single pass.

Cold-rolled sheets and strips come in various conditions: full-hard, half-hard, quarter-hard, and skin-rolled. Full-hard rolling reduces the thickness by 50%, while the others involve less of a reduction. Quarter-hard is defined by its ability to be bent back onto itself along the grain boundary without breaking. Half-hard can be bent 90°, while full-hard can only be bent 45°, with the bend radius approximately equal to the material thickness. Skin-rolling, also known as a skin-pass, involves the least amount of reduction: 0.5-1%. It is used to produce a smooth surface, a uniform thickness, and reduce the yield-point phenomenon (by preventing Luder bands from forming in later processing).[6] It is also used to breakup the spangles in galvanized steel.[citation needed] Skin-rolled stock is usually used in subsequent cold-working processes where good ductility is required.[2]