3. Hot-rolled sheets

3.1 The main families of hot-rolled sheet metal

There is a very wide range of steels rolled on continuous wide strip mills and sold as hot-rolled sheet. However, they can be grouped into five main categories:

• steels for deep drawing and cold forming, for which a minimum value for elongation and a range for yield strength and tensile strength are guaranteed;

• structural steels, which cover markets as diverse as rolling stock, structural steel sections and automotive structural parts, and for which, in addition to a certain formability, a minimum yield strength and, where applicable, impact strength are guaranteed;

• steels for small welded tubes, where the requirements mainly...