TimkenSteel produces steel solids to a range of steel quality levels, including Ultrapremium™, Parapremium™, aircraft, bearing, electric furnace and commercial.
ULTRAPREMIUM™
Improved fatigue life and power density start with clean steel. TimkenSteel’s Ultrapremium™ certified air-melt technology takes cleanness to a higher standard. When this process is applied to almost any grade of steel, it dramatically lowers oxide inclusions over competing processes. The result: optimum performance and longer service at a fraction of the cost of re-melted steels.
PARAPREMIUM™ (AMS 2304)
We produce this quality level in accordance with industry specification AMS 2304. Customers generally use this steel for extremely critical or highly stressed parts as well as other applications involving additional exceptionally stringent requirements (magnetic particle inspection and macro-etch limits, for example). To meet these requirements, we employ exacting steelmaking, rolling and testing practices.
AIRCRAFT
We produce this quality level of steel in accordance with the industry specification AMS 2301. Customers generally use this steel for important or highly stressed aircraft parts as well as other applications involving additional stringent requirements (magnetic particle inspection and macro-etch limits, for example). We employ exacting steelmaking, rolling and testing practices to meet these requirements.
BEARING
Bearing quality generally applies to alloy steel bars and tubes that we manufacture for anti-friction bearings. Typically, this quality level ranges from standard alloy carburizing grades and high-carbon chromium grades. We produce these steels in accordance with ASTM A 534, A 295, and A 485 standards. We subject our bearing-quality steel to restricted melting and special teeming, heating, rolling and conditioning practices to meet the rigid quality requirements.
ELECTRIC FURNACE QUALITY
Our primary melting vessel is an electric-arc furnace. We melt steel scrap by passing electricity through carbon electrodes. The primary advantages of this type of furnace are that it allows for the extremely close control of temperature, heat analysis, and refining conditions that the production of standard carbon and alloy steels require. Electric furnace quality refers to a restriction of .025 percent maximum sulfur content and .025 percent maximum phosphorous content for the specified grade.
COMMERCIAL
Commercial quality refers to the basic or standard quality level for alloy steel bars and tubes. Customers typically use this type of steel for less critical applications. We melt this quality level of steel to chemical ranges and limits, and inspect and test it to meet normal requirements for regular constructional alloy steel applications.
HOT-ROLLED
Hot-rolled surface conditions include as-rolled or thermally treated finishes such as annealed, normalized or quench-and-tempered. This process leaves a light mill oxide on the surface. We inspect and surface-condition our hot-rolled steel bars. The customer also generally further processes the material through forging or machining.
ROUGH-TURNED
We produce rough-turned steel bars by machining the outside surface of hot-rolled bar stock. We remove all surface defects and decarburization from the outside surface of the bar’s full length. We do this on a machine with tools mounted in a ring that rotates around the steel bar. We also use turned steel bars for special applications where the customer needs a close outside diameter tolerance and/or a clean outside surface.
The TimkenSteel high volume in-line forge press provides particular value to customers in market segments where our high-performance steel products are most critical to performance in extreme operating conditions.
TimkenSteel uses the 3,000-ton press to enhance the consistency of properties of its special bar quality steel. Combined with large steel bar inspection, this forging capability reinforces TimkenSteel as a premier provider of sound-center large steel bars of up to 16 inches in diameter.
This open-die in-line press serves as the first step of the forged-rolled process at the Faircrest Steel Plant. The forge press taps into our innovative forged-rolled process. To begin, we forge the product for internal soundness, using a variety of ingot sizes and pass sequences. We then roll the product for improved shape and size control. Our forged-rolled process, engineered to meet customer requirements, creates a more uniform, stronger piece of steel with a sound center in larger bar cross-section.
Our industry-leading thermal treatment capabilities provide a diverse range of processing options to meet demanding strength and hardness requirements – regardless of order size. We continue to develop these capabilities and broaden our sophistication in custom thermal-treat offerings so you can rely on innovative product designs and proven quality. Few others offer this combination of metallurgical and thermal-treat knowledge, setting us apart from the competition.
We provide tailored solutions to meet our customers’ needs through our value-added steel bars and billets for challenging applications. Our approach to manufacturing integrates our melting, rolling, piercing and finishing operations, ensuring a complete chemistry and economical solution from start to finish.
Our thermal treatment includes:
QUENCH-AND-TEMPER
The quench-and-temper process heats steel uniformly to a temperature above a critical range and cools it rapidly in water. This treatment helps achieve specific levels of strength and toughness to meet customer requirements.
ANNEAL
Annealing is heating uniformly to a temperature within or above the critical range and cooling at a controlled rate to a temperature under the critical range. We use this treatment to produce a definite microstructure, usually one designed for best machinability. We also use annealing to remove stresses, induce softness and alter ductility, toughness or other mechanical properties.
NORMALIZE
In the normalizing process, we heat steel uniformly to a temperature above the critical range and cooling in air to room temperature. This treatment produces a recrystallization and refinement of the grain structure, giving the product uniformity in hardness and structure.