Stainless steel coil slitting is the process of cutting wide master coils into narrower width coils with cutting knives. The slit coils produced make their way into a variety of industries and products such as, automotive trim, electronics, medical devices, HVAC ducts, household appliances, springs, and more.
This article provides a look at what slitting stainless steel is, how it’s used, and the various alloys you can cut with this method.
SUBMIT A RFQStainless steel starts as large slabs of metal, which are rolled to thinner gauges and recoiled into a large roll. These large, wide coils are called Master Coils. Master coils are then cut down to narrower widths to customer specifications that best suit their manufacturing and process needs.
Stainless steel coil slitting processes has three steps: Uncoiling to flatten the metal out, blades (called knives) for cutting, and a recoiler for winding the metal back into a coil. The three processes need proper alignment to ensure the strips are cut to proper tolerances.
The equipment can use different circular blades to accommodate different gauges and types of stainless steel for slitting. It uses one upper and one lower knife, which can be moved to get different widths for the new strips. The goal with coil slitting is to keep the length of the original coil while reducing the width to that needed for a particular application.
Stainless Steel SlitterCombined Metals can slit your stainless to widths from .187” up to 51 inches. The cut pieces are sometimes called strip coils, slit coils, rolls, rolled strip, slit strip, strands, or strips.
The pieces need to be accurately slit with uniform edges with minimum burr, which calls for maintaining sharp knives. Dull blades give you burred edges, wave, camber, and other issues that can cause the slit piece to not be useful for a customer’s requirements. Combined is known for it’s superior #3 slit edge.
Once your master coil has been cut down into narrower widths,it can be used in many industries and a lot of different ways. The chief difference in application is based on the grade or type of steel used.
Some of the more common uses for stainless steel coil are to make surgical instruments, springs, heat, exchangers, and cutlery. The automotive industry is one of the fast-growing users, especially for decorative parts and the exhaust system. You’ll also find polished coil used extensively in construction for everything from handrails to decorative touches.
Additional Industries that use Stainless Steel Slit Coil:
Steel is broken down into various grades by the Society of Automotive Engineers, which sets the standards. The stainless steel grade is then broken down into various types based on the alloy.
The corrosion-resistant properties of stainless steel commonly comes from the addition of chromium, but many alloy combinations make up today’s stainless steel. More resistance can be gained by increasing the levels of chromium or adding nickel or molybdenum.
Stainless steel is broken down into families that give you an immediate idea of what is in the alloy and the ratios. The four distinct families are:
There are more than 150 types of stainless steel listed by the SAE, each with a three-digit code that tells you about the specific composition of the alloy.
For example, the 200 series is an austenitic chromium-nickel-manganese alloy that serves as a general-purpose steel. The more commonly used types can be found in the 300 and 400 series stainless steel alloys.
Type 304 stainless steel is the most commonly used austenitic grade, seen as the classic stainless steel and used extensively by automotive, chemical, food, oil/gas, and medical industries. Type 316 is the second most common, usually chosen over 304 for better corrosion resistance and more strength at higher temperatures thanks to the addition of molybdenum.
The addition of the letter “L” to the series number designates an alloy with a lower amount of carbon. For example, Type 316L stainless steel is an extra-low carbon grade often used in watches, heat exchangers, and restaurant kitchens. The lower carbon makes it a better choice if welding is needed.
400 series includes both ferritic and martensitic alloys. Ferritic is known for better corrosion resistance while martensitic has more toughness. Martensitic can be heat treated and ferritic cannot.
Advances in stainless steel coil slitting equipment make it possible to produce precise cuts to give you stainless steel slit coil that perfectly meets your requirements. The wide range of steel alloys available for slitting means you can find the right set of characteristics to fit with your project. If you’re interested in learning more about our stainless-steel slitting capabilities or purchasing, contact us to talk to our sales team.
Coil Slitting is the process of taking a wider master coil and slitting (cutting) it into a series of narrower coils by running the material through a set of rotary slitting knives. Each smaller coil is called a mult. Mults can be customized to your specific width and/or weight and packaged accordingly.
Alliance Steel can slit coils with material thickness ranging from .010” - .500” under one roof. We can slit hot roll, hot roll black, hot roll pickled and oiled, cold roll, coated steel (hot-dipped galvanized, electrogalvanized, galvannealed, and galvalume).
There are three main parts to a slitter: the uncoiler, slitter arbors/rotary knives, and a recoiler.
Uncoiler: The master coil is loaded onto the uncoiler at the entry of the machine. Then the uncoiler uses an expandable mandrel to grip the master coil on its inside diameter. The coil rotates off the mandrel, and the head of the coil is threaded into the machine’s edge guides.
Slitter: The material is fed length-wise into the slitter head, which consists of two parallel arbors. These parallel arbors are mounted with a customized set of rotary slitting knives and rubber stripper rings. Rubber rings help pull the material through the slitter arbors, while the knives penetrate the steel causing the material to break or fracture.
The key to running an efficient precision coil slitting job is in the setup. Alliance Steel uses precision tooling and knives to ensure the best slit edges and a computer-automated system to assure spacing and horizontal knife clearances.
Rule of thumb: the harder the material, the less the slitting knives must penetrate. The softer the material, the deeper the knives need to go before the material slits/breaks.
Recoiler: The recoiler’s primary purpose is to wrap the slit coils back into a coil form for packaging and shipment.
Are you looking for a partner to slit your heavy gauge material? Our heavy-gauge line can slit .043” - .500” x 84”, with an 80,000 – max coil on entry, corrective leveling up to .187” and narrow heavy slitting to a width of 1.250”.
Alliance Steel is a flat roll and coil processing - steel service center in Gary, Indiana. We have been a leader in flat-roll steel supply and coil processing for over 20 years. In May of 2020, we relocated to Gary, Indiana, strategically placing ourselves near significant highways, mills, and ports. There are also two sales locations in the Mid- South (Atlanta and Memphis).
Our temperature-controlled 300,000 square foot facility is equipped with full rail service, multiple slitters, including a heavy-gauge line, numerous fiber lasers, multi–blanking, cut to length, stretcher leveling, and metallurgical capabilities.
Alliance Steel is prepared to support your steel needs with an extensive inventory of flat-rolled sheet and coil products.
We maintain a selection of hot rolled steel, hot rolled pickled and oiled, hot rolled pickled dry, cold-rolled steel, motor lam, all coated products steel products. For more information, please call 219-427-5400 or visit us at Alliancesteel.net.