The technical requirements for hot-rolled steel strip primarily encompass four aspects: dimensional accuracy, flatness (shape), surface quality, and mechanical properties.
(1) High Dimensional Accuracy. Dimensional accuracy refers primarily to thickness precision; this is because variations in thickness not only impact the material's service performance and its compatibility with subsequent continuous automatic stamping processes, but also present the greatest challenge to control during production. Furthermore, thickness deviations have a significant bearing on material conservation.
(2) Excellent Flatness. To ensure usability, the steel strip must be flat and free from defects such as wavy edges or buckling. However, given that steel plates and strips are typically both wide and thin-making them highly susceptible to non-uniform deformation-maintaining excellent flatness is an inherently difficult task. The thinner the plate or strip, the greater its sensitivity to non-uniform deformation, and consequently, the more challenging it becomes to preserve a desirable shape. Evidently, poor flatness stems from non-uniform deformation, which, in turn, frequently leads to variations in thickness. Therefore, the quality of the steel strip's shape often bears a direct correlation to its thickness precision.
(3) High Surface Quality. Among all steel products, steel plates and strips possess the largest surface area per unit volume; moreover, they are frequently utilized as exterior components. Consequently, ensuring impeccable surface quality is an absolute necessity.
(4) Superior Performance. The performance requirements for steel plates and strips primarily encompass mechanical properties, processing properties (workability), and-for certain specific grades-specialized physical or chemical properties. Generally, standard structural steel plates are required only to possess adequate processing properties.
