1018 Cold Finished Carbon Steel Bar
Chemical Composition
Carbon .15/.20
Manganese .60/.90
Phosphorus .04 (max.)
Sulfur .05 (max.)
Silicon .15/.35
Properties

1018 carbon steel is typically bought to meet chemistry requirements rather than physical requirements. For that reason, physical properties are generally not provided unless requested prior to production. Any material can be sent to a third party after production to be tested for physical properties.

Overall, cold finished steel bars tend to have higher tensile and yield strength, tighter size tolerances, and improves smoothness when compared to hot finished steel.
 

General Characterisitcs of 1018 Cold Finished Bar

  • Easy to form, weld, machine and fabricate
  • Can be welded wihout pre-heating or post-heating
  • Suitable for cold forming
Typical Uses

Because of its high workability, machinability, and combination of most steel traits, 1018 steel is useful for creating a number of high volume machine parts, including:

  • Fasteners
  • Anchor bolts
  • Pins
  • Rods
  • Structural parts
  • Gears
  • Ratchets
  • Tool Holders

1018 CF Carbon Steel Bar

Alro stocks cold finished 1018 steel bars in Flats, Rounds, Squares and Hexagon. Cold finished 1018 carbon steel is one of the most commonly available grades in the world. This carbon steel alloy is easily formed, machined, fabricated, and welded. Welding 1018 steel can be done with any standard method, without pre-heating or post-heating.

1018 cold finished steel is a general purpose, low-carbon steel with good case hardening qualities. It is especially suited to cold forming and bending operations. 1018 is suitable for parts that require cold forming (such as crimping, swaging, or bending). For severe bends, however, stress relieving may be necessary to prevent cracking.

 

About Cold Finished Steel (CF)

Cold finished bars (often abbreviated to CF) are produced from special bar quality hot rolled bars by cold drawing, turning, grinding, polishing, or by a combination of these methods.

Cold drawing increases a bar’s yield strength and tensile strength, turning improves surface quality, grinding produces more precise tolerance ranges, and polishing further creates a smooth and attractive surface. Overall, cold finishing reduces the cross sectional area of the hot rolled bar. CF steel bars may be harder to work with than their hot rolled equivalents, but they make up for it with more accurate sizes, smooth surfaces, increased mechanical properties and machinability.

Cold finished steel bars are often mistakenly called cold rolled steel. However, the term “cold rolled” only refers to actual rolled steel sheets or coils, while the same process results in cold finished bars.