NMC Media Archives - Page 10 of 16 - National Material Company

24 06, 2019

10 Fun Facts You Didn’t Know About American Steel and the Steel Industry

Nathalia and Jorge2019-09-12T18:25:28+00:00June 24th, 2019|News Blog|

After achieving the mass production of steel, American steel industrialists pushed steelmaking to greater innovative levels. By the year 1920, 60 million tons of American steel were circulating around the world annually, making the United States the biggest global player in the steel service industry. Steel processing became a bulwark of the economy, engraving itself into the nation’s identity.

Today, National Material Company carries on the metal service and steel processing tradition. With the following 10 little-known facts, we salute those who paved the way by transforming the world through metal work.

The Man of Steel could have been the Man of Tungsten.

But that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, now does it? According to Thaddeus Howze — author, editor, podcaster, and self-proclaimed answer-man on all things comics –Superman got the name Man of Steel because steel was the most common of the strong metals: Steel, Titanium, Tungsten and Inconel. (It may also have something to do with the fact that “Man of Steel” is much snappier than its clunky counterparts.)

Superman was created to symbolize the extraordinary capacity of the everyday man. Thus, steel won out as metal of choice because of the household name it had made for itself, thanks to the wide proliferation of the steel industry at the time.

“Superman was a ‘man of steel’ stronger than anything you could imagine, and yet something as close as the building you were standing in or the car you desired and one day hope to own […] Steel was everywhere and steel was the king of industrial metals during this period [1940]. Steel wasn’t just the metal of tomorrow; it was also the metal of yesterday. Places in the world that had developed steel before modern industries had long-lasting cultures and it was the development of steel which made the industrial age what it was.”( Source: Quora)

2. Showers, Star Wars memes, and steel.

The month of May is well-known for its rain showers. And Star Wars enthusiasts rejoice on May the Fourth Be with You. And let’s not forget – steel.

Yes, that’s right. In the 1960s, as the nation infused steel into its structure and character, Lyndon Johnson saw it fit to raise a pedestal for steel in the pantheon of American achievement. Therefore, he designated May as a national month for celebrating the steel industry.

“Steel is the core of industrial America. It has helped to make American productivity and technology the wonder of the world. This vital product which we produce in unmatched abundance is basic to our economy and essential to our security. It supports our buildings, spans our rivers, arms our fighting men. It […]

20 06, 2019

NMC Partner Taber Extrusions Offers Friction Stir Welding

andre2020-04-01T21:25:09+00:00June 20th, 2019|News Blog|

National Material partner Taber Extrusions of Russellville, AR. and Gulfport, MS. have announced the addition of Friction Stir-Welding capabilities to their existing portfolio, which currently includes aluminum extrusions, fabrication, billet casting, and micro-extrusions.

The addition of in-house FSW capabilities positions Taber as a vertically integrated supplier of FSW panels and assemblies previously unseen in North America. This new technology allows for finished product applications in military, bridge building, railroad refrigerated containers, and more – and brings with it the technological capacities to develop new products.

Eric Angermeier, President of Taber Extrusions, says:

Besides the additional jobs and revenue this expansion will bring to our central Arkansas community, we are very much looking forward to Taber’s new horizons into technology and product development. The welder will be housed in a new 60,000 square foot expansion to our current Russellville facility. This equipment further promotes our strategy of moving Taber toward being a solutions-oriented company offering highly engineered products.

This Friction Stir-Welder, with the latest technology, is purposely built for the long, wide extrusions being produced on our current extrusion presses. This process gives us the added benefit of vertical integration allowing us to not only better serve our existing customers, but gives us the opportunity to develop new markets and products.

Sometimes described as more of a forging process than actual welding, Friction Stir-Welding is a solid-state joining technique used to combine metals not easily fused with traditional welding. Ideal for metals such as aluminum, copper and other metal alloys, FSW is commonly used in the aerospace, rail, automotive, shipbuilding, transportation and marine industries. Friction Stir-Welding makes possible high-quality welds with minimal distortion. It is also a process that can be easily automated, making it an ideal solution for industrial use.

Taber Extrusions recently hosted a ground-breaking ceremony which included State Representative Steve Womack amongst other state and local leaders.

Congressman Steve Womack described how he sees Taber’s role from a national perspective, “The expansion of an existing company such as Taber Extrusions means a lot more than the location of a new company. It means that Taber is in the right place and has what it needs to succeed. Taber plays an important role in the defense of our nation with products that are an asset to our defense capabilities.”

Taber historically provides for many industries, including aerospace, shipbuilding, infrastructure, automotive, as well as military and defense.

Taber is already known for their wide range of capabilities, both broad and unique, and Mayor of Russellville Richard Harris thanked Taber for choosing Russellville as their location, “The fact that you chose to expand and add new technology here is the highest compliment […]

29 05, 2019

Steel Service Center Spotlight: National Galvanizing

andre2019-06-19T19:06:59+00:00May 29th, 2019|News Blog|

National Material L.P. and its metal service centers have a long history of quality and service dating back to 1964. Since its founding, N.M.L.P. has grown to over 30 business units and is now one of the largest suppliers of steel in America. The National Material group of industrial businesses consists of five groups; Steel, Stainless and Alloys, Raw Material Trading, Aluminum, and Related Operations.

National Galvanizing, located in Monroe, Michigan is an ISO 9001:2008 certified leader in the heavy gauge galvanizing industry. Their 245,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility offers multiple services including pickling, galvanizing, galvannealing, and slitting, all in one location. This combination of capabilities provides customers with unparalleled responsiveness to meet the ever-changing demands of today’s steel market.

National Galvanizing is a joint venture between National Material L.P. and Heidtman Steel, and has been leading the heavy gauge galvanizing industry since 1984.

Advantages of Galvanized Steel

Galvanized Steel is treated with zinc to create a long-lasting alloy that is resistant to rust and corrosion. This process creates a final material with the strength and formability of steel plus the corrosion protection of zinc-iron coating. Zinc protects the base metal by acting as a barrier to corrosive elements, and the sacrificial nature of the coating results in a long-lasting and high-quality steel product.

Rust Resistance: The iron elements in steel is incredibly prone to rusting, but the addition of zinc acts as a protective buffer between the steel and any moisture or oxygen.

Easy Inspection: It’s easy to tell how strong a galvanized coating is just by looking at it. There are also quick stress tests that can determine how thick the zinc coating is.

Sacrificial Anode: This ensures that any damaged steel is protected by the surrounding zinc coating. It doesn’t matter if the steel section is completely exposed; the zinc will still corrode first.

Longer Life: With galvanization, a piece of industrial steel is expected to last more than 50 years in average environments, and can last over 20 years with severe water exposure. No maintenance required.

Galvanizing Advanced High-Strength Steel

In addition to leading the heavy-gauge galvanizing industry, National Galvanizing also provides complex galvanizing chemistries that allow for the galvanizing of advanced high-strength steel.

Galvanizing advanced high-strength steel, versus galvanizing regular steel, is a more sophisticated process. First, the coils of steel are cleaned and put through both a zinc pot and chemical treatment to passivise the rust. Afterwards, the steel is tempered and tension-leveled to produce a high surface quality on the galvanized steel.

In addition to the material durability described above, Galvanized Advanced High-Strength Steel is a remarkably strong material. Because AHHS is both light-weight and exceptionally strong, advanced high strength steel is becoming the go-to material for the growing regulatory needs of the automotive industry and beyond. Its concentrated properties allow manufacturers to easily reach their emission, safety, and fuel […]

28 04, 2019

What is Precision Slitting?

marshall2019-05-29T23:23:00+00:00April 28th, 2019|News Blog|

In the metal processing world, every new contract comes as a new and customized challenge. Increased demand for steel coils with finer width and length parameters have ushered in an era of more robust precision slitting – with technological advancements in slitting equipment, software, and tooling practices fueling the wave.

Slitting is a metal manufacturing process wherein a coil of material, such as aluminum or steel, is slit into the lengths and widths specified by the end application. As the material runs through the machine, the steel rolls are moved through extremely sharp circular blades, making the cuts. In order to make the slice, substantial compressive forces must be applied – and when the forces exceed the tensile strength of the material, it slices. The end product is long strips of material cut to the buyer’s specifications.

A steel slitting machine is comprised of three major parts – the uncoiler, the slitter, and the recoiler. In order to ensure that the quality of the process is optimized, each element must be precisely aligned during setup.

National Material’s breadth of slitting capabilities is of tremendous value to our customers, who know that we have the right equipment to process their orders on time and to the right specifications. Our customers appreciate the high level of precision and quality we offer in our slitting process, as it eliminates the excess material waste that can be produced by their own manufacturing processes creating real value.

National Material processes hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel for a wide variety of gauges and lengths.

Our slitting lines offer the following benefits:

Reduced time-to-delivery
Reduced scrap
Reduced costs
Streamlined material flow

About National Material L.P. – With more than 3,000 employees from a multinational portfolio of companies, NMLP provides engineered metal products, including aluminum extrusion and stainless steel rolled products, to automotive, aerospace, construction, defense, electrical, and industrial markets.

Visit National Material: https://www.nationalmaterial.com or call (U.S.) 847-806-7200, Diana Pulido.

21 03, 2019

History of Galvanized Steel in the Automotive Industry

marshall2019-09-05T20:37:54+00:00March 21st, 2019|News Blog, NMC Media|

Galvanized steel is among the most popular and useful steels due to its durability, cost effectiveness and, most importantly, its rust-resistant qualities. But galvanized steel wasn’t always in high demand.

In the early 1990’s, steel was consistently the go-to material in automobile manufacturing, but public demand for corrosion-resistant steels in the North American market hadn’t become wide enough for manufacturers to begin implementing it.

In fact, it wasn’t until the late 1980’s, when the Japanese began importing automobiles with anti-corrosion features, that Western markets would discover the advantage of the material. Galvanized steel was indispensable in Japan, a country with a coastal environment that created heavier levels of oxidation and rust.

At the time, North American made vehicles were experiencing severe durability issues due to rust – a serious issue that (quite literally) couldn’t be solved by just throwing on another coat of paint.

Western automakers had developed specific standards for their warranties which further exacerbated the problem of switching to galvanized steels, as its implementation into processing lines would take serious time and money. However, forced to compete, they began to make the transition.

This important switch led to the use of electrogalvanizing lines.

“Electrogalvanizing is a process in which a layer of zinc is bonded to steel in order to protect against corrosion. The process involves electroplating, running a current of electricity through a saline/zinc solution with a zinc anode and steel conductor. The plating of zinc was developed at the beginning of the 20th century. At that time, the electrolyte was cyanide based. A significant innovation occurred in the 1960s, with the introduction of the first acid chloride based electrolyte…The 1980s saw a return to alkaline electrolytes, only this time, without the use of cyanide.” (Source: Wikipedia)

Going into the mid 90’s, electrogalvanizing was the only process that was approved for automotive quality; but automakers had set their sights on another way to galvanize steel – hot dip galvanization. This technique was being used in other markets, but hadn’t yet reached the level of quality necessary for automobiles. That is, until the 1990’s.

Nowadays, the use of zinc-coated bodies for automobiles is standard procedure in auto manufacturing. The ‘body-in-white’ of a car makes up about 80% of the body, all using galvanized steel. The rust resistance of galvanized steel is also a good marketing tool for the automotive industry because they can provide anti-rust warranties to customers.

What are the Benefits of Galvanized Steel?

There’s a reason so many different industries utilize galvanized steel. It has a wide array of benefits for industries to take advantage of, including:

Low initial cost compared to most treated steels.
Lower maintenance costs than most coated steels (saves time on repairs and replacements).
Increases durability of the steel’s finished product which also increases the product’s reliability.
Galvanized steel is very protective, including sharp corners and recesses that couldn’t be protected with other coatings, making it resistant to damage.
Self-healing, meaning the galvanized coating includes an automatic protection for damaged areas. The coating will corrode preferentially to the steel, […]