4 01, 2020

Steel Service Spotlight: National Material of Mexico

2020-04-01T21:22:12+00:00January 4th, 2020|News Blog|

The official National Material Mexico Logo which consists of “NMM” written in large, silver 3-D letters with shadow effect to create depth, and underneath a backwards pyramid made up of four upside-down, golden trapezoids that gradually reduce in length until they reach a triangle point set in the forefront of a beautiful luminous winter mountain backdrop.

“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.”

–Helen Keller

National Material Company (NMC) has maintained continuity since its inception – never changing ownership or strategic focus. This has allowed NMC to become an industry leading company. It’s true that this longevity gives NMC a competitive edge in the steel service industry, but it’s also true that NMC’s leadership has not only been built across time, but across cultural boundaries. National Material of Mexico (NMM), a global partner in Mexico that not only leads the Mexican steel service but has recently undergone an exciting expansion of their facilities.

About National Material of Mexico

Both NMC and NMM are part of the National Material Limited Partnership (NMLP) steel division, which is one of the largest independent steel service centers in the United States. NMLP operates 16 steel service centers and processing facilities in North America and ships over 2,000,000 tons of steel annually.

National Material of Mexico is one of the largest Steel Service Centers in Mexico, serving the automotive, HVAC, home appliance, motor and transformer manufacturers in Mexico. A large portion of NMM’s success lies in its supply of ultra-light and ultra-strong Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS) to the Mexican automotive business.

It provides all the AHSS grades as well as other material processing services with hot rolled, cold rolled, grain-oriented and non-oriented electrical steel, galvanized, galvannealed, aluminized, prepainted and other coated metals.

Like its northern partner, NMC, National Material of Mexico’s premier standing in the Mexican steel service industry relies not only on its efficiency at the plants, but also on a timely supply of all materials to clients.

With the National Material Limited Partnership as a constant support system, the companies create synergies and partnership that streamline processes with tangible benefits to the clients.

NMM locations and joint-venture locations include facilities in:

  • Monterrey
  • Hermosillo
  • San Jose Iturbide
  • Puebla
  • San Luis Potosi
  • Celaya
  • Aguascalientes

With these strategically placed service centers, NMM aims at a “Just-in-Time philosophy” for direct sales and toll processing.

Expansion & The Future of NMM

In 2017, National Material Company announced the expansion of their plants in Mexico for a twofold reason: first, to meet increased demand and second, to focus on the futuristic Advanced High Strength Steel that is going into cars. As VP General Manager Carl Grobien explains:

“We opened up this facility in 1997 with one slitter. Now, we have two slitters, one for electrical steel and one for carbon steel. After so many years, the first slitter is more than 100% full and with the new generation steel, AHSS or Advanced High Strength Steel, going in to automobiles, our steel now goes into […]

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4 01, 2020

AHSS Leads the Automotive Industry in 2020

2021-02-18T17:40:43+00:00January 4th, 2020|News Blog|

A steel slitter running a fresh coil of steel through it in a steel processing plant.

No one has ever walked into a car dealership and said to the salesperson: “Hey, do you have anything made out of an unstable material?” When assembling vehicles, car manufacturers face a specific challenge: they need materials with seemingly contradictory properties: lightweight, but strong, and highly formable into rigid structures. This is a challenge in light of how metals deform. The strains from forming accumulate into localized areas on the part, leading to excessive thinning known as “necking.” These areas are thinner than the rest of the part, and are the most likely to have durability or fatigue problems during the vehicle life. Higher strength materials are more likely to experience “necking” during the production process, which, in turn, creates an unstable part. Most would agree that would never be a good quality in a car.

Four photographs of steel at different stages during the tensile test: a) uniform deformation, b) diffuse necking, c) localized necking, and d) fracture.

The first antidote to this challenge was introduced in the 1980’s when the steel industry developed interstitial free (IF) steels. These steels have a microstructure primarily consisting of a single phase known as ferrite, which is iron with typically less than 50ppm carbon in an interstitial solid solution. It has a body-centered cubic (bcc) structure at room temperature. ULC steels are highly formable, a desirable trait for auto companies that have a high demand for steel that can be molded into the new complex shape of cars. However, these steels are relatively soft which makes them poor candidates for the automotive body structures that need to withstand increasingly stringent crash resistance requirements. Steelmakers had to create new steel grades that combine mechanical strength with high ductility (the ability to undergo significant plastic deformation before rupture). Enter advanced high strength steel!

What is AHSS?

A sea of steel coils at one of National Material Company’s brightly lit North American steel processing facilities.

The metallurgy and processing of advanced high strength steel (AHSS) grades are somewhat novel compared to conventional steels. Their remarkable mechanical properties are the result of their unique processing and structure. They are classified into categories based on their microstructure or how they deform: dual phase (DP) steel, transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) steel, complex phase (CP) steel, martensitic (MS) steel, ferritic bainitic (FB) steel, and twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steel. AHSS solves two distinct automotive needs by using two different groups of steels. The DP and TRIP grades of steel have increased values of the work hardening exponent. These possess higher strength levels with improved formability and crash-energy absorption compared to the current HSLA (High Strength, Low Alloy) grades. The CP and MS grades extend the availability of steel in strength ranges above the HSLA grades.

Additional steels are designed to meet specific process requirements. These include increased edge stretch […]

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22 07, 2019

An Overview of U.S. Steel Service Center National Material L.P.

2019-09-12T18:26:00+00:00July 22nd, 2019|News Blog|

An image depicting a map of the different locations of NMLP steel service centers in the U.S, with the text An Overview of U.S. Steel Service Center National Material imposed on a blue background.

You know National Material Company as a company that specializes in supplying, servicing and processing steel with unmatched efficiency. We operate steel processing facilities and service centers throughout the U.S. and Mexico to serve your manufacturing needs in a wide variety of markets.

But the full scope of NMC’s parent company, National Material L.P, is much larger.  NMLP and its affiliates have a long history of quality and service dating back to 1964.  NMLP serves many industries throughout the globe and is one of the largest suppliers of steel in America. With over 30 business units, this families’ capabilities go beyond just steel service.

Here, we will provide a brief overview of National Material’s family of companies, separated into six categories – steel service centers, steel processing facilities, stainless steel and alloy manufacturing, aluminum manufacturing, raw material trading, and related operations.

Steel Service Centers

The NMLP Steel Group includes National Material Company, National Material of Mexico, and Interstate Steel Company. Together, these three companies have made NMLP a well-recognized leader servicing the needs of the steel industry and leading industrial and consumer product manufacturers by means of nineteen specialized processing facilities located throughout North America.

National Material Company operates ten steel service facilities and is the family’s premiere steel manufacturer in the U.S. NMC specializes in supplying, servicing and processing the following: Hot Rolled, Cold Rolled and Cold Rolled Motor Lamination Steel, Oriented and Non-Oriented Electrical Steel, and Galvanized, Galvannealed, Aluminized and other coated metals.

National Material of Mexico operates seven steel servicing locations between partners and wholly owned facilities. NMM is the premier processor in Mexico for a variety of steel products, from uncoated non-exposed to coated exposed carbon steel in slit, sheet or blank form, in all steel grades available on the market, including all types of AHSS steel grades.

An impressive, fire-engine red piece of machinery known as a Red Bud Slitter housed in NMM’s brightly lit manufacturing facility, as part of their advanced high-strength steel slitting line.

Interstate Steel Company is a division of National Material Company and provides highly engineered pre-painted products. ISC also specializes in processed cold rolled & galvanized products. Interstate Steel’s capabilities include precision high speed slitting of surface critical products.

Steel Processing

National Material Processing operates three slitting and two pickling and cut-to-length steel processing facilities and was the first steel processor to introduce a push-pull pickle line in the Indiana Harbor area. NMP specializes in the processing of heavy gauge, hot rolled carbon steel up to .500″ (1.27cm) thick and offers precision slitting, cut-to-length and advanced PRO-ECO, hydrochloric acid pickling services.

Interstate Steel Processing (ISP) is a premier national distributor of flat rolled steel […]

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29 05, 2019

Steel Service Center Spotlight: National Galvanizing

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

An image depicting a galvanized auto body made of steel, with the words “Steel Service Spotlight – National Galvanizing” above.

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 […]

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