Base Melting Stock
Many customers consider our iron and steel products to be the “flour in their cake”. Clean, dense, and chemically consistent, washed and dried punchings the ideal base to produce high quality castings in ductile iron, carbon steel, low-alloy steel, stainless steel, and heat/corrosion resistant alloys. Our experienced team will match you with a product that will deliver a clean, dense, and chemically consistent furnace charge, thereby reducing concerns about chemistry variations, moisture, smoke, bridging, low melting rates, porosity, inclusions, etc. Also, our numerous packaging options can greatly improve your inventory control and storage and handling, as well as improve furnace charging consistency and performance.
We work with each customer to develop a detailed specification for their materials including chemistry limits, sizing, thickness, packaging, labeling, shipping requirements, etc.
Cover Steel for Ductile Iron Inoculation
Many ductile iron makers continue to use some variation of the “Sandwich Method” for in-ladle magnesium inoculation. Some will use conventional shaped ladles, while others will use a pocketed tundish ladle designed specifically for the purpose of inoculating with your chosen magnesium additive. In either situation, U-Metco can provide customers with “cover steel punchings” that are clean, dry, and specifically shaped and sized in order to efficiently cover and protect the cold magnesium alloy in the ladle prior to the pour. Of course, using this method will greatly increase recovery on your expensive magnesium alloy, while at the same time reducing the thick smoke caused by the inoculation reaction. Many of our customers have found that using our cover steel punchings provides them with a much more predictable, consistent, cleaner, and lower cost ductile inoculation.
Low Carbon Alloys/Carbon Reducer
Many steel, stainless steel, and other alloys demand a VERY LOW maximum carbon content. Often this requirement is 0.03 % carbon or lower. Producing these alloys in an induction furnace requires that all raw material used must be guaranteed to a very low carbon content. U-Metco offers a range of guaranteed low-carbon steel melting stock in a variety of shapes and sizes with a GUARANTEED 0.01 MAX CARBON. Only a very small sliver of all steel produced in the world today will qualify to that standard! This material can either be used as a “base melt stock” to produce a low-carbon, iron-based casting… or also as a furnace or ladle addition to reduce carbon in your molten bath.
Metal Powders/Sintered Iron
Production of these products requires VERY TIGHT chemical control, which of course makes U-Metco an ideal supplier to this industry. Our quality control system allows us to test, segregate and report up to 23 PURE ELEMENTS, giving producers of these products extraordinarily valuable information and advantages in their production process.
Ballast/Counterweight
Yet another practical use for our products is for ballasting or counterweights. Free-flowing, high density steel punchings are an EXCELLENT product to provide the ballast for shipping vessels or for remote crane and conveyer projects. We can clean and package the EXACT number of pounds needed for direct shipment to your job site for clean and efficient loading.
Radiation Shielding
Our clean and dense steel punchings have also been used as a concrete addition to produce the nuclear shielding used in hospital radiation treatment rooms. This method is a safe and efficient alternative to traditional lead shielding.
Research And Development
U-Metco’s unique ability to provide a clean, consistent, and known chemistry material has made us a favorite of research and testing laboratories across the country. We have supplied our materials to universities, independent research centers, and directly to metal manufacturers’ own in-house research facilities in our efforts to help them develop new products.