When steel is shaped, it's often heated until it's pliable enough to bend, and then it's allowed to cool down once it's in the desired shape. Or, molten steel is poured into moulds and allowed to cool in place. Cooling in steel fabrication can take two forms: ambient and accelerated. These use essentially what you think they do; ambient cooling is when the item is left to cool on its own in a normal room, and accelerated is a method of cooling the metal faster. As great as both sound, they have some quirks, and you need to be aware of how each type of cooling affects not only the metal but also the factory's financial future.

What Ambient Cooling Does

Ambient cooling allows the metal to cool at its own rate in a room-temperature setting. Nothing is used to speed the cooling along; the metal simply sits until it reaches whatever temperature is supposed to be cool enough. Ambient is a slower means of cooling, but also a cheaper one (as you're not using resources to accelerate the cooling). However, because ambient cooling can take longer, that means that a very hot piece of metal will remain a very hot piece of metal for longer than it would if it were artificially cooled – which means staff need to be aware that there is a burn risk in that room.

Accelerated Cooling Methods and Business Matters

Accelerated cooling can use water, oil, or brine to quickly cool the metal. This has a number of practical advantages; this obviously speeds up the cooling time and allows the part to be put to use (or sold, stored, etc.) more quickly. The burn risk associated with hot metal fades more quickly. The faster resolution to the production process for that piece frees up space in the cooling area for another piece of metal, and you can produce these pieces faster. More pieces equals more available for sale. From a business standpoint, faster cooling, when possible, is great.

Combining the Cooling Methods

How you cool a piece of steel after fabrication can affect the steel's strength. Sometimes ambient cooling is better, and sometimes accelerated cooling is the best choice. But you can also combine the two methods. For example, you might start with ambient cooling and then switch to accelerated cooling once the metal has cooled to a certain degree. Periodic accelerated cooling interspersed among periods of ambient cooling can actually strengthen some pieces.

If you need to find a steel fabrication company, ask them about the cooling methods they use and which metals and pieces undergo each type of cooling. If you have concerns or questions, the staff at the steel fabrication company will be able to help you.