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Changing our behaviour could make steel part of the green solution

By Rob Ellis

Environmental issues are becoming ever more in focus and a higher priority on the agenda, whether it’s for the customer in the supermarket, the supermarket itself or even the national Government. Reducing the damage to the planet is the highest priority it’s ever been and one of the biggest trend is reducing single use plastics. Since the BBC programme Blue Planet showed how much plastic waste ends up in the ocean and can take centuries to disappear, there have been attempts to remove single use plastics from our lives and switch to reusable or recyclable products. This has the immediate... [read more]

Steel parts – from nothing!

By Rob Ellis

There are a significant number of people who were told when they were growing up that the future was going to be all laser beams, flying cars and robot helpers. While many people are still irritated that Back To The Future style hoverboards are already four years late (and counting), every so often something happens that makes you feel that maybe those predictions from years ago weren’t so off the mark. The world of 3D printing fits very neatly into that realm – after all, it’s a robotic arm, equipped with a laser beam, creating objects out of what appears... [read more]

Stainless Steel Is Now Literally A Space Age Material!

By Rob Ellis

We at West Yorkshire Steel are big fans of big engineering. We find it fascinating that people require vehicles that stand 30 feet high, or the amount of scientific knowledge that’s needed to drill into the sea bed for oil. There’s one area of engineering that is so large, so futuristic and so complex that many people don’t think of it even as engineering – and it even has its own idiom as exceptionally difficult; “it’s not rocket science!” To this day we still view rocket science in this light, even though the principles of the technology are cracking on... [read more]

Can You Really Cut Steel With A Flame?

By Rob Ellis

We admit that there’s a lot of terminology around processing steel and the engineering that is involved, which can be confusing! To help, we have a glossary page full of terms that you may not feel are instantly obvious in their meaning, but one term that often gets a confused look is for ‘flame cut steel’. A flame is something that we think of as small, in everything from an open flame fire to the famous Flame-grilled Whopper, so would it really be sufficient to cut through a strong, tough steel? It is possible to slice through steel with a... [read more]

Tool Steel Properties

By Rob Ellis

Tool steel grades are supplied in a wide variety which commonly belong to a specific group or type providing various characteristics. Most tool steel properties require grades that suit heat treatment to achieve a high hardness. Tool steels are frequently used for the shaping of other materials. Popular types of tool steel include cold work, hot work, plastic mould and shock resisting which are used for a wide range of applications. The choice of steel for a particular application depends on which tool steel properties suit best, such as the required hardness, shock resistance, strength and toughness. Other considerations include... [read more]