Steel Plate Basics – Buying Steel Plate

In previous articles, we’ve covered buying pipe, tube, and beams (all which have various unique apsects which make them more complicated). However, buying steel plates are about as basic as it gets.

The first step as with all metal forms that we ofer, is to isolate the grade that you need to order. Regardless of it being Carbon Steel, Stainless Steel, Nickel Alloy, Titanium, or Aluminum each metal type has specific grades and properties which you need to understand going into a purchase. Some of these alloys are more common that others; for instance, in Carbon steel plate the most common is ASTM A36, although we also carry A572 Gr 50, A588, A514 / T1, A656, 1045 and many others.

Next, you’ll need to let us know the dimensions of the plate you’re looking for, including thickness, width, and length. At Continental Steel & Tube, Carbon Steel plate ranges from 3/16th, all the way up to 24″ thick. Widths can run up to 120″. If you’re looking for something with higher strength and less weight than carbon steel, we carry many grades of Stainless Steel, Titanium, and Nickel Alloy Plate in Monel, Inconel and Hastelloy Grades. These plates run up to 96″ in width. One thing to note is that the sizing is very flexible as we can cut plate to the size you need. These can be waterjet cut, hi-definition plasma cut, or simply saw cut to your exact specifications. Please let us know

For additional customization, we also can roll steel plate into the sizes you need. If you need a custom size pipe, we can roll the plate to your size including having plate rolled to a specific radius for building tankers. These particularly are jobs that we are delighted to take, so ask us and we can put together a custom quote for you!

Lastly just need to know the quantity and where the material needs to be shipped.

Please ask about any of the metal plate needs you may have. We are happy to help and would be happy to look at any requirements.