Cold rolling is an assemble process to fabricate very large sheet metal which is later on delivered to the metal fabricator you would hire. The sheet metal forming process is completed by introducing the metal between rollers which will squeeze and compress the metal into the desired sheet metal size and width. This is done by temperature which are about room temperature to gain and to increase the strength and hardness of the steel.
At room temperature, the steel sheet is passed through two or more rollers. The rollers decrease the thickness of the steel sheet and increases the strength and hardness. What is important is the sheet does not lose its ductility. This means that the final product is not prone to cracking or forming. This is the difference to hot rolled steel.
One of the cold rolled steel properties is the high strength. The cold rolling procedure increases the strength of the steel by 20%. It is preferred in mechanical applications as it is incredibly resistant to denting.
It also has high formability which makes it perfect even if you need to bend the steel sheet to a certain shape such as a bracket, u-channel or z-channel. Also, it has excellent magnetic properties too. It makes it a preferred alloy for a wide range of industrial and domestic applications.
Enameling and color coding cold rolled steel is possible. In fact it is recommended as steel will corrode over time. By putting a protective layer of paint coating on it, the life of the metal will be increased to a large extent.
Cold rolled steel is basically hot rolled steel that has been further worked on by being allowed to cool at room temperature and annealed or temper rolled. It is also up to 20% stronger than hot-rolled through the use of strength hardening.
When making more detailed shapes, the process involves: