Steel Drums

Steel Drums

Steel is a popular drum construction material. Carbon steel is also referred to as plain steel, as it is the norm. This type of steel has carbon as the primary alloying constituent, and metal's characteristics are determined by its carbon levels. Similar in composition to carbon steel, stainless steel offers the addition of chromium, typically in amounts of about10.5 - 11%. Lastly, cold rolled steel does not refer to the composition but the process the steel has undergone. Cold rolled steel has been cold hardened, meaning that the steel was rolled at room temperature so as not to change its crystalline structure. The three different types of steel have certain industries and applications for which they are better suited than the others: carbon steel is typically used to handle hazardous chemicals in chemical processing, medical, petroleum and wastewater industries; stainless steel is and FDA approved materials and is thus well-suited for sanitary applications in addition to applications requiring high corrosion resistance in industries such as food and beverage, industrial manufacturing and architecture; and cold rolled steel offers very high tensile strength, and as a result, is ideal for mining and defense industries.

Steel drums are manufactured through roll forming. As a continuous metal forming process, roll forming is used to roll metal sheets into ring-shapes. The rolling action is actuated by roll forming equipment that are constructed from sequences of calenders, or roller die pairs, positioned above and below the metal sheet. As the sheet moves through the equipment, the rollers bend the steel along the linear axis. Roll formed parts are most often manufactured at room temperatures, thus making it a cold forming process. After the steel is in the ring-shape, the ends of the ring are joined together through welding to from the drum's body. Next, steel rings are welded onto the body at the base of the drum, a quarter way up from the base, a quarter way from the top and at the top to function as reinforcement. For different industries, steel drums must be manufactured to certain standards. For industrial manufacturing, steel drums often must meet both United Nations (UN) and Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations, which have fairly strenuous requirements. For the defense industry, steel drums must meet Mil Spec standards, or military specifications. Other standards include Department of Energy (DOE) 7A type A, for the handling of hazardous materials, as is often done in pharmaceutical and chemical processing industries.