SS Tanks
The man attributes of an SS tank make it useful for many industries, including water processing, as it can safely store water for long periods of time, the dairy industry, for milk pasteurization, the agricultural industry, for storing grains or feed, the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, for mixing chemicals, the brewing industry as a fermentation vat and the food and beverage industry, for blending ingredients or crushing fruit into juice. Tanks always have at least one manway and may have a variety of access points, gauges, mixing blades, heating and cooling jackets, spouts and pipe fittings. They may have an open top, a lid or be enclosed, depending on the application. Specific SS tanks include silos, dairy tanks, vats, mixing tanks, bins, storage tanks, gas tanks, water tanks and food grade tanks.
Stainless steel is made when steel, chromium, nickel and other alloys are combined at high temperatures for 8 to 12 hours of intense heat inside an electric arc furnace. It is formed into slabs, blooms and billets, which are long steel rods. Some steel is hot rolled, which means it is worked while the metal is above its recrystallization temperature. Slabs are formed into plates and sheets while blooms and billets are worked into bars and wire. Tanks are commonly made from stainless steel that was cold rolled because the process increases strength and hardness. Before that happens, however, the steel is annealed, which means it is heated and cooled under controlled conditions. This removes any internal stress points and makes the metal stronger. To cool the steel, it is blasted with air or immersed in water. For tanks, the metal is fed through a series of rollers that gradually bend the steel until the desired curve is achieved. An acid bath or electrocleaning removes any scaling that occurred, and a surface finish is achieved through further hot rolling, cold rolling, annealing, descaling or by grinding wheels with abrasive belts. To make a tank, sheets of steel can be bolted together though they are typically welded because this creates a seamless joint that is air and watertight. SS tanks are then delivered by truck and, if necessary, erected by crane.
