Thank you for downloading your copy of The Complete Guide

to Buying Metal Products. This guide was written to simplify the

metal purchasing process, focusing on how purchasing managers

can navigate the middle ground between suppliers and your

customers.

In a career that is valuable but rarely easy, you’re accustomed to

accomplishing what needs to be done. And in this guide, we’re

sharing some information and advice you can apply to your work

as a purchasing manager.

We’ll begin with an overview of common uses for a variety of

metals. Then, we’ll cover a few tips and tricks for busy purchasing

managers. These will include:

• Avoiding quality issues with metal products• Overcoming shipping concerns• Sourcing minimum quantities• Meeting government regulations• Ensuring domestic sourcing

Finally, we finish out the guide with something I wish I’d had

access to at the beginning of my career: a glossary of industry

terms. Instead of having to search all over, it’s great to have all the

definitions in one place.

So, feel welcome to move freely throughout this guide, flipping to

whatever section is most useful to you. It’s my hope that what’s

contained in these pages will help your processes and give you

more time to do what you do best.

Enjoy!

BRIAN ROTHSTEIN Director of Sales Mead Metals, Inc.

HELLO

Sometimes getting the right metal for the right job takes a little digging. There are times when your customers know exactly what they need, and other times they may have a good idea but are unsure when it comes to variables like temper, alloy and physical properties. You may encounter customers who know the intended application but are unsure which metal will get them the desired result.

Knowing a metal’s trade names, traits, and common uses is your best bet for getting your customers the materials they need - in the quantities they request - while keeping communication between yourself and your suppliers clear.

KNOW YOUR METALS

ALSO KNOWN ASBeCu, Alloy 25, Copper Beryllium

TRAITS- High electrical and thermal conductivity and high ductility

- Can be stamped into complex shapes with tight tolerances

- Good corrosion and oxidation resistance

- Excellent metalworking, forming, and machining qualities

COMMON USES• Electronic connector contacts

• Non-sparking applications

• Small springs

• Computer components

• Telecommunications products

• Precision measurement devices

• Aerospace applications

ALSO KNOWN ASTempered Stainless Steel

TRAITSAISI 301

- Hardens through the cold working process more quickly than other grades

- Excellent corrosion and heat resistance

- Especially well-suited for applications requiring drawing, stamping, or forming

AISI 302/304

- Austenitic

- Delivers even greater corrosion and heat resistance than 301 stainless steel

- Ideal for applications which employ laser and etching processes

COMMON USES• Automotive industry applications

• Food processing and handling

• Medical applications

BERYLLIUM COPPERASTM B194 | Alloy 172

STAINLESS STEELASTM A666 | AISI 301 | AISI 302/304

TRAITS- An alloy of copper and zinc. The proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties

- Popular in low-friction applications

- Highest ductility of yellow brass products

- Very good resistance to weathering and can be used in corrosive environments

COMMON USES• Electrical components

• Appliance parts

• Fasteners

• Connectors

• Ammunition components

• Gears

• Bearings

PHOSPHOR BRONZEASTM B103 | Alloy 510

BRASSASTM B36 | Alloy 260

ALSO KNOWN ASPhos Bronze

TRAITS- Very good resistance to corrosion and fatigue

- Good electrical conductivity

- Very good product for strength performance and spring applications

- Low coefficient of friction

- Fine grain

COMMON USES• Springs

• Switch parts

• Fuse clips

• Electrical connectors

• Lock washers

• Welding rods

• Ship propellers

• Dental bridges

ALSO KNOWN ASCRS, Mild Steel

TRAITS- Formable for moderate draw applications

- High resistance to soil corrosion

- Extremely ductile

- Non-shrinking and non-creeping at ambient temperatures

COMMON USES• Home appliances

• Furniture

• Automotive bodies

• Electrical Boxes

• Vending Machines

• Highway products

COPPERASTM B152 | Alloy 110

COLD ROLLED STEEL ASTM A1008/A1010

ALSO KNOWN ASElectrolytic Tough Pitch (ETP)

TRAITS- Good ductility with good electrical and thermal conductivity

- 100% IACS minimum electrical conductivity (annealed only)

- Very good resistance to weathering and soil corrosion

- Soft and malleable

- 100% recyclable

COMMON USES• Electrical conductors

• Switches

• Transformers

• Roofing and plumbing applications

• Industrial machinery

• Telecommunications

ALSO KNOWN ASAnnealed Spring Steel

TRAITS- High yield strength

- Resilient and pliable

- “General use” steel

- Differing AISI designations refer to carbon content and spheroidization

COMMON USES• Springs

• Automotive suspension applications

• Antennas

• Metal sword manufacturing

• Lock picks

COLD ROLLED STRIP STEELASTM A109

ALSO KNOWN ASStrip Steel, Cold Rolled Strip

TRAITS- Formability needs determine temper needed

- Tighter thickness tolerances than cold rolled steel

COMMON USES• Body panels

• Automotive components

• Tubes

• Building materials

• Electrical components

• Appliances (refrigerators, washer, dryers, etc.)

SPRING STEELASTM A684 | AISI 1050 | AISI 1074AISI 1075 | AISI 1095

TEMPERED SPRING STEELASTM A684

ALSO KNOWN ASHigh Carbon Steel, Black Oil

Tempered Spring Steel Strip (1075),

Blue Clock Steel (1095)

COMMON USES• Vehicle coil springs

• Spring clamps

• Antennas

• S-tines

• Lockpicks

• Clock hands

• Sword manufacturing

• Knives

• Binder clips

TRAITS1075 Scaleless Blue Tempered Spring Steel

- Medium carbon content

- High yield strength

- Softer than 1095

- Has more bend prior to fracture with a

lesser degree of spring back

1095 Blue Tempered Spring Steel

- High carbon content

- Polished finish

- High yield strength

- Harder than 1075

- Has less bend prior to fracture with

a higher degree of spring

While there never seems to be enough hours in the day to complete everything that needs to be done, there are some ways you can accomplish your tasks in ways that require less time. Following these tips will help you get the job done faster without sacrificing the really important stuff: quality, order turn times, budgets, and established relationships.

PROCUREMENT TIPS FOR THE BUSY PURCHASING MANAGER

KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOUR CUSTOMER NEEDS, EVEN WHEN THEY ARE NOT SURE

When a customer places an order but they call out the

wrong material for their application, who loses? Obviously

the customer loses time and money, and you might as well.

But even if the customer has to deal with the fallout, a lot of

soft costs land on your shoulders.

The time spent resourcing, certifying, and rescheduling to

get the right material usually becomes your problem, and

seldom does the customer understand that you have other

priorities. When you have a good understanding of metal,

along with its common applications, properties, and general

traits, you are more able to advise your customer and save

both of you plenty of headaches.

SPOT QUALITY ISSUES IN METAL PRODUCTS

The best way to avoid quality concerns is by

sourcing through a known supplier, but what

about when your go-to guy doesn’t have the

material you need? If you are considering a new

supplier, be sure they have their qualifications

and credentials front and center. Then, rely

on reviews and testimonials to figure out how

other purchasing managers have fared with this

supplier.

Finally, check out their response time. If a

supplier answers your question or quote request

quickly, it’s a sign of great customer service.

NAVIGATE SHIPPING TIMELINES AND OTHER SHIPPING CONCERNS

Reliable delivery is essential in today’s “just in

time” environment. Even if your order leaves the

supplier’s facility in perfect condition, every step

of the shipping process provides an opportunity

for material damage. Some suppliers guarantee

your order if it goes through their perferred

shippers.

If this is an option, I recommend taking it. After

all, if a material supplier has already built up a

relationship with a freight provider in their area,

it’s likely your best bet.

SOURCE MINIMUM QUANTITIES

When your customer needs a dozen

pieces of sheet metal and your regular

supplier only sells them by the hundred,

what do you do? Do you order the

surplus and inventory the rest? While a

lot of suppliers apply minimum order

quantities to material shipments, there

are a growing number of suppliers who

specialize in providing high-quality metals

in smaller quantities.

NAVIGATE GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS

Whether your top concerns have more to

do with quality or compliance, sourcing

from a material supplier who meets current

government regulations is a must. You shouldn’t

have to search too hard to find out if a supplier

is qualified or compliant. Instead, work with a

company that posts their certifications on their

website. This way, you can place your purchase

order with the peace-of-mind knowing the

materials you receive meet regulations.

The standard certification you need to look for

is ISO 9000 and 9001. And depending on your

customer’s industry, you should make sure the

supplier provides material that is RoHS and/or

DFARS compliant.

Knowing the terminology is your best bet at getting the right materials for your customer’s project. For some, this might be old news. But, if you need to learn or would like a refresher, we’ve created a glossary that will help just about anybody get up to speed in the metal materials industry.

METALLURGY 101: THE TERMS YOU NEED TO KNOW

AISIStands for American Iron and Steel Institute. The

institute serves as the voice of the North American

steel industry. AISI numbers are used to categorize

metals by alloy type and carbon content, and they

do it with four digits. The first two digits of an AISI

number refer to the alloy type, and the second two

digits refer to carbon content.

ALLOYA metal made by combining two or more metallic

elements. An alloy typically possesses qualities

different from those of the components used to

create it.

ASMStands for American Society for Metals. ASM

International is the world’s largest association

of metal material engineers and scientists. The

association engages and connects materials

professionals and their organizations to the

resources necessary to solve problems, improve

outcomes, and advance society.

ASTMStands for American Society for Testing and

Materials. ASTM International is a not-for-profit

organization that develops standards for materials,

products, systems, and services. Metal with

an ASTM designation meets the international

standards for quality and regulations.

DRAWING Drawing is a metalworking process that uses tensile

forces to stretch metal. As the metal is drawn,

it stretches thinner, into a desired shape and

thickness.

DRAWING TEMPERATUREDrawing is usually done at room temperature,

classifying it as a cold working process. However, it

may be performed at elevated temperatures during

special applications like on large wires, rods, or

hollow sections in order to reduce forces.

CUT-TO-LENGTH This process levels coil into a flat sheet or blank. The

service provides better length and width tolerances

than sheared product, and it can improve diagonal

tolerances as well.

DEBURRINGCutting metals can leave behind burrs, which are

unwanted pieces of material. Deburring is the

process of removing these burrs with a tool.

HEAT LOTS OR HEAT NUMBERA heat number is an identification number that

is stamped on a material plate to prove it meets

industry quality standards which require materials

to be tested by the manufacturer. The heat lot or

heat number is used to identify production runs for

quality control purposes.

EDGE ROLLING Edge rolling is the process of adding finishing edges

to metal. It forms the edge of a strip to the desired

shape beyond that of a standard

slit edge.

ELONGATIONA metal fabricating term that refers to the degree

to which a material can be bent, stretched, or

compressed before rupturing. A metal’s elongation is a

point between tensile strength and yield strength, and

it is typically expressed as a percentage of the original

length.

GAUGEThe thickness of sheet metal in the USA is commonly

specified by a traditional, non-linear measure known

as its gauge. The larger the gauge number, the thinner

the metal.

ROCKWELL SCALEThe Rockwell Scale indicates the hardness of

materials. Rockwell hardness numbers are most

often used to describe the hardness of metals,

although they are also used for some plastics. The

Rockwell scale is based on measuring the depth of

the indentation made by pressing a diamond point

into a material.

SAEStands for Society of Automotive Engineers. SAE

International is a global association of engineers

and related technical experts in the aerospace,

automotive, and commercial-vehicle industries.

Materials meeting SAE standards are internationally

recognized for safety, quality, and effectiveness.

MIL STDStands for Military Standard. This classification

establishes uniform engineering and technical

requirements for military-unique or substantially

modified commercial processes, procedures,

practices, and methods. In order to qualify, materials

have undergone rugged, exact testing, equal to the

exigencies of combat use.

NORMALIZING TEMPERATURENormalization is a heat treatment that relieves

stress on steel to improve ductility and toughness

in steels that may harden after the cold working

process. During normalization, steel is warmed to

a temperature just above its upper critical point.

Normalized heat treatment facilitates later heat

treatment operations and produces a more uniform

final product.

TENSILE STRENGTHThe maximum stress a material will withstand before

fracturing or breaking. The ultimate tensile strength is

calculated from the maximum load applied during the

test, divided by the original cross-sectional area.

UNS DESIGNATION/NUMBERStands for the Unified Numbering System for Metals

and Alloys. UNS designation provides a means of

correlating internationally used metal and alloy

numbering systems currently administered by societies,

trade associations, and those individual users and

producers of metals and alloys. This system is meant

to avoid the confusion caused by using more than one

identification number for the same metal or alloy, and

the opposite situation of having the same number

assigned to two or more different metals or alloys.

YIELD STRENGTHThe amount of stress a material can withstand

before causing permanent deformity.

SLITTINGSlitting is a precise shearing process, but instead of

making cuts at the end of a workpiece like shearing,

slitting cuts a wide coil of metal into a number of

narrower coils as the main coil is moved through the

slitter. During the slitting process, the metal coil passes

lengthwise through the slitter’s circular blades.

TEMPERTemper refers to reheating hardened, normalized, or

mechanically worked steel to a temperature below the

critical range to soften it and improve impact strength.

Tempering results in greater toughness by decreasing

an alloy’s hardness.

Founded in 1961, Mead Metals began operations in North Minneapolis supplying brass, steel, and other metals to defense contractors, fabricators, and stamping companies. Today, Mead

Metals is the nation’s third largest distributor of Beryllium Copper. By specializing in high-quality, low-volume specialty metals, Mead Metals serves an ever-growing customer base all across the United States. When you work with Mead Metals, you can count on receiving the

right quantity at the right time. At the right price, every time.

ABOUT MEAD METALS INC.

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