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Anything from trade accounts, to delivery options - drop us an enquiry and we’ll be straight back to you.
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Yes, we have experience of just in time delivery for Kanban where customers need line side timed deliveries for lean manufacturing processes.
Yes, Hillfoot can arrange testing by a number of IACS members, including:
IACS Member | Abbreviation | Website |
Lloyds Register of Shipping | LR | |
Det Norske Veritas/ Germanischer Lloyd | DNV GL | |
American Bureau of Shipping | ABS | |
Bureau Veritas | BV | |
China Classification Society | CCS | |
Croatian Register of Shipping | CRS | |
Indian Register of Shipping | IRS | |
Korean Register of Shipping | KR | |
ClassNK | NK | |
Polish Register of Shipping | PRS | |
Rina Services | RINA | |
Russian Maritime Register of Shipping | RS |
Yes, for tolerances typically less than 0.010” (0.254mm).
Band Saw - This is the market standard for billeted goods. Tolerance can vary based on diameter; please contact us for details. We can cut dia’s 10-1060mm.
Carbide Saw - This provides faster cutting for volume-based requirements, offering improved surface finish and dimensional tolerance. Typically -0/+0.5mm is achieved, but it is possible to offer a datum face with a -0/+0.1mm length tolerance.
Both terms mean that the material did not undergo any further heat treatment after the initial shaping.
Any mechanical properties reported on the certificate typically do not represent the product, but show the materials capability after simulated heat treatment on separate samples.
Hillfoot have an established international metals supply service and can deliver materials anywhere in the world. Read full details.
Precision Boring to the following requirements:
TOLERANCE: +-/0.020” (+/-0.508mm)
TIR: 1/1000mm
LENGTH: 10 MTR max
Rough Boring to the following requirements:
TOLERANCE: +0/-2mm
LENGTH: 10 MTR max
If you are looking for any other tolerance please contact us.
The annealing process is similar to the normalising process except that the steel after heating and soaking is allowed to cool inside the furnace - at a much slower cooling rate. This slower cooling rate produces a coarser, softer structure and is often applied prior to machining.
Stock held by Hillfoot for specific contractual requirements. As part of our services, we can hold standard grades of steel or product designed to meet the customer’s particular needs or application.
These are materials supplied by Hillfoot with no subsequent machining to the outside surface following hot rolling or forging. Black bar exhibits minor surface defects from the hot working process and requires correct clean-up to remove any defects, see the recommended clean-up charts.
There are two types of bright products, bright machined and bright drawn. Bright machined materials supplied by Hillfoot with subsequent machining to the outside surface following hot rolling or forging. This ensures all surface defects, oxides and decarburisation present from the rolling/forging process are removed from the surface, as well as improving dimension tolerance, resulting in less material removal being needed to achieve finished dimensions.
For more information see our FAQs:
What is peeled bar steel?
What is drawn bar steel?
The national steel standard which contains many of the engineering grades of steel supplied by Hillfoot. This standard is officially obsolete and withdrawn, but the demand for its grades is still strong therefore it is still in use with minor variances (mainly due to newer techniques of steel processing being available).
Clean- up is the minimum amount of material required to be removed from the material’s outside surface to remove the perfectly normal manufacturing defects. This is widely defined in British and International standards such as BS970, ISO9443 or EN10277. Examples of clean-ups can be found here.
Stock held at customer site specifically for contractual requirements. This can be standard grades of material or product designed to meet a particular customer’s needs or application.
Testing which involves the mechanical destruction of material, such that a separate test piece is required. Tests include tensile, impacts, Jominy and metallography.
A method of producing a bright bar, typically adopted on diameters under 4”, achieved by pulling bars through a series of consecutive dies in the cold state to reduce the section to the required size. Surface quality and dimensional tolerance is typically better than peeled bar, however the material requires clean-up due to possible surface hairline cracking associated with this type product (typically 2% of the OD).
It’s a certificate issued by the manufacturer and under- signed by a 3rd party present during the manufacture. This means the material was produced at the manufacturing facility with the independent body representative (usually IACS member) who witnesses specific tests, signs off and stamps the documentation and the material.
Off- the shelf material can be rarely “uplifted” to 3.2 as this requires heat treatment and testing with the 3rd party’s approval and few UK facilities carry the 3rd party accreditations. For those scenarios intent of 3.2/verification tested material is used. See 'What is “intent of” 3.2 certificate or “verification tested” certificate?' FAQ for more details.
Bar which has been hot worked by forging, using either presses or hammers, to produce a final wrought structure of a given sectional size. It is typically adopted on section sizes greater than 300mm diameter, though can be produced in smaller sizes.
Forged products can be produced in a variety of shapes and sizes which are closer to net sizes, thus reducing machining time and volume of raw material.
The process we use to ensure a strategically managed approach on contractual business.
Click here to find out more about Future One.
A method of producing bright bar, typically adopted on small diameter bar. Grinding produces very tight dimensional tolerance and high surface finishes.
IACS stands for International Association of Classification Societies and represents a number of companies in the shipping industry.
It’s a certificate which is re-validated by additional testing undertaken in the presence of the 3rd party, usually an IACS member.
The material’s traceability is validated in-person and the material is typically embossed with the 3rd party logo. The subsequent documentation on successful completion of the additional testing is stamped and undersigned by the 3rd party.
Testing which does not involve any mechanical destruction of material, such that tests may be carried out on the actual components. Tests include ultrasonic, magnetic particle and X-ray. We offer independent ultrasonic testing on our site.
Normalising is a heat treatment applied to castings, forgings and other forms of wrought steel to refine their grain size and hence improve their mechanical properties.
A method of producing bright bar, typically adopted on diameters under 4”, achieved by a bar passing through a peeling head containing multi-point radial cutting tools. This method is preferred over drawn bar for components requiring localised/induction hardening.
Quenching and tempering produces superior combinations of strength and ductility than other heat treatments. It involves a two stage process; an initial heating and rapid quenching to produce maximum hardness, followed by a tempering process to reduce brittleness and promote toughness.
Bar which has been hot worked by passing through a series of profiled rollers, reducing the cross section to produce a final wrought structure of a given sectional size. It is typically adopted on section sizes up to 300mm diameter, though it is possible to produce greater diameters by rolling.
It is similar to turned bar but with a lesser surface finish and dimensional tolerance and typically without corrosion protection.
A two or three-step heat treatment commonly applied to precipitation hardening steels to create high strengths. The first stage is to solution anneal which creates a readily machinable state, with the subsequent stage(s) creating high strength with the benefit of minimal material distortion.
An optional heat treatment process most often carried out on quenched and tempered material. It is designed to remove internal stress inherent in the material from both the manufacturing and heat treatment stages, thus increasing dimensional stability during subsequent machining operations.
Sub-critical / process annealing is similar to the annealing process but is performed at a lower temperature. It restores some of the ductility of cold worked steels and is often performed as intermediate treatment to prevent cracking and allow further shaping.
It can be also used on medium-high carbon and alloy steels to improve machinability by reforming their structure (spheroidising).
See the following FAQs for details:
What is drawn bar steel?
What is peeled bar steel?
BS970 is an older version of PD970. The latter has been written in the 2000’s with the aim of superseding the BS970, but now both are in use. There are subtle differences between the standards, and PD970 is missing many of the grades still in use in the older version BS970.
Witness testing and release of material by IACS member organisations to verify material properties such as chemical analysis, mechanical properties and material traceability.
This is a method of producing bright bar steel typically used on diameters over 4” and achieved by turning between centres. The straightness of a bar is significantly improved when this method is utilised.
We typically use pallets, sacks, shrink wrapping, bespoke crates and re-usable stillages.
If you are looking for any other requirements please contact us.
We can provide open and closed die forgings to produce products near to net shape, thus minimising machining and waste. Bi-directionality can also be created within the material grain structure giving similar mechanical properties in all directions.
NOMINAL SIZES | TOLERANCES | ||||||
| Tolerances in Millimetres. The total tolerance is taken as MINUS. | ||||||
| i.e. 45mm dia h9 = -0.062 | ||||||
mm | h13 | h12 | h11 | h 10 | h9 | h8 | h7 |
> 1 to 3 | 0.140 | 0.100 | 0.050 | 0.040 | 0.025 | 0.014 | 0.010 |
> 3 to 6 | 0.180 | 0.120 | 0.075 | 0.048 | 0.030 | 0.018 | 0.012 |
> 6 to 10 | 0.220 | 0.150 | 0.090 | 0.058 | 0.036 | 0.022 | 0.015 |
> 10 to 18 | 0.270 | 0.180 | 0.110 | 0.070 | 0.043 | 0.027 | 0.018 |
> 18 to 30 | 0.330 | 0.210 | 0.130 | 0.084 | 0.052 | 0.033 | 0.021 |
> 30 to 50 | 0.390 | 0.250 | 0.150 | 0.100 | 0.062 | 0.039 | 0.025 |
> 50 to 80 | 0.460 | 0.300 | 0.190 | 0.120 | 0.074 | 0.046 | 0.030 |
> 80 to 120 | 0.540 | 0.350 | 0.220 | 0.140 | 0.087 | 0.054 | 0.035 |
> 120 to180 | 0.630 | 0.400 | 0.250 | 0.160 | 0.100 | 0.063 | 0.040 |
Our services include advice with your product design for application and production improvements through material development.
Please contact us for full details.
We offer full or partial supply chain management solutions that provide commercial, operational and technical improvements for you and your subcontractors.
Hillfoot carry approvals from major global OEMs in Oil & Gas, Mining, Defence, Off Highway, Automotive and Rolls-Royce.
Please contact us for further information.
We are also ISO 9001 Quality Management, ISO 14001 Environmental Management and ISO 45001 Health & Safety Management accredited.
We are also Cyber Essentials certified.
Click here to download copies of Hillfoot’s ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certificates.
Over the years the British standard 970 has been revised several times. The 1955 edition, which was the first post WWII version contains a number so steel grades beginning with EN. Those designations have been revised and unified system was introduced in 1972 bringing the new- style grade names, such as 080M40. A lot of grades have their near – equivalents, such as old EN8 and new 080M40. Whilst they are not identical, they are very close and their names are used interchangeably in the steel industry.
Anything from trade accounts, to delivery options - drop us an enquiry and we’ll be straight back to you.
Alternatively, you can always just call us!