HRPO Steel

Heavy Gauge, Wide Plate Steel With a Beautiful Surface Finish

Hot Rolled Pickled & Oiled Steel (HRPO) is a perfect choice for manufacturers who are looking for steel with a beautiful surface finish. Steel Warehouse is the only company in the world offering HRPO steel plate and sheet from .080″ – 2″ thick and 30”– 96” wide.

Why HRPO?

HRPO offers unique and distinguishing product features that benefit our customers significantly.

Pickled vs. Blasted

Blasted creates micro-craters that affect surface finish.

Resources

HRPO from Steel Warehouse provides you better support and inventory management through our supply chain, from production to end-use.

What is Hot Rolled Pickled and Oiled (HRPO) Steel?

Hot rolled pickled and oiled (HRPO) steel is a type of steel that undergoes a pickling and oiling process after being hot rolled. The pickling process removes scale and rust from the steel’s surface, while the oiling process applies a protective layer of oil to prevent rust from forming in the future. The resulting steel is easier to work with, possesses many fabricating advantages, and has a smoother surface finish than hot-rolled steel that has not undergone this process.

Common HRPO Steel Grades: ASTM A1011, ASTM A1018, ASTM A36, ASTM A572, ASTM A656, A569 Commercial Quality, Structural Quality – Grades 50, 80,100, and many other carbon steel grades that have not been quenched and tempered.

HRPO Steel Capabilities

Steel Warehouse owns and operates three pickling lines, so we can determine our own schedule, capacity, and quality and better serve our customers. Our two coil-to-coil pickling lines can process from .080” up to 1” thick coil and up to 72” wide. Our plate pickler can process up to 2” thick and 96” wide.

Our company is the only company in the world that can continuous pickle up to 1” thick coil and up to 2” plate. Our processing capabilities for HRPO Steel products include temper pass cut to length, blanking, slitting, shearing, laser & plasma cutting, stretcher leveling, and temper pass coil to coil (skin pass).

For more information on our HRPO products and processing capabilities, please contact our representatives today.

Why Hot Rolled Pickled & Oiled Steel?

The smoother surface offered by hot rolled pickled & oiled steel improves laser cutting, forming, bending, stamping, welding, and painting, delivering both production savings and higher quality parts. Compared to blasted material, the surface cleanliness and consistency produced via the pickling and oiling process deliver the following benefits:

Improves laser cutting

Boost productivity with up to 25% faster cutting, better edge finish, and tighter part nesting.

Better Forming Fabrication

Increase throughput and tool life with material that prevents die buildup, allows deeper forming, and eliminates costly cleanup delays.

Eliminates Blasting

Streamline production with cleaner steel that cuts maintenance and residue for a faster, more efficient process.

Enhances Welding Performance

Achieve cleaner, more consistent welds with less spatter, fewer defects, and reduced post-weld cleanup for faster throughput and better robotic performance.

Better Paint Results

Use up to 30% less primer while achieving a cleaner, glossier finish that cuts costs.

Pickling and Oiling Process

Steel pickling is a process of chemical cleaning to remove rust, scale, and other impurities from the surface of steel. In our continuous coil-to-coil and sheet picklers, steel goes through a series of hydrochloric acid tanks to remove the scale that forms on the surface in the steel-making process. This scale-free surface is then coated with either electrostatic oiling or another controlled oiling process to keep the newly cleaned surface protected. We also offer non-oil options such as dry lube and Pickled Dry.

Pickling vs. Blasting

Both pickling and blasting are designed to remove mill scale from the steel substrate surface and then have a rust inhibitor applied to help protect the steel from rusting. But, the differences in how these two processes affect fabricating and finish are distinguishable.

Pits and Valleys from Blasting

The blasting process uses abrasive particles to impact the steel, producing small micro-craters on the material surface. This inconsistent surface affects the laser beam focus, which then affects the cut quality. Additionally, this irregular surface can result in a duller paint finish.

Pickling and Surface Quality

Pickling hot-rolled steel removes the flaky scale, so the surface is constant and smooth throughout the entire plate. Additionally, this clean and uniform surface is ideal for painting and enamel application. Other kinds of fabrication are easier with HRPO steel, too. For example, it is safer and easier to weld HRPO steel because there are fewer surface contaminants effecting weld integrity.

HRPO Discrete Plate Benefits

Plasma cutting cleanup – spatter from plasma.
Splatter doesn’t stick to HRPO. It scrapes off easily, avoiding hours of grinding and sanding.
Fiber lasers pierce and cut faster with fewer striations and better holes compared to blasted materials.
Welds on HRPO don’t have porosity issues as they do with blasted material.
Glossier-painted surfaces
HRPO plate uses 30% less primer than with blasted materials.
HRPO painted surfaces chip less than blasted, avoiding repaint.