BILLETS – COBBLES – SLABS

Billets: Billets are small, solid bars of steel typically with a square or rectangular cross-section. They are produced by casting molten steel into molds of specific shapes and sizes. Billets are often used as raw material for further processing, such as rolling or forging, to produce a variety of finished steel products, including bars, rods, wire, and structural sections.

Cobbles: Cobbles are irregularly shaped pieces of steel that are larger than billets. They are usually formed when there are interruptions or malfunctions during the steelmaking process, such as equipment failures or quality issues. These irregularly shaped pieces cannot be directly used for further processing, and they need to be re-melted and refined to produce usable steel products.

Slabs: Slabs are flat, rectangular blocks of steel with a width-to-thickness ratio typically greater than 1:10. They are produced through a process called continuous casting, where molten steel is solidified into a continuous strand and then cut into desired lengths. Slabs serve as the starting material for the production of various steel products, such as plates, sheets, coils, and structural sections.

These terms are primarily used in the context of steel manufacturing and are important for understanding the various stages and forms of steel production.