A Story of Steel

Carbon Steel

It's been at least 4,000 years since people discovered that adding a controlled amount of carbon to iron conjured up a new kind of metal - one that was strong, held a sharp edge and could bend without breaking. At Continental, we live and breathe specialized metallurgical chemistries. But at the end of the day, we think good old steel is still pretty exciting.

A Story of Steel

Carbon Steel Grades

By definition, all steel is a mixture of iron and carbon. Steel to which no alloy elements have been added is called "carbon steel." Carbon steel is used where moderate strength is needed in a non-corrosive environment. When other elements (chromium, molybdenum, nickel, vanadium, etc.) are added intentionally, it becomes an "alloy steel" - but it still contains carbon.

Key Characteristics

Fundamental iron-carbon combination
No specialized alloy additions
Cost-effective material
Good weldability
Adequate strength for many applications

Applications

General mechanical tubing
OCTG applications (J55, K55, N80)
Structural components
Standard fasteners
Commodity piping

1018

Mechanical Bar & Tube

General purpose pipe manufactured to ASTM Specification 519.

Composition:

Element	Min %	Max %
C	0.15	0.2
Mn	0.6	0.9
P	-	0.04
S	-	0.05

No mechanical properties available for this yield condition.

1026

Mechanical Bar & Tube

General purpose pipe manufactured to ASTM Specification 519.

Composition:

Element	Min %	Max %
C	0.22	0.28
Mn	0.6	0.9
P	-	0.04
S	-	0.05

No mechanical properties available for this yield condition.

8620

Mechanical Bar & Tube

General purpose pipe manufactured to ASTM Specification 519.

Composition:

Element	Min %	Max %
C	0.18	0.23
Mn	0.7	0.9
Mo	0.15	0.25
Cr	0.4	0.6
Ni	-	0.7
P	-	0.025
S	-	0.025
Si	-	0.35

No mechanical properties available for this yield condition.

H40

OCTG & Linepipe

General purpose pipe manufactured to API specification 5CT.

Composition:

Element	Min %	Max %
P	-	0.03
S	-	0.03

Mechanical Properties	Metric	Imperial
Tensile Strength	414 MPa min	60,000 psi min
Yield Strength	276 MPa min 552 MPa max	40,000 psi min 80,000 psi max
Total Elongation Under Load	0.500 %	-

J55

OCTG & Linepipe

General purpose manufactured to API specification 5CT. Similar to K55, except that the minimum tensile strength is lower.

Composition:

Element	Min %	Max %
P	-	0.03
S	-	0.03

Mechanical Properties	Metric	Imperial
Tensile Strength	517 MPa min	75,000 psi min
Yield Strength	379 MPa min 552 MPa max	55,000 psi min 80,000 psi max
Total Elongation Under Load	0.500 %	-

K55

Mechanical Bar & TubeOCTG & Linepipe

General purpose pipe manufactured to API specification 5CT. Similar to J55 but the minimum tensile strength is higher

Composition:

Element	Min %	Max %
P	-	0.03
S	-	0.03

No mechanical properties available for this yield condition.

N80

OCTG & Linepipe

General purpose pipe manufactured to API specification 5CT. Available in both standard Quench and Tempered API N80 and lower cost Normalized API N80 (walls less than 0.5"). Inspection, testing and dimensions are in accordance with API 5CT for grade N80. Charpy V-notch impact test absorbed energy results meet API SR16 and are lower in Normalized N80 than Quench and Tempered N80.

Composition:

Element	Min %	Max %
P	-	0.03
S	-	0.03

Mechanical Properties	Metric	Imperial
Tensile Strength	689 MPa min	100,000 psi min
Yield Strength	552 MPa min 758 MPa max	80,000 psi min 110,000 psi max
Total Elongation Under Load	0.500 %	-

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Steel Grades & Alloys: 50+
Core Product Categories: 6
Certified: ISO 9001
Facilities Worldwide: 5