How to Buy 1020 Steel？

AISI 1020 CARBON STEEL – THE COMPLETE FAQ GUIDE

Many businesses and companies think that purchasing AISI 1020 carbon steel is the same as purchasing regular steel and metal. When, in fact, it’s different.

Contrary to popular belief, not all AISI 1020 carbon steels are the same. As a matter of fact, different AISI 1020 carbon steel manufacturers produce different kinds and levels of it.

That’s why in this guide, we will be walking you through some of the best tips and techniques in finding AISI 1020 carbon steel. As a bonus part of this guide, we’ll also teach you some of the ways of finding the best and the most reliable AISI 1020 carbon steel.

WHAT ARE CARBON STEELS?

Carbon steels are steels that contain carbon content that is within the range of 0.05 to 3.8% in weight.

Example of what carbon steels look like

The term “carbon steel” was coined thanks to the American Iron and Steel Institute or AISI.

One of the major drawbacks that carbon steel has is that most of its kind does not have too much chromium. Therefore, it’s prone to rusting, oxidation, and corrosion – yes, it’s one of the many things you need to think of and consider when working with carbon steels.

WHAT DOES AISI 1020 MEAN?

AISI 1020 is a type of carbon steel that is categorized and grouped together in steels that are able to get their toughness, hardness, and their overall strength via heat treatment.

AISI 1020 carbon steel

More often than not, you use AISI 1020 carbon steel plainly; it’s often left unchanged, and is the reason why it has a good combination of ductility and strength.

Akin to different types of steels, though, the malleability and ductility of the steel is decreased if the percentage of carbon is increased.

What the hardness is will depend on your business needs because if you want it hard and tough, you need to sacrifice malleability.

WHAT IS THE CARBON CONTENT OF 1020 STEEL?

In order for you to understand how much the carbon content of AISI 1020 steel is, let us first discuss its chemical composition.

NOTE: Chemical compositions are general skeletal structures of how these steels came to be. From its term alone, it’s the list of elements, alloys, and other chemicals present in the steel.

Carbon steels, such as AISI 1020 steels, only contain too few elements. Unlike alloy steels that have a versatile combination of elements, you need to understand that the AISI 1020 carbon steels only have the following:

Element	Percentage (%) Present
Carbon (C)	0.18 to 0.23%
Sulfur (S)	≤0.050%
Manganese (Mn)	0.30 to 0.60%
Silicon (Si)	0.15 to 0.35%
Phosphorus (P)	≤0.040%

With this table, it’s imperative that the carbon content levels of AISI 1020 steel is not that dominant. This basically means that this particular steel is not as hard as other alloy steels because of its content.

The range of 0.18 to 0.23% of AISI 1020 carbon steels put it at the low-to-moderate type of steel.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 1018 CARBON STEEL AND 1020 CARBON STEEL?

It’s easy to determine that both 1018 and 1020 steel types are part of the same family.

1018 carbon steel image

And you might think that they’re similar in terms of element combination. But, in reality, they’re not.

Here’s a quick and an easy way of differentiating 1018 and 1020 steels.

Forming and Drawing Method

Both AISI 1018 and AISI 1020 carbon steels can be formed and drawn in either cold or hot rolling techniques. However, both of them are usually produced in colder or room-temperature environments because of the fact that it needs it for its mechanical properties.

Demand or Frequency of Production

The AISI 1020 carbon steel is known to be one of the most typical types of carbon steels demanded by businesses like you. But, AISI 1018 carbon steels are actually more common and more manufactured in various sectors and industries.

Shapes and Supply Forms

Contrary to popular belief, carbon steels don’t actually share the same supply forms, shapes, and dimensions. You can purchase the AISI 1018 carbon steel in different shapes and sizes; you can even have it customized depending on your business needs.

Therefore, you can expect to purchase it in rounds, hexagons, squares, flats, bars, and many more.

With the AISI 1020 steel, on the other hand, it’s more complex and more diverse when it comes to supply forms. Apart from the fact that you can purchase it in many shapes, you can also have it manufactured into different channels such as H beams, I beams, angles, etc. But, the most common you can get it for is in a steel plate form.

Mechanical Properties

This is where everything gets more specific. You can expect both of them to be similar when it comes to properties, right? But, if you look at their mechanical properties closer, they’re different.

NOTE: We will be detailing their mechanical properties in both their hot and cold drawn states.

Hot Rolled or Drawn	1020	1018
Brinell Hardness	111 Hardness	116 Hardness
Elongation	25% Elongation	25% Elongation
Tensile Strength	55,000 psi	58,000 psi
Yield Strength	30,000 psi	32,000 psi

These are the mechanical properties of both AISI 1020 carbon steel and 1018 carbon steel while they’re hot drawn or rolled.

Cold Drawn	1020	1018
Tensile Strength	61,000 psi	64,000 psi
Yield Strength	51,000 psi	54,000 psi
Elongation	15%	15%
Brinell Hardness	121	126

And these are the mechanical properties that you can get for cold-drawn and rolled AISI 1020 carbon steel, as well as 1018 steel.

As you can see and notice, the impact of the temperature procedure is big compared to the comparison of the two (2).

IS CARBON STEEL STRONGER THAN STAINLESS STEEL?

Carbon steel possesses various mechanical properties that are based off of carbon content. To put it into perspective, steels that are low in carbon are typically softer and weaker.

Image of a stainless steel

But, they’ll be the most useful and effective in machining and welding procedures.

High carbon steels, on the other hand, are stronger and tougher. The drawback that it has is that it’s substantially difficult and hard to process and that they’re less ductile and malleable.

Stainless steels are materials that have higher grades. Meaning, you will find them more effective in industrial operations because of their trait of being able to stay in place without compromising quality.

WHAT IS THE YIELD STRENGTH OF LOW CARBON STEEL?

Yield strength is the property of stress in which specific amounts of plastic deformation is produced. It is the capacity of a certain material to undergo reversible elastic strain – or to be deformed with it capable of being formed back to its original state.

The yield strength of most low carbon steels is at around 250 MPa, or about 36,200 ppi. Therefore, most low carbon steels can bear loads of about 250N/mm2. After that, it’ll start to elongate.

CAN YOU CUT AISI 1020 USING A SAW?

While in most cases it’s cut by machines, you can actually cut AISI 1020 carbon steel using saws – specialized saws, to be exact.

WHY SUBMERGED MILLING AISI 1020 MILD STEEL IS IMPORTANT

The principle and the idea of having AISI carbon steel submerged under coolant is for it to have reduced and decreased levels of heat generation and friction.

Friction, as we all know, is never healthy for steels, it can result to wear, abrasion, and possible, the complete damaging of the steel type.

CAN YOU PURCHASE 1020 STEEL IN PLATE FORM?

Yes, as a matter of fact, AISI 1020 carbon steel’s most common supply form is through plates, not bars, squares, hexagons, and the like.

Many AISI 1020 carbon steel manufacturers produce plates and sheets and consider them as the form that’s the most recommended.

AISI 1020 STEEL EQUIVALENT

NOTE: When we say “equivalent,” we don’t really mean that they’re the same when it comes to everything. So, don’t be confused if you don’t see the exact content and percentage of elements.

The equivalent steels of AISI 1020 carbon steels include, but are not limited to:

ASTM A1006 Garde 35
DIN St 44-2
AFNOR C22
BS 43/25HS
SAE 1022
JIS STAM390G

Again, these steels don’t have the exact same properties and chemical composition as AISI 1020 carbon steel. They’re similar because of their structure and elements, but not entirely with the percentage.

IS 1020 STEEL HEAT TREATABLE?

Yes, AISI 1020 carbon steel is capable of being worked on by cold working and by heat treatment as well. As a matter of fact, you can perform tempering and quenching to it, too!

IS 1020 STEEL THE SAME AS A36?

Comparing AISI 1020 carbon steel to A36 would not be appropriate because 1020 is a type of steel composition, and A36 is a specification of strength.

However, if we were to put 1020 steel into the category of fitting it in A36 requirements, it’ll fit. Note, though, that not all A36 requirements applies to 1020 materials.

THE MOST COMMON APPLICATIONS OF AISI 1020 CARBON STEEL

Since it can’t boast about its hardness, you can make use of AISI 1020 carbon steel in certain applications that can make use of its ductility.

WHERE TO BUY AISI 1020 CARBON STEEL?

You will never have any problems in finding 1020 steel in the market. Whether you decide to get it from American and European manufacturers and suppliers, or if you’re looking to get it from Asian and Chinese suppliers, it’ll never run out.

Choosing Chinese AISI 1020 carbon steels, though, would be worth your while. In fact, a lot of Western steel manufacturing companies and businesses that utilize steel consider Chinese suppliers as their best bet.

WHICH CHINESE 1020 STEEL SUPPLIER SHOULD YOU TRUST?

While there are hundreds to thousands of AISI 1020 carbon steel manufacturers in China, but if you want to work with the best, you can never go wrong in choosing us here at Waldun Steel.

For more than a decade, we here at Waldun Steel have been the most trusted, the most reliable, and the most sought-after supplier of 1020 steel.

All the AISI 1020 carbon steels that we offer are of high quality and can be custom to what you need! Yes, you read it right, we here at Waldun Steel can offer custom AISI 1020 carbon steels specific to your business!

Our company is certified across all steel standards, spanning from the usual and the most common of AISI or the American Iron and Steel Institute, the Society of Automotive Engineers or SAE, the DIN, AFNOR, JIS, ISO, and many more!

We produce standard packaging for containers
Lead time we offer is within 1 month from the time of payment
We’re capable of producing different ingot moulds and grades
We produce a capacity of about 20,000 tons annually
Metallurgical Testing, Mechanical Testing, and Ultrasonic Testing are all available

Talk to us today and we will get you a free quotation!

HOW TO BUY AISI 1020 CARBON STEEL?

While you are looking for AISI 1020 carbon steel for demand,it seems simple to find this one of the most common steel from the market,but also it is a challenge work to source top level quality of AISI 1020 steel between different suppliers.

Reading our guide,you will get everything you need to know about 1020 steel,and following are the queries that you might have in your mind regarding the 1020 steel before buying.

WHAT DOES AISI 1020 MEAN?

The AISI stands for American Iron and Steel Institute. It is a coding system known for efficient classification of steel as it uses the standards from the American Iron and Steel Institute (A.I.S.I.) and the Society of Automotive Engineers (S.A.E.).

For 1020, The first number ‘1’ indicates that the steel is Carbon steel，the second number ‘0′ means that the steel has no important alloy elements,the last two numner’20’ show that this steel has 0.20% carbon.

AISI 1020 Steel Chemical Compostion as below:

Carbon(C):0.18-0.23%

Manganese (Mn):0.3-0.6%

Phosphorus (P): Max 0.04%

Sulfur (S):Max 0.05%

WHAT IS CARBON STEEL?

Carbon steel can be divided t to three main categories: Low Carbon Steel (known as Mild Steel); Medium Carbon Steel; and High Carbon Steel.

Low Carbon Steel:Carbon content below 0.25%,this is one of the largest groups of Carbon Steel. It covers a great diversity of shapes; from Flat Sheet to Structural Beam. Depending on the desired properties needed, other elements are added or increased.This type of steel is suitable for kinds of process,such as forging,welding,and cutting,and widely used for shafts,bolts,gears.Typical Grade:AISI 1010,AISI 1018 Steel.

Various Shapes For Carbon Steel

Medium Carbon Steel:Carbon content:0.25-0.6%,and a Manganese content ranging from 0.70% to 1.2%. This tpye of steel has good hot woking and cutting performance, but poor in welding. They have good strength and hardness higher than low carbon steel, while plasticity and toughness are lower than low carbon steel.Typical grade:AISI 1040,AISI 1045 steel.

Hot-rolled and cold-drawn products from this steel can be used directly without heat treatment, and also they can be used after heat treatment. The quenched and tempered medium carbon steel has good comprehensive mechanical properties. The highest hardness that can be achieved about HB 538, and the tensile strength is 600~1100MPa.

Therefore, among the various uses of medium strength level, medium carbon steel is the most widely used. In addition to being used as a building material, it is also widely used in the manufacture of various mechanical parts.

High Carbon Steel: Carbon content:above 0.6%, is also called carbon tool steel, with a carbon content from greater than 0.60% to 1.70%, which can be hardened and tempered.Typical Grade:AISI 1060 Steel.

Hammers, crowbars, etc. are made of steel with a carbon content of 0.75%; cutting tools such as drills, taps, and reamers are made of steel with a carbon content of 0.90% to 1.00%.

The higher the carbon content, the greater the hardness and strength, but the lower the plasticity.High carbon steel is very difficult to cut, bend and weld. Once heat treated it becomes extremely hard and brittle.

HOW IS AISI 1020 STEEL MELTING AND REFINING?

AISI 1020 Steel is made by Electric arc furnaces(EAF) which is most commoly used in the steel mills in the world.This method converts electrical energy into heat energy, also known as electric arc furnace steelmaking.

Graphite electrodes, a thermally conductive material, are used to generate electric arcs in the electric furnace by discharging between the electrodes and the charge, resulting in the conversion of electrical energy into heat in the arc. Electric arc heating melts metal and slag to smelt steels of various compositions. Electric furnace steelmaking mainly uses scrap steel as raw materials, which consumes less pig iron and no longer requires a large amount of coke.

The molten steel is formulated to precise chemical compositions during the secondary refining processes.The main function of refining outside the furnace is to improve the quality of molten steel, expand the range of varieties, optimize the metallurgical production process, and improve production efficiency.

The main modern refining equipment includes LF and RH refining furnaces. The main function of RH refining furnaces is to remove harmful gases and impurities in molten steel and carry out deep decarburization. LF furnaces have functions such as heating, desulfurization, and deoxidation alloying.

The refined steel which is poured into various ingots or billets of different shapes and different cross-sectional dimensions is usually by die casting or continuous casting method. The solidified shapes are processed into finished goods by various processes, including hot rolling, hot forging,cold rolling, annealing.

QUICK QUESTIONS FOR AISI 1020 STEEL

IS AISI 1020 STEEL LOW CARBOON STEEL?

With carbon content 0.18-0.23%,there is no doubt that AISI 1020 steel is segregated to low carbon steel category.It has all the properties which low carbon steel has,excellent machinability,good ductility and good weldability performance.

IS AISI 1020 STEEL EASILY MACHINED AND FORMED?

AISI 1020 steel material is capable of being worked on via a machine. Malleability and ductility are never a question for AISI 1020.

CAN YOU EASILY WELD 1020 STEEL?

AISI ends with the number 20! It is why it has good weldability because of its low carbon content (20%). Welding and forming it to desired forms and shapes is easy.

IS AISI 1020 STEEL CORROSION RESISTANT?

AISI 1020 is known as its good toughness, plasticity and weldability used as concrete reinforcement and small machine parts,but it is prone to severe corrosion,especially in hydrogen sulfide(H2S) conditon.

IS AISI 1020 STEEL HARD ENOUGH?

AISI 1020 steel have a surface hardness below 156HBW without heat treatment,after forged or rolled.It is difficult to quench this material due to the low carbon content,but with carburizing,it can achieve hardness 30-35HRC.

AISI 1018 STEEL VS AISI 1020 STEEL

The 1018 type of steel comes from the same family of the AISI 1020 steel. The only slight difference is their percentage of carbon content. 1018 steel ends with 18, meaning it has 18% carbon, which is 2% lower than AISI 1020, having 20%.Its popularity equates with the AISI 1020 and is also one of the most purchased types of carbon steel. Hence, both are okay with heat treatments and cold-drawn situations.

AISI 1018 Forged Round Steel Bar

WHAT IS A105 STEEL ?

A105 is an American standard which belongs to ASTM A105/A105M-2018：Standard Specification for Carbon Steel Forging for Piping Applications.

The letter ‘A’ stands for common carbon structural steel.Since only one type of carbon steel forging is specified in this standard, A105 is also regarded as a carbon steel grade of forging. A105 is also a material code, which belongs to special steel and is a kind of cold forged steel.

A105 Steel Applications

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AISI 1020 STEEL AND A105 STEEL?

The strength of AISI 1020 steel is slightly higher than that of 1015 steel, hardly quenched, and no temper brittleness. Cold deformation has high plasticity and is generally used for bending, rolling, flange and hammer arching.

The welding performance of arc welding and contact welding is good, the thickness is small during gas welding, and cracks are prone to occur on parts with strict requirements or complex shapes.

The machinability:Cold drawn or normalized condition is better than the annealed condition, and AISI 1020 steel is generally used to manufacture products with low stress and high toughness requirements.

A105 is a low-carbon steel forging with mechanical properties between AISI 1020 forged steel and Q345B forged steel

In the piping system, A105 steel can generally replace AISI 1020, but AISI 1020 steel cannot completely replace A105 because the difference in strength is still large. Different strength differences determine different product structures.The stress corrosion cracking (SCC) resistance of A105 is slightly worse than that of AISI 1020.We can easily have an intuitive comparison from in the below tables.

Chemical Compositon Comparison

AISI 1020	A105
Carbon(C):0.18-0.23%	Carbon(C):0.35% Max
Manganese(Mn):0.3-0.6%	Manganese(Mn):0.6-1.05%
Phosphorus(P):0.04% Max	Phosphorus(P):0.035% Max
Sulfur(S):0.05% Max	Sulfur(S):0.04% Max
–	Silicon(Si):0.1-0.35%
–	Copper(Cu):0.4% Max
–	Nickel(Ni):0.4% Max
–	Chromium(Cr):0.3% Max
–	Molybdenum(Mo):0.12% Max
–	Vanadium(V):0.08% Max

Mechanical Property Comparison

AISI 1020	A105
Tensile Strength:≥410Mpa	Tensile Strength:≥485Mpa
Yield Strength:≥245Mpa	Yield Strength:≥250Mpa
Elongation:≥25%	Elongation:≥22%
Reduction of Area:≥55%	Reduction of Area:≥30%
Hardness:≤156HBW	Hardness:≤187HBW

IS AISI 1020 STEEL SUITABLE FOR COLD DRAWING PROCESS?

AISI 1020 Steel has good cold drawn performance.When strengthening 1020 steel,it has more crystal lattice defects during plastic deformation,and the severe distortion of the defective crystal lattice will hinder the further slippage of the crystal lattice, so the yield point of the steel is increased, and the plasticity and toughness are reduced.Due to the internal stress generated in the plastic deformation, the elastic modulus of the steel is reduced.

AISI 1020 cold-drawn steel bars are stored at room temperature for 15-20 days or heated to 100-200℃ and kept for a certain period of time. This process is called aging treatment. After cold drawing, the yield point of 1020 steel is further improved, the ultimate tensile strength is also increased, and the plasticity continues to decrease. Due to the reduction of internal stress during the aging process, the elastic modulus can be basically restored.

Cold Drawing Schematic Diagram

AISI 1020 STEEL APPLICATION-WHAT IS IT USED FOR?

Industrial sectors largely utilize this type of steel. A variety of industrial applications can be applied with this type of steel due to its ability to be used in cold-drawn conditions and beautiful polished finish properties. For simple structural applications, you can never go wrong with AISI 1020.

AISI 1020 steel is suitable for the manufacture of small and medium carburizing and carbonitriding parts that are not important for the construction of automobiles, tractors and general machinery manufacturing, such as handbrake shoes, lever shafts, gearbox speed forks, transmission passive gears and tractor camshafts, suspension equalizer shafts, equalizer inner and outer bushings, etc.

Common Applications of AISI 1020 carbon steel

AISI 1020 is used to manufacture various mechanical parts that are not stressed but require high toughness under hot-rolled or normalized conditions.And it is also used for forged or pressed tie rods, shackles, levers, sleeves, clamps in heavy and medium-sized machinery manufacturing.

In the steam turbine and boiler manufacturing industry, it is mostly used for pipes, flanges, headers and various fasteners working in non-corrosive media with a pressure under 6N/square and a temperature under 450℃.In the railways and rolling stock manufacturing industry,it is used in the manufacture of castings such as crossheads and pistons .

WHERE TO BUY AISI 1020 STEEL IN CHINA?

The AISI 1020 steel type can be easily found in the market but acquiring them from the best and trusted 1020 steel manufacturer could be the most formidable challenge to buyers and product sourcing agents.

Why China Steel Manufacturers? Chinese steel offers the best in terms of competitive pricing, volume, and quality. For AISI 1020 steel needs in different forms, sizes, types, and tolerance, partner with us, and we can guarantee you the best steel found here at Waldun steel.

What We Supply For AISI 1020 Steel

Form of Supply	Size(mm)
Round	Φ80-Φ1000
Square	100 x 100-600×600
Flat/Blcoks	Thickness :120-800
Flat/Blcoks	Width:120-1500

Heat treatment:Normalized(+N),Annealed(+A)

WHY CHOOSE WALDUN STEEL?- YOUR RELIABLE AISI 1020 STEEL SUPPLIER

As certified ISO- 9001 Quality Management Systems, we strictly adhere to the highest standards of quality control of producing top quality steels like AISI Carbon 1020 Steel starting from the acquiring and selection of raw materials (before production), during production processes, after production, and even up to handling customers.

All minute and significant operations are governed with standards and strict quality control monitoring to ensure the product is 100% conformance to specifications.Being the best and the premium 1020 steel supplier, Waldun Steel can give you pre-made and custom 1020 steels!