Steel Plate

Thickness
Hot-rolled steel plate:
Thin plate: The lower limit of thickness is usually 1.2mm - 1.5mm, and the upper limit is generally 3mm - 4mm (the specific standards are slightly different, such as the national standard GB/T 709 defines hot-rolled thin plate as ≤3mm thick).
Medium plate: The thickness range is usually >3mm/4mm to 20mm.
Thick plate: The thickness range is usually >20mm to 60mm/100mm (the lower limit definition is different, 20mm, 50mm or 60mm may be used as the starting point of thick plate).
Extra thick plate: The thickness range is usually >60mm/100mm or more. Modern rolling mills are powerful, and the thickness of extra thick plates can reach 300mm, 400mm or even 500mm or more, which is used for extreme load-bearing structures such as nuclear power pressure vessels, large hydraulic press frames, and military industry.

Cold rolled steel plate:
Thickness range is usually between 0.15mm - 3.0mm.
Common range: 0.3mm, 0.5mm, 0.8mm, 1.0mm, 1.2mm, 1.5mm, 2.0mm, etc. are widely used in automobiles and home appliances.
Ultra-thin/ultra-thin plate: can be as low as 0.10mm or even thinner (such as some precision electronics and packaging materials), but the production difficulty and cost are very high.

Width
Common width: The width of steel plate is usually between 600mm - 2500mm. For example: 1000mm, 1219mm (48 inches), 1250mm, 1500mm, 1800mm, 2000mm, etc. are very common standard width medium-width plates: about 1800mm - 3000mm.
Wide plate: about 3000mm - 4000mm.
Narrow strip steel: The width less than 600mm is usually called strip steel or narrow strip.

ASTM: ASTM A36, ASTM A516, ASTM A572
EN: EN 10025, EN 10028, EN 10149
JIS: JIS G3101, JIS G3114, JIS G3131

Classification by thickness

Thin steel plate: The thickness is usually less than 3mm (sometimes the standard is different, the upper limit can be 4mm or 4.75mm).
Electrical steel plate: It has specific electromagnetic properties and is used for motor and transformer core (silicon steel sheet).
Medium and thick steel plate: The thickness is usually between 3mm - 20mm or 4mm - 60mm.
Thick steel plate: The thickness is usually above 20mm - 60mm (the specific lower limit is defined differently, some start from 20mm, some start from 50mm or 60mm).
Extra thick steel plate: The thickness is usually greater than 60mm or 100mm, sometimes up to hundreds of millimeters. Mainly used in key load-bearing structures such as heavy machinery, large ships, military industry, nuclear power, etc.

Classification by production method

Hot-rolled steel plate: The steel billet is rolled above the recrystallization temperature (usually >1000°C).
Cold-rolled steel plate: It is made from hot-rolled coils and rolled at room temperature.


Classification by use
Structural steel plates: used for load-bearing structures such as buildings, bridges, ships, vehicles, and mechanical frames.
Pressure vessel steel plates: used to manufacture pressure-bearing equipment such as boilers, pressure vessels, and storage tanks. Good strength, toughness, weldability, and high temperature performance are required.
Shipbuilding steel plates: used to manufacture hull structures. High strength, high toughness, good weldability, and seawater corrosion resistance are required.
Bridge steel plates: dedicated to bridge construction. High strength, high toughness (especially low-temperature toughness), good weldability, and fatigue resistance are required.
Automobile steel plates: used for automobile bodies, chassis, and structural parts. Including deep-drawn plates, high-strength steel plates, and ultra-high-strength steel plates.
Pipeline steel plates: used to manufacture oil and natural gas pipelines. High strength, high toughness, good weldability, and HIC/SSC resistance are required.
Wear-resistant steel plates: have extremely high surface hardness and are used in working conditions with severe wear.
Weathering steel plate: Contains elements such as Cu, P, Cr, Ni, etc., can form a dense rust layer on the surface to protect the matrix, and is used for building facades, bridges, containers, etc.
Stainless steel plate: Contains high Cr (>10.5%) and has excellent corrosion resistance. According to the organization, it is divided into austenite, ferrite, martensite, duplex stainless steel, etc.
Electrical steel plate: High silicon content, excellent magnetic properties, low iron loss. Used for motor and transformer cores.


Classification by material composition and performance
Carbon steel plate: mainly contains iron and carbon, as well as a small amount of Si, Mn, P, S and other elements. According to the carbon content, it is divided into low carbon steel, medium carbon steel and high carbon steel plate.
Alloy steel plate: one or more alloy elements (such as Mn, Si, Cr, Ni, Mo, V, Ti, Nb, etc.) are added to carbon steel to obtain higher strength, toughness, wear resistance, corrosion resistance or special physical properties.
High-strength steel plate: generally refers to varieties with higher yield strength than conventional steel plates, such as high-strength structural steel, automotive high-strength steel, pipeline steel, etc.
Ultra-high-strength steel plate: The yield strength is usually above 1000MPa.

Buildings and bridges: high-rise building frames, factory steel structures, bridge main beams, bridge decks, and steel bars (made of wire rods).
Machinery manufacturing: engineering machinery (excavators, cranes), mining machinery, agricultural machinery, machine tool bases, gears, and shaft parts.
Automobiles and transportation: body panels, chassis structures, frames, wheels, containers, and railway freight cars.
Shipbuilding and marine engineering: hull structures, decks, bulkheads, and offshore platforms.
Energy and electricity: boilers, pressure vessels, nuclear power equipment, wind power towers, transformer cores (electrical steel), and transmission towers.
Petrochemicals: oil and gas pipelines, oil storage tanks, reaction towers, and heat exchangers.
Home appliances: refrigerators, washing machine shells, air conditioning panels, and microwave oven cavities.
Packaging: food and beverage cans (tinplate), steel drums, and straps.
Others: military industry, aerospace (special alloys), furniture, hardware products, billboards, art installations (weathering steel), etc.