Bright Steel Square Bar

Order bright steel online for an even greater choice of mild steel products, top-quality service and faster lead times. Aluminium Warehouse are a well-established mild steel stockist with a wide range of mild steel and bright steel extrusion. 

Thanks to the rigorous cold rolling processes that all of our bright steel bar goes through, you can expect a straighter, smoother and shinier steel metal to the standard mill finish mild steel. This will provide tighter tolerances of dimensions and greater uniformity. Well matched to applications in both construction and building, you'll find these bright steel square bars used in framework, window and door grills, fabrication work, machining tools, engineering components and much more.

The composition of mild steel is a grade EN3B, this is a high iron and low carbon combination. EN3B bright mild steel is a general purpose engineering steel which is good for machining, welding and low stress applications. It can also be case-hardened.

 All of our bright steel bars can be cut to size. We offer a free unlimited custom cutting service so you only pay for the material you need. 

Bright Steel vs Stainless Steel

This is the main factor that distinguishes mild steel from stainless steel. Mild steel is alloyed using carbon whereas stainless steel has chromium as its alloying element. The 2 different alloys produce very different results in corrosion resistance, malleability and ease of fabrication and cost.
It is this key difference that separates the 2 different kinds of steel.

Does mild steel rust?

Because stainless steel is alloyed with chromium, this metal has a much higher corrosion resistance than mild steel. The chrome in the stainless reacts with the oxygen in the air producing a natural ‘chromium oxide’ protective skin on the surface of the metal which means that as long as this layer is undamaged, the metal is naturally corrosion resistant. Different stainless steel grades contain different elements to make them more suitable for different environments, such as a marine environment.

Mild steel on the other hand does not have this chromium oxide protective layer and so the iron present reacts with the moisture in the air to produce iron oxide or ‘rust’. Mild steel therefore requires further processing such as galvanising in order to give it a protective surface.