[TheForge] A36 vs 1018

[Andrew Vida]

As far as I recall, A36 is a much lower tolerance composition than 1018. 
  It can have all manner of crap in it, and often does, from what I 
understand.  The pretty well qualifies it as crap as far as I am 
concerned.  It's good for certain things and not very good for others. 
It is made from a good proportion of scrap, which means there could be 
ANYTHING in it, including some non-ferrous components and maybe even a 
little cat poo.

I know this is probably not very helpful, but it's the best I can offer 
at 10:39 pm after a round trip to Roanoke. :)

Paul N wrote:

> Since I'm feeling a little more knowledgeable now, I've looked at  the 
> chemical compositions of 1018 and A-36, and aside from the slightly 
> higher carbon content of A-36 (about 0.25% C vs 0.18% C) there isn't all 
> that much difference, chemically. Perhaps it's the inherent grain size, 
> and with a little annealing the A-36 would behave better?
> 
> (Using references from: 
> http://www.benjaminsteel.com/Technical%20Data/A-36-properties.htm and 
> http://www.geocities.com/haimanaua/htdocs/steels/1018.html )
> 
> So, can anyone explain the differences in behavior in A-36 and 1018 when 
> it comes to forge welding?
>