MATERIALS

What tube is the best to use in roll cages -

Obviously the stronger the better, but it must also have good ductility to absorb impact and not break. Ductility is also important to allow bending, and weldability is crucial. All of the materials we use are cold drawn and seamless to ensure their integrity under load or impact but all have different chemical compositions which enhance their strength and performance.

The heat treatment processes (condition) the materials undergo also change their characteristics and properties. We are extremely careful to ensure our mill suppliers provide the optimum for our requirements. Stringent in-house testing corroborate the specification.

Unfortunately none of these materials are produced in the UK anymore so all our mill suppliers are in Western Europe.

Because the FIA (World Motorsport Governing body) always mandate Metric sizes, traditionally we have focused on metric tube, but carry significant quantities of the more popular Imperial sizes as well.

T45

An extremely versatile Carbon Manganese High Tensile Cold Drawn steel tube which is ideally suited to roll cages and motorsport applications. More correctly known as BS 4T45

Very strong - at 700 Mpa tensile strength it is nearly double that of normal Cold Drawn Seamless (CDS) tube.
It's high manganese content makes it easily weldable and requires no post-weld heat treat.

Despite some schools of thought it is produced in both Metric and Imperial sizes. We generally concentrate on Metric sizes as this aligns most closely with FIA (World Motorsport Governing Body) regulations.

15CDV6 - (WS 1. 7734.5)

This is a Micro-grained material and is Ultra High Tensile Chrome Molybdenum tube.

Extremely strong at 1000 Mpa tensile
It still retains weldability and is formable in the right circumstances with good elongation.
Ideal for highly stressed suspension parts but also in high-end roll cages where weight/strength is critical.

25CrMo4

A High Tensile Chrome Moly tube. Very often considered as the 'European T45' but more aligned to 4130 given it's relatively high chrome content.

High Tensile at 700 Mpa with generally good elongation and formability.
Similar in performance to T45 but slightly less ductile.
Usually only available in Metric sizes.

PT500

A more cost effective option than the higher tensile materials listed above but with extremely good workability and weldability.

High strength (500 Mpa tensile) to elongation ratio (20% min)
This is effectively E355 grade material but with optimised mill tolerances to give best performance.
Suitable for roll cages and chassis frames.