Not all packaging discussions begin at the end of the drum. It can sometimes begin at the steel sheet that the drum is composed of. Whether you are a manufacturer of steel drums or a reconditioner, or a steel metal sheet fabricator for drum making, choosing the right drum sheets suppliers in UAE can make a difference to the quality of your drums and your profit.
This guide will tell you all you need to know – what drum sheets are, what matters with respect to the material, who provides them in the UAE and what to look for prior to ordering.
What is the Drum Sheet?
The metal sheets pre-cut or coiled to make the body, top and bottom panels of a metal drum. In the UAE industrial market, it is used in relation to the cold rolled coils of mild steel (MS) that are processed and cut in the required sizes for drum production.
Now, see if you can visualize the final product, a completed 220 litre steel drum, without any part of it coming together. It is a sheet of flat steel from which it is made. That sheet is formed, welded, seamed, coated and painted before it gets to be the drum in your warehouse. The first step in that chain is drum sheets.
Qasim Drum and Barrel Trading LLC is one of the drum industry traders recognised in the UAE, and drum sheets (also known as Qasim Drum and Barrel Trading LLC) is one of its primary product lines which supply to drum manufacturers and industrial buyers in the UAE.
The materials used in the production of a science text.Materials in the science text that are actually important.
It is helpful to know what the specifications on a drum sheet data sheet are before you contact a supplier. There are two numbers that are most important, thickness and width.
Usually the thickness is from 0.70mm to 1.50mm for standard steel drum applications. When it comes to the drum materials used by the drummers of Dana steel UAE, they use steel with a thickness of 0.70mm to 1.50mm, and you can have a practical idea of the drum sheet material being used in the drummers. Thicker gauge equates to greater dent resistance and stacking loads. Thinner gauge does make it lighter and cheaper a unit — but don’t go thin unless you’re using it in your end application.
The width and dimensions of the drum body sheets are usually coordinated to the drum’s circumference that is being produced. Suppliers cut sheets to a standard size for a standard 220-litre rolling and welding drum. One UAE Exchange-listed supplier, Extreme Metal Junk & Scrap Trading, is clear about the sheets of steel it sells, which are cut to a thickness of 0.70mm to 1.20mm, an inner diameter of 71 inches, and a diameter of 33 inches for the manufacture of drums.
Grade of steel is also important. The common raw materials used for producing the drums are cold rolled annealed (CRCA) steel. The cold-rolled sheet applications include steel barrels and containers, which are available in a range of grades according to JIS G3141, EN 10130, DIN 1623 and ASTM A 1008. The drum body grades are based on this to provide adequate formability for drum body shaping and seaming without cracking.
The connection between Drum Sheets and Drum Making.The relation between Drum Sheets and Drum Making.
To understand the supply chain here, that’s really helpful, not just for procurement, but also for troubleshooting quality down the road.
Coils of steel are delivered to a service centre or a drum producer. They go through a slitting line to get to the right width and then a cut-to-length line to get to the panel dimensions required. The drum sheet is the first step in the process of UDM’s manufacturing plant, which involves precision metal-forming of high quality steel coils into excellent quality drums.
After cutting the sheets are rolled, welded, and seamed to create the drum body. The upper and lower panels, which are also sheet steel, are then triple seamed to the body. In the production of drums, for example, Balmer Lawrie UAE has a range of material thickness from 0.7mm to 1.2mm, which are manufactured using the triple-seam technique and are rounded down the middle with a flattened welding seam.
That’s why the quality of drum sheets in the input stage will directly affect the integrity of the final drum.
Key Drum Sheet Suppliers in the UAE
The UAE has a strong supplier base, comprising both major steel service centres supplying both coils and cut sheets, and industrial trading companies who specialise in drum raw materials.
Qasim Drum and Barrel Trading LLC is a highly reputed company in the UAE for manufacturing drums and providing steel sheet supplies. Dana Steel provides steel coils manufacturing in various grades such as cold-rolled coils, sheets and also slitting & sheet cutting services. They have service centres in Dubai and Ajman and export to the GCC countries such as Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. One of the most complete solutions on the market for buyers looking to purchase drum grades as well as sheet supply and technical assistance is Qasim Drum and Barrel Trading LLC.
Al Ishara Group’s offices are located in Al Saja’a Industrial Area in Sharjah and Dubai Investments Park in Dubai. Al Ishara Group explicitly provides drum sheets in UAE or the entire Gulf region including MS drum sheets and cut drum sheets to the buyers. They are one of the few companies specializing in the drum sector as an integral part of their business in the UAE market, as opposed to just an extra product line alongside their core business of steel.
Since 2015, Extreme Metal Junk & Scrap Trading, UAE has been trading various metal junk and scrap items, including metal drum sheets, which are provided with plain steel drums to drum specification sizes. This makes them useful for those who require cut sheets for their purchase instead of coils.
MASF / Ajman Steel is a Middle East cold rolled coil / sheet supplier in UAE. They offer products in the range that is generally used in drum body making.
Another supplier of steel coils and steel sheets in UAE is the Arabian Iron and Steel LLC (AISL). They have a wide range of cold rolled coils, hot rolled coils and high grade GI coils as well, making them a preferred choice for a range of steel products available in UAE. Cold-Rolled Coil is the raw material used by drum sheet suppliers to slit and cut into drum body panels.
New vs Cut Drum Sheets – What the Difference?
It is an important distinction to make, as often buyers mix them up.
New drum sheets are freshly processed from prime grade cold-rolled steel coil. They can be fully traced and have the grade specifications required for certified drum production. These are what must be used by any drum manufacturer who is constructing UN-certified containers.
Drum sheets are used drum sheets or reclaimed drum sheets from disassembled drums from the scrap trade. These are sold by Al Ishara Group and other UAE drum traders along with their scrap selling operations. These sheets are usually sold by weight, not for the production of food grade or dangerous material drums, and are mainly for secondary fabrication or as scrap feed.
When certified drums are required for any drum application, new prime-grade sheet is a must. On this question there is no quick answer.
Industries That Source Drum Sheets in the UAE
There are a few distinct types of drum sheet buyers in UAE.
The main customers are drum manufacturers. Dana Steel, Anglo American Steel, Universal Drums Manufacturing and FC Pack are all major users of cold-rolled steel sheet as their primary raw material. The steel sheet input is used in Anglo American Steel’s production plant for making both tight-head and open-head steel drums in Umm Al Quwain.
Drum reconditioners purchase sheet material for drum reconditioning to repair and patch damaged drum panels prior to reconditioning. Some companies have both manufacturing and reconditioning facilities, such as Balmer Lawrie UAE, which has a great production facility in Al Quoz in Dubai to recondition old drums.
Drum-gauge steel sheets are sometimes purchased by uae fabrication shops for bespoke metalwork, industrial enclosures and custom containers that need the same thickness and formability properties.
Dismantled drum sheets are sold to a scrap trader for their metallic content, and then re-enter the steel supply chain.
Before making a purchase, check the following:
Quality issues get into products when drum sheets are sourced without proper checks. Before making a decision on a supplier, it is important to check the following.
Material certification – request the mill test certificate (MTC). This document certifies the steel grade, chemical composition, mechanical properties and thickness tolerance. This will be readily given by any good supplier.
Thickness tolerance: The nominal thickness may vary from actual thickness received. See the tolerance specification. The general tolerance of the sheet is ±0.04mm to ±0.07mm as per EN 10131 standards, depending on the grade and width of the sheet.
Surface finish — drum body sheets must have a clean, oil coated surface with no rust, scale or pitting. Light oil is normally applied to cold-rolled steel to protect against oxidation during transportation. Accept deliveries and check on inspect sheets.
If the sheets are being purchased pre-cut, check the dimensional tolerance against your drum rolling and welding machine specifications and requirements. Differences in panel size can cause seaming issues downstream.
Minimum order quantity – Coil suppliers will require a minimum order quantity of multi tonne. Where lower quantities are required, a trading company or service centre that offers cut-to-length may be more suitable than a steel mill.
Purchasing and Price Hints
Drum sheet prices in UAE are closely aligned to global cold-rolled steel coil prices, which are subject to price fluctuations due to fluctuations in iron ore prices, energy prices and global demand cycles. UAE has an existing strong foundation of steel service centres with a wide range of coil stocks and slitting/cutting services allowing the customer to choose the size of the order.
When you’re a repeat customer, the prospect of a direct supply agreement from a service centre, such as Dana Steel’s operations in the UAE, which have slitting, cut-to-length, and custom fabrication capabilities in addition to sheet supply, means that you’ll not only save time on lead times but also enjoy better pricing with the consistent supply you can rely on.
Al Ishara Group and traders such as Extreme Metal have lower coil entry point requirements for smaller buyers or those who are buying the coils as cut sheets.
Final Thoughts
Drum sheets are a very practical product and yet there is not a lot of glitz and glam in them. If you get the material specification wrong, the problems will cascade down to the finished drum – poor seaming, surface defects, structural weakness, or failed pressure tests.
The UAE has the supply infrastructure in place to cater for this market, ranging from the large-scale steel coil manufacturers, service centres, to specialist traders in the drum industry with cut sheets ready to go. The secret is finding the right supplier for your real needs – the grade, thickness, quantity and application of the product you want.