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Tin is an important raw material in the packaging industry for the manufacture of a wide range of products, including food cans, aerosol cans, ends and closures. Tin products from U. S. Steel are available in four categories:

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• Electrolytic tinplate'very thin material with a thin coating of tin on steel
• Electrolytic chromium coated steel'very thin material with a thin coating of chrome on steel, also known as tin-free steel (TFS)
• Blackplate (uncoated)'very thin cold-rolled substrate produced in thicknesses <0.'
• Drawn & Ironed (D&I)'specialty type of tinplate designed to be deep drawn into a two-piece can

In addition to packaging products, tin is a highly effective material choice used in automotive products such as oil filters, gaskets, battery tops and vehicle trim. Tin also is important contributor to product performance in construction materials like ducts, shelving, utility sheds and cable sheathing.

PRODUCT OFFERINGS/CHARACTERISTICS

U. S. Steel offers a full range of tin material choices, aligned with American Iron and Steel Institute Tin Mill Product Classifications:

Black Plate

• Single Reduced Black Plate (1 CR BP)'70# through 128# base weight
• Double Reduced Black Plate (2 CR BP)'53# through 100# base weight

Electrolytic Tin Coated

• Single Reduced Electrolytic Tinplate (1 CR ETP)'70# through 135# base weight
• Double Reduced Electrolytic Tinplate (2 CR ETP)'53# through 100# base weight
• Single Reduced Electrolytic Tin Coated Sheet (1 CR TCS)'starting at 0. inch nominal

Electrolytic Chromium Coated

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• Single Reduced Electrolytic Chromium Coated Black Plate (1 CR ECCS)'70# through 128# base weight
• Double Reduced Electrolytic Chromium Coated Black Plate (2 CR ECCS)'55# through 100# base weight

Tin-coated vessels are known to have existed as early as 23 A.D., but the tin was apparently only used for decoration. The first tinplate appears to have been made in Bavaria in the fourteenth century, and by the sixteenth century, a thriving tinplate industry existed in Saxony and Bohemia. Tinplate manufacture spread to England in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

The tinplate industry as we know it today is founded on the invention of the process of preserving sterilized food for long periods of time by Nicolas Appert in . By , Appert was successfully packaging a variety of products in glass containers for a growing market.

The Appert process was adapted to the preservation of food in tinplate containers by John Hall in in London. By the 's, canned foods were widely sold in England and France, and by , foods were being canned in the United States. The American can industry grew explosively as a result of the Civil War, the subsequent settling of the west, and the growth of the oil industry.

Starting in the 's, a series of technical innovations transformed the tinplate industry. These included the replacement of wrought iron with steel for the black plate in about ; the development of continuous cold reduction in , that eliminated hot-pack rolling; the introduction of continuous electro-tinning on a small scale in Germany in and on a commercial scale in the United States in , which replaced the hot dip process; the invention of double cold reduction in ; and the invention of TFS in the early 's in Japan and the United States.

Concurrently, many advances occurred in canmaking technology that exploited the improvements in the quality of tin mill products. Tin mill products are also used by the automotive, building, appliance, and furniture industries, all of which take advantage of the unique properties of these light-gauge steel products.

For more information, please visit Tin Mill Steel.