If you’ve ever shopped around for hot rolled coils (HRC), chances are you’ve wondered whether this material lends itself to easy welding. As someone who’s been in the HRC supply business for more than a decade, I’ve fielded that question at trade shows, over email, and from shop managers walking through my loading docks. The short answer isn’t a simple “yes” or “no” — it depends on a handful of material properties, preparation steps, and the welding process you choose. Over the years, I’ve learned to frame this conversation around real-world constraints rather than textbook generalizations, and today I want to break it down like I would with a new fabricator or structural engineer considering HRC for their next project. Hot Rolled Coils
First, let’s start with what hot rolled coils actually are. Unlike cold rolled steel, which is rolled at room temperature to produce a smooth, dimensionally consistent finish, HRC is rolled at temperatures above 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit — well above steel’s recrystallization point. That process leaves a few distinct characteristics on the surface: a dark, flaky scale (iron oxide), a slightly rough texture, and a mild carbon content that varies depending on the grade. For many welders, that surface scale is the first hurdle. It’s not like the smooth, clean surface of cold rolled steel, and if you don’t remove it properly, it can cause porosity, inclusions, or uneven fusion in a weld. I’ve seen this trip up new welders a dozen times: they pull a coil straight off the truck, clamp two edges together, and fire up the MIG gun, only to get welds that crack under light stress a week later.
That said, removing the scale isn’t as hard as it sounds. For most common HRC grades — A36, a workhorse in construction, or 1018, used in general fabricating — simple wire brushing, grinding, or even sandblasting the weld zone is enough to get a clean surface. I always tell customers: if you can run a hand sander over the edge of the coil and expose shiny bare steel, you’re good to go. No need for industrial-scale pickling or chemical treatments here. The mild carbon content of standard HRC also works in your favor for welding. Low and medium carbon steels (which make up 90% of the HRC we supply) have a carbon equivalent that falls right in the range where common welding processes — MIG, TIG, Stick, even flux-cored arc welding — perform reliably. Unlike high carbon steels, which tend to harden and crack when welded, HRC’s carbon level means you don’t have to preheat most grades for thicknesses under ¾ inch. That’s a big time-saver on job sites.
But here’s the catch: “easy” welding still depends on your application. If you’re welding thin-gauge HRC (1/8 inch or less) for things like ductwork or farm equipment frames, it’s about as straightforward as welding cold rolled, with a few small adjustments. You’ll want a slightly higher wire feed speed on your MIG gun to keep penetration consistent, and you’ll need to make sure your joint fitup is tight — the rough edges of HRC can sometimes leave small gaps if you don’t align the parts carefully. For thicker HRC, say 1 inch or more, the process gets a bit trickier, but not impossible. The main issue here is the potential for hydrogen-induced cracking, which happens when hydrogen from the welding atmosphere becomes trapped in the weld zone and the heat-affected zone (HAZ). To avoid this, I recommend using a low-hydrogen electrode (E7018 for Stick welding, for example) and making sure your workpiece is free of moisture, oil, or any other contaminants that can release hydrogen during welding. Even then, for most structural projects, preheating to 200 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit is all you need — nothing like the 500+ degrees required for high-strength steels.
I also want to address a misconception I hear all the time: that HRC is too inconsistent for reliable welding. It’s true that hot rolling produces slightly more dimensional variation than cold rolling — thickness can vary by a few thousandths of an inch across the coil, and the edges might have a slight waviness — but that doesn’t make welding impossible. Our team works with fabricators every week who roll HRC into beams, weld it into pipe, or form it into heavy equipment parts, and they never mention consistency as a barrier. The key is to source HRC from a supplier that maintains tight quality control on coil thickness and edge quality. Too many fabricators buy cheap, low-grade HRC that has uneven edges or excess scale, and then blame the material for bad welds. When we supply coils, we test each batch for carbon content, surface cleanliness, and edge straightness, so our customers don’t have to waste time correcting material defects before they even pick up a welding torch.
Another factor that makes HRC easier to weld than some people think is the range of welding processes that work with it. MIG welding, which is fast and common in most fabrication shops, pairs perfectly with HRC. The solid wires used for MIG (like ER70S-6) are designed to match the mechanical properties of A36 and 1018 HRC, so the weld strength ends up being equal to or even stronger than the base metal. TIG welding, used for precise, clean welds on thinner materials, works too — you just have to make sure you clean the surface of scale thoroughly, since TIG is more sensitive to surface contaminants than MIG. Even Stick welding, which some people write off as outdated, is reliable for HRC, especially for outdoor projects where wind can blow away shielding gas from MIG guns. I’ve seen Stick welders build entire bridge trusses from HRC, and the welds hold up for decades as long as they use the right electrodes.
Of course, there are cases where HRC isn’t the easiest material to weld — but those are usually edge cases, not the norm. For example, if you’re working with high-carbon HRC (grades like 1045, which have a carbon content of around 0.45%), you’ll have a harder time with cracking, and you’ll need to preheat much more carefully and use post-weld heat treatment to relieve stress. But high-carbon HRC is a small part of what we supply — most orders call for A36, 1018, or AR36, which are low-carbon and designed for weldability. I also won’t sugarcoat it: if you try to weld HRC without any preparation, you’ll run into problems. Skipping the surface cleaning step is the number one mistake I see, and it’s an easy fix. We often send a free sample with every coil delivery that has a note on how to prep weld zones, just to make sure our customers have the info they need.
Over the years, I’ve built relationships with fabricators who switch back and forth between HRC and cold rolled, and the feedback is almost always the same: HRC is easier to weld than people give it credit for, as long as you treat it right. It’s not the material for every high-precision application where a mirror-smooth finish is required, but for structural work, heavy equipment, pipe fabrication, and general manufacturing, it’s more than capable. For us as a supplier, that means we don’t just deliver coils — we share the knowledge that makes welding HRC simple, so our customers can finish jobs faster and with fewer reworks.
If you’re planning a project that uses hot rolled coils, or you’re not sure if HRC is the right material for your welding needs, I’m here to help. We work with fabricators of all sizes, from small shops building custom gates to large construction companies working on highway bridges, and we can provide technical guidance on welding prep, process selection, and grade matching. No matter the thickness, grade, or application, we can supply HRC that’s consistent, clean, and ready to be welded easily — so you can keep your project on schedule and on budget. Reach out to our team to discuss your requirements, order samples, or get a custom quote for your next order.
Engineering Steel Plates References
- American Iron and Steel Institute. (2020). Welding Guidelines for Carbon Steels. Steel Industry Technical Manual Series.
- Lincoln Electric. (2019). Welding Hot Rolled Steel: Best Practices for Fabricators. Fabrication Journal, Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 18–22.
- AWS D1.1/D1.1M: Structural Welding Code – Steel. (2022). American Welding Society.
- The Fabricator Magazine. (2021). Common Mistakes When Welding Hot Rolled Steel. Industry Insights, pp. 1–5.
Kennen Steel International Co., Ltd.
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