When you look at the specifications of the PC cases , you will see that most are constructed of SPCC steel . Who else and who less, everyone knows what steel is, but what does it mean that SPCC steel is used in PC cases? Is this good or bad? What characteristics does it have? In this article we are going to solve all these questions and many more.
As a general rule, two types of material are used for the construction of PC cases (in addition to plastic and in recent times tempered glass): steel and aluminum. Aluminum, as you know, is much more expensive and less resistant than steel, which is why the few boxes whose structure is made of aluminum tend to have a small form factor and quite expensive.
What does “SPCC steel” mean?
Although they may seem like acronyms, in reality SPCC steel is a commercial grade of cold rolled steel defined by the Japanese manufacturing standard JIS G 3141, and which defines the following properties of the material, all of them related to its resistance: bending, resistance of edges, superelevation, void, warp, throw, pierce, stretch and notch per stroke.
SPCC steel is called cold rolled steel because it has undergone a manipulative cold rolling process, in which a metal bar passes through high pressure rollers at a temperature below the crystallization of the steel to favor its deformation. The roller not only reduces the thickness of the steel sheets, but also refines the grain structure and hardens it. In addition, after the cold rolling process there are some additive processes such as rewinding, annealing and then polishing to give it that characteristic glossy finish. Obviously, huge rolls of several tons of this steel arrive to the manufacturers.
Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, and in the case of the SPCC standard it is composed of:
- Carbon by 0.15%.
- Manganese by 0.60%.
- Phosphorus by 0.05%.
- Sulfur by 0.05%.
The rest of the compound is purely iron, with some negligible impurities.
Why is this type of steel used in the PC industry?
The reason why steel is used as the main element in PC cases to the detriment of other materials (although as we have mentioned before, there are exceptions with aluminum) is because it is very cheap to manufacture, it is very common in terms of raw materials and It is also very easy to mold and work with it (they do not need furnaces or foundries, only hydraulic presses and CNC cutting tools), so that for manufacturers it is an element considered simple and cheap.
In addition to this, steel provides not only great strength but also high durability, two properties that are fundamental in the case of a PC since first they will have to support a certain weight, and secondly they are the “armor” element for the rest of the hardware. (the one that takes the blows during transport, or simply when it is on the table and we accidentally hit it), so the one that is made of a resistant material is practically a must.
So, when you look at the technical specifications of a PC case that has been made with SPCC steel, you already know what it is, where it comes from and why this material is used and not any other.
