Various types of steel are used in construction and are not just limited to familiar materials, such as those for structural purposes. Being one of the most durable materials in the market, steel products can be infinitely repurposed and can last for as much as 50 years in construction and building projects.
Some of these products include flanges, angle bars, steel sheets, pipes, channels, corrugated roofing, sheet piles, and the like. However, there are also construction steel products that are designed to cut and shape different materials. An example would be tool steel which has higher tensile strength and hardiness compared to pipes. There are also other types such as rebars, alloy steel, stainless steel, and the like. Continue reading to learn more.
The steel rebar is a product that appears in rods and is usually installed as part of a building’s foundation. The distinct design of the rebar which features threads and other symmetrical patterns is designed for concrete applications.
Bare concrete is not really effective for building foundations, bridges, or any concrete-based structure. This is due to the tendency of the material to expand and form cracks especially under high pressure and high temperatures. It’s not a flexible material and can cause breakage when bent.
For this reason, steel rebars are used to reinforce concrete. Aside from building foundations, they may also be applied in columns, wall paneling, or concrete bridge decks. The steel rebars improve the flexibility of the concrete and also lessen the need for larger quantities of concrete.
As the name suggests, alloy steel is steel that has been metallurgically combined with other metals like manganese, nickel, molybdenum, chromium, or silicon. This is usually done in order to improve the properties of non-alloy steel by increasing hardiness, tensile strength, malleability, machinability, or corrosion-resistance.
For example, pure manganese metal does not really offer many benefits. It’s usually used to reduce the level of wear and tear in steel since manganese in its pure form tends to be brittle. Nickel, on the other hand, is used with the mineral copper in coin production. However, it’s also useful in manufacturing alloy steel as it helps improve steel flexibility and weldability.
Alloy steels are used for both functional and decorative purposes, alongside other steel materials. They are found in bridges, high-rise buildings, vehicle chassis, and even reinforcing materials for concrete.
Stainless steel can be classified as a subcategory of alloy steel, but with the distinct presence of chromium which is a metal that occurs naturally in the environment. The chromium content is what gives the steel its non-corrosive and non-oxidative properties which make it suitable for a wide range of uses.
Typically, the chromium content of stainless steel can lie anywhere from 10% to about 18%, although you can find more stainless steel products in the upper range. With this in mind, there are tons of reasons that make stainless steel the better alternative to materials like wood.
For example, stainless steel is applied in building cladding, railing, agricultural enclosures, roofing materials, trusses, and building framing. Unlike wood, it does not rot once exposed to humid environments. It also helps reduce the spread of fire better because of its non-combustibility and excellent fire-resistance rating. They also provide a low-cost option for different projects due to the low maintenance and repair requirements.
As mentioned before, tool steel refers to a type of steel product that is specifically used to fashion different metals and alloys into shape. Tool steel usually has a better strength rating compared to your average steel pipe, in order to make the tool better for any cutting, fabricating, bending, or machining purposes.
To give another example, tool steel can come in the form of a tooling die that contains a distinct cross-sectional shape. This is where heated alloys are extruded in order to produce building profiles, window frames, mullions, structural sections, and many more.
Aside from extrusion processes, tool steel can also be seen as part of machine components for metal stamping, punching, and pipe-bending. They are not intended to break and are much sturdier and less flexible compared to the metal specimen that’s being modified.
Tool steel can be further classified according to temperature requirements. They’re also combined with other metals that are not entirely useful in their pure forms.
Unlike stainless steel, mild steel tends to have lower chromium content. For this reason, they might be more vulnerable to different forms of corrosion and oxidation.
Think of mild steel as a product that belongs somewhere in the middle range of stainless steel and tool steel. It’s not exactly sturdy enough to be protected against chemical change but it is just right for use in anything that requires structural and building support.
The carbon content in different mild steel products can be as high as 0.05% to 0.25%. Anything higher than this range, then the steel product can already be classified as cast iron. Unlike alloy steels, mild steel does not also contain many trace elements and metals for alloying. However, it is definitely more affordable compared to thicker-walled and stainless steel (which is considered to be the priciest out of all steel types.
In this short guide, you’ve learned about 5 types of steel used in construction. These are mild steel, stainless steel, tool steel, alloy steel, and steel reinforcing bars. Each of them may have similar properties, but there are significant differences in the properties, price, and use.
The best application for these materials is to combine them with one another. They can make any construction project more structurally sound and longer-lasting without compromising the design.
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5 Types of Steel Used in Construction
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Steel is among the most popular materials used in the construction industry. According to the World Steel Association , in 2018 around 1,808 million tons of crude steel was produced worldwide and about 50% of this production was utilized by the construction industry. Further, they also state that there are as many as 3,500 different grades of steel and each grade offers environmental, chemical and physical properties unique to that grade of steel. Steel has undergone significant evolution through time and around 75% of all the types of modern-day steel were developed in the past 20 years. It is interesting to note that had the Eiffel Tower (constructed in 1887) been constructed in today’s times, it would require only one-third of the steel used back then.Fundamentally, steel is an alloy of iron with low amounts of carbon. There are thousands of different types of steels which are created to suit different kinds of applications. These broadly fall into 4 types – carbon steel stainless steel and alloy steel . Carbon steels form the majority of steels produced in the world today. Tool steels are used to make machine parts, dies and tools. Stainless steels are used to make common household items. Alloy steels are made of iron, carbon and other elements such as vanadium, silicon, nickel, manganese, copper and chromium.When other elements comprising metals and non-metals are added to carbon steel, alloy steel is formed. These alloy steels display various environmental, chemical and physical properties that can vary with the elements used to alloy. Here the proportion of alloying elements can provide different mechanical properties.Alloying elements can alter carbon steel in several ways. Alloying can affect micro-structures, heat-treatment conditions and mechanical properties. Today’s technology with high-speed computers can foresee the properties and micro-structures of steel when it is cold-formed, heat treated, hot-rolled or alloyed. For instance, if properties such as high strength and weldability are required in steel for certain applications, then carbon steel alone will not serve the purpose because carbon’s inherent brittleness will make the weld brittle. The solution is to reduce carbon and add other elements such as manganese or nickel. This is one way of making high strength steel with required weldability.There are two kinds of alloy steel – low-alloy steel and high-alloy steel . As mentioned earlier, the composition and proportion of alloying elements determine the various properties of alloy steel. Low-alloy steels are the ones which have up to 8% alloying elements whereas high-alloy steels have more than 8% alloying elements.There are around 20 alloying elements that can be added to carbon steel to produce various grades of alloy steel. These provide different types of properties. Some of the elements used and their effects include:Other alloying elements that provide varied properties include bismuth, cobalt, molybdenum, titanium, selenium, tellurium, lead, boron, sulfur, nitrogen, zirconium and niobium. These alloying elements can be used singly or in various combinations depending on the properties desired.There are hundreds of products that can be manufactured with alloy steels of varying compositions. These include alloy steel pipes and tubes, alloy steel plates, sheets and coils, alloy steel bars, rods and wires, alloy steel forged fittings, alloy steel buttweld fittings, alloy steel flanges, fasteners and more. Alloy steels have many uses in various industries such as automobiles, mining, machinery and equipment, railways, road construction, buildings, appliances and off-shore applications.In the building and construction industry, alloy steels are used for very large modern structures such as airports, bridges, skyscrapers and stadiums in the form of a steel skeleton. Alloy steels provide the required high strength to support such large structures. Even concrete structures use alloy steels as reinforcement to add strength and reduce the overall weight of structures. Smaller items such as screws, nails and bolts made of alloy steels are used in the building and construction industry.Bridges use special alloy steels known as weathering steels. These provide enhanced protection from corrosion because of the presence of nickel, copper and chromium as alloying elements. Weathering steels also find uses in buildings as facing material to improve aesthetics. Weathering steel offers several benefits which include high safety, ease and quickness of construction, aesthetic looks, shallow depth of construction, low maintenance and amenable to alterations in the future. Because of its natural weathered finish, no painting is required thus avoiding environmental issues caused by paints. Weathering steels are extremely cost-effective in the long run.Alloy steels are used to make flat products – plates and strips. Plates are available in a wide range of grades and sizes. These are used in building construction by welding plates into fabricated sections.Strips are available as hot and cold rolled strips and hot-dipped galvanized coils. Hot-dipped galvanized coils are used to make construction products that include wall and roof claddings, side rails, roof purlins, light steel frames and lintels.Alloy steels are employed in producing long products used in the construction industry such as girders, structural sections, bars, rails, rods and wires.Another important product made of alloy steels are flanges. These are used in stainless steel pipelines. These flanges can be made to suit various applications. Some of them include weld neck flanges which have the same thickness and bevel as of the pipe and can perform well under harsh conditions of high pressure, high temperature or sub-zero temperatures. Lap joint flanges are slip-on flanges suitable for alloy steel piping which require regular maintenance and inspection.Alloy steel pipes are important materials in the building and construction industry because of their performance characteristics such as ductility, ease of fixing without heat treatment and high durability. They are an alloy of stainless steel, chromium and nickel. Some special types of alloy steel pipes include large diameter welded pipes, electric fusion welded pipes, welded pipes and seamless pipes. They are extremely useful for high-temperature or corrosive applications besides high-pressure environments.Since alloy steels have specific properties needed for specific applications, prices vary greatly based on the grades comprising a composition of alloying elements, the process of manufacture and size. The prices of alloy steels available in India typically vary in the range of Rs 90,580 ($1294) per ton to Rs 4,08,730 ($5839) per ton.As can be seen from the foregoing, alloy steels play an important role in the building and construction industry as well as other industries. Alloy steels offer economy, high performance, corrosion resistance, durability, high strength, high strength to weight ratio, high performance under harsh conditions and a wide variety of products to suit most applications.