STEEL

Steel Classification
Production
Properties
Types of steel used in the construction industry

INTRODUCTION
Steel and steel alloys are used widely in

civil engineering applications

Wrought iron still used on smaller scale for
pipes and general blacksmith work
Cast iron is used for pipes, hardware and
machine part not subject to tensile or
dynamic loading
Steel usually have existing product from
supplier
However, it is important to understand how
steel is manufactured and treated and how
it responds to loads and environmental

The Disney Concert Hall in Los

Angeles. The cladding is all
stainless steel
Eiffel tower

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Steel Classification
Steel products that are used in civil engineering

can be classified as follows:

Structural steel for use in plates, bars, pipes,
structural shapes etc.(Example: Vertical Column)
Reinforcing steel bar (rebars) for use in concrete
reinforcement

Miscellaneous steel applications as forms and pans

Cold-formed steel- produced by cold-forming of

sheet steel into desired shapes (Example: Trusses
and decking)
Fastening products used for structural connections,
including bolts, nuts and washers.

Steel Manufacturing
3 basic phase of production
Reduction of iron ore to pig iron
Iron ore is mined from earth and melted in blast

furnace to produce pig iron

Pig iron : impure product, weak in tension

Refining pig iron to steel

Removal of excess carbon and other impurities in
three types of furnace namely;
Open heath furnace
Electric-arc furnace
Basic oxygen furnace
Forming the steel into products
Alloying elements are added to molten steel cast

into large blocks or cast continuously into desired

shapes

http://www.jfe-21st-cf.or.jp/chapter_2/2a_1_img.html

Basic forms of iron

Forms of iron
Cast iron
Steel
Wrought iron

% of carbon
2% 5%
Up to 1.5%
0.05% to 0.15%

Dividing line of cast iron and steel is the

presence of free graphite

If there is free graphite cast iron
Otherwise steel
Steel becomes harder and more brittle with
higher carbon content
Steel and wrought iron can be distinguished by

IRON-CARBON ALLOYS

Different forms in which iron can be present

Forms of iron

Description

Ferrite (-iron)

Pure iron, soft, ductile and malleable

Wrought iron is about 90% ferrite

Cementite

Iron carbide, very hard and brittle,

White cast iron has a good amount of cementite

Pearlite

0.85% carbon
An aggregate made of alternate layers of small
crystals of ferrite and cementite
Steel in this composition is the strongest because of
the absence of large crystals of ferrite and
cementite

Austenite (iron)

Solid solution of ferrite and cementite

Non-magnetic and resist wear but is not brittle

Martensite

chief constituent of rapidly-cooled steel

Strong, hard and brittle
Imperfectly preserved austenite

Sorbite

Imperfectly resolved pearlite

OTHER FACTORS IN MAKING IRON

PRODUCTS
Effect of rate of cooling
Strong cooling coarse pearlite structure
Rapid cooling fine pearlite
Rapid cooling from high temperature little

time for austenite to transform to pearlite

and new material called martensite is formed
Martensite hard and brittle but can be
modified by subsequent heat treatment
used in the manufacturing of Termo
Mechanically Treated (TMT) bars

MECHANICAL WORKING
(TREATMENT) OF STEEL
One of the very desirable qualities of steel

as different from cast iron is that it can be:

hot worked into different shape
cold worked
heat treated

to give desirable properties

HOT WORKING OF STEEL

Steel ingots are heated to the required

temperature and the operations involved

are the following:
Rolling
Carried in specially-prepared rolling milss
Red hot ingots are passed through different rollers to

get desired shape

Forging
Pressing
Drawing
Metal is drawn through different dies and specially-

shaped tools
This process to prepare the reinforcement rods

COLD WORKING STEEL

If a steel bar is stressed beyond its yield point

and unloaded, in the next cycle of loading it

will found that the yield point has been raised.
This is due to strain hardening of steel.
However, this higher yield point is lost and the
steel is restored to normal steel if we heat the
bar to a high temperature after cold working
Cold twisted deformed (CTD) bars for concrete
reinforcement are produced by this principle
the cold working is carried by twisting the bar
beyond the yield point.

HEAT TREATMENT OF STEEL

Process by which the steel is heated and

cooled under controlled conditions to

change the structural or physical properties
of the steel
Common heat treatment process are as
follows:
Annealing
Case hardening
Quenching
Tempering
Normalizing

Annealing
Steel is heated to the required temperature

which depends on the percentage carbon

content of steel.
Temperature is maintained for specified
time and then, allowed to cool slowly in a
furnace
Purpose of annealing:
Relieving any strain produced in the steel

during welding
Restoring, the grain structure to that minute
size which gives best quality
Softening the steel after hardening
Temperature used for true annealing is 700

Case Hardening
Case hardening is one of the surface-

hardening process.
Increase carbon content at the surface
Many industrial applications require steels
with a hard, wear-resistant surface,
and a relatively soft, tough inside.
Examples: gear, cam shaft, roller, etc
Type of steel used : low carbon steel
A carbonizing mixture (charcoal, cyanide) is
used

Case Hardening Process

The article is held in the mixture and

heated to 900C
950 C when the
carbon diffuses into the surface of the
article

**For critical components as for use

in lifting very heavy weights, it is
better to use special strength alloy
steel than increase hardness by case
hardening. It is because it is difficult
to get reliable case hardening
operations carried out locally and
any mishap can lead to very serious
consequences

Quenching for hardening

quenched steel - steel that has been

hardened by immersing it in water or oil to

cool it
If steel is heated to high temperature and
suddenly quenched by water or dipping it
in oil, then the steel becomes harder as
well as stronger and more brittle
This principle is applied in tile
manufacturing of TMT steel bars for
reinforced concrete

Tempering
Hardened steel produced by quenching is

too brittle to be used without some

tempering
Tempering is a process done subsequent
to quench hardening. Quench-hardened
parts are often too brittle. This brittleness is
caused by a predominance of Martensite.
This brittleness is removed by tempering.
Tempering results in a desired combination
of hardness, ductility, toughness, strength,
and structural stability. Tempering is not to
be confused with tempers on rolled stockthese tempers are an indication of the

Normalizing
Normalizing is a type of heat treatment

applicable to ferrous metals only. It differs

from annealing in that the metal is heated
to a higher temperature and then removed
from the furnace for air cooling.
In this process, rate of cooling is faster than
in annealing.
Hence, it gives finer pearlite structure
Steel is relatively soft and ductile but
harder than the annealed material.

TYPES OF STEEL

MILD STEEL AND OTHER

STEELS
Many type of steel e.g: mild steel

(structural steel), tool steel, machinery

steel, high tensile steel and special steel
Differ in their carbon content, ultimate
strength, yiled point, % elongation at
ultimate failure, hardness etc.
Distinguishing property of mild steel can be
taken as the nature of stress strain curve
Yield strength : 250N/mm2
Strain hardening strength : 1.6 x yield
strength (340N/mm2)
Ultimate failure strength : 550N/mm2

% of elongation of mild steel at ultimate

failure is as much as 30%

Thus, mild steel is very ductile compared to
other types of steel
Ductility is measures by the percentage of
elongation at failure

WROUGHT IRON
Contains less that 0.15% carbon
Made from white pig iron by removing most

of the carbon, manganese, silicon,

phosphorous and sulphur by the puddling
process in a reverberatory furnace
Steel nowadays replaced wrought iron in
common use equally strong in tension
and compression

CAST IRON
3 5 times stronger in compression than in

tension
Compression strength : 560 N/mm 2
Tension strength : 140 N/mm2
Carbon lowers the melting point of iron, so,
cast iron melts at lower temperature than
steel easier to make castings of cast iron
even in small factories
Grey cast iron extensively used for
casting
Cast iron is still used widely in industry
where the forces in compression and the

Cast iron cheap capable of manufacture

with simple tools in small factories

Cast iron is very resistant to corrosion and
extensively used in rainwater pipes, flush
water sytem etc.

Malleable cast Iron

Used to made small parts eg. Concrete

sleeper fastening for rails

Manufactures as small casting by the

process called malleable cast iron process

Can be machined easily and gets deformed
without rupture
Can endure many battering without
cracking and has better corrosion qualities

Ductile Iron
Less brittleness
Commonly used instead of malleable cast

iron in railway sleepers insert easier to

manufacture
Large articles also can be made from
ductile iron
Traditionally, cast iron pipes used for
carrying water and sewage as they are
more corrosion resistant compared to steel
pipes
Now, these pipes being replaced by ductile
cast iron pipes high strength, ductility and

Cast iron pipes weak in tension liable to

be damaged when there is settlement

along its length
Ductile cast iron can stand small
settlements without damage
Can be cast into any shape used
extensively instead of steel for making
items of complex machining operations
Ductile iron also high corrosion resistance
like cast iron

Corrosion resistance of cast

iron
Grey cast iron pipes buried in soil have been found to not

been corroded even after a period of 150years. In the

corrosion of grey iron at the surface, say of a
buried pipe, the graphite present will be left as a
residue within the corrosion products which
adheres very firmly to the unattached metal
substrata. This graphite containing corrosion
product provided a barrier against further
corrosion attack if it remain undisturbed as in
buried pipes. Thus, the graphitic corrosion residue
in cast iron can limit the rate at which further
attack can occur. However, this residue is much less in
strength than the than the original cast iron. But, if left
undisturbed, the pipe can work for a very long time.

MARKET FORM OF STEEL

INTRODUCTION
Important market forms of steel used in

building construction:
Steel bars of many shape and grades or

strength (For RC and fabrication of grills,

gates etc.)
High tensile steel for prestressed concrete
works
Various shape of I, channel, angle, plates and
other rolled sections for structural fabrication
Stainless steel for special uses.

TYPES OF STEEL
REINFORCEMENT
Steel rods for RC work should be of

specified tensile strength and they should

develop good bond strength with concrete
Types : mild steel, torsteel, TMT bars
Different diameter used for RC works only
standard size are used
Types of bar :
Hot rolled bar
Cold-twistwed deformed bar (CTD-bars

torsteel)
Therm-mechanically treated reinforcement
bars

TEST FOR STEEL

Tension test for reinforcement bars
Using testing machine to measure:
Yield strength
Ultimate tensile strength

ROLLED SECTIONS STRUCTURAL

STEEL
2 main families of structural steel members:
Conventional hot-rolled steel section
Cold-formed steel section

Hot rolled steel section

Used for fabrication of trusses, columns, beams etc of

building
Made by rolling hot steel into various shapes in speciallydesigned rolling mills
Famous available hot rolled steel sections
Angle section
Channel section
I-section
T-section
Other rolled section

ROLLED SECTIONS STRUCTURAL

STEEL
Cold-formed light-gauge (thin walled) steel

sections
Structural member which is cold-formed to

the desired structural shapes for carbon or

ally steel (strips or flats) by press-brake
operations
Thickness range : 0.38mm to 6.35mm
Made of alloy steel and cold formed higher
strength than hot-rolled sections

Advantage of cold formed

sections over hot rolled sections
Cold-formed sections are:
Thinner more length of material from same
weight of steel more economical design for light
loads and and moderate spans can be made from
these sections
Effective shapes or configuration of steel sections
can be produces by cold-formed operations
more favorable strength-to-weight ratio can be
achieved through these sections
Aesthetically pleasing sections like box section
Higher strength
Extensively used in fabrication of roof trusses

STAINLESS STEEL
General term given to certain alloys of iron,

chromium and nickel

High resistance to corrosion
Designated by the percentage of chromium
and nickel
Eg. 18-8 stainless steel indicates 18%
chromium and 8% nickel