The Importance of Structural Steel In Constructing Buildings

Structural steel has become one of the most prevalent construction materials of the century, often seen as an extremely important component of modern buildings and housing. According to the World Steel Association, over 1,600 million tonnes were produced in 2016, 197 million more than the previous year. It’s become viable for any kind of project and offers several benefits, which many building plans rely on for structural safety.Stainless steels have been used in construction ever since they were first invented over a hundred years ago. Stainless steel products are attractive and corrosion resistant, need little maintenance and offer good strength, toughness and fatigue properties. Stainless steels are straightforward to fabricate and are fully recyclable at end-of-life. They are the material of choice for applications situated in challenging environments, including industrial processing facilities, buildings and structures in coastal areas or where there is exposure to de-icing salts. The high ductility of stainless steel is a useful property where resistance to seismic loading is required.Aside from unduly burdening Filipino consumers, imposing safeguard duties on imported galvanized iron and pre- painted galvanized iron (PPGI) sheets and coils could expose the Philippines to retaliatory actions from exporting countries for possible violation of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Rene Garcia, spokesman of the Philippine Association of Steelformers Inc. (PASI), said data showed that even domestic producers are also importing GI and PPGI sheets because they could not fully supply the market requirements, thus, making the supposed “injury” self-inflicted. Garcia noted for pre-painted sheets, the market size is about 300,000 metric tons (MT) per year. The combined rated capacity of the five active local producers, meanwhile, is only about 210,000 MT. For GI sheets, the estimated annual market demand is 700,000 MT, while the total domestic manufacturing capacity is only at 450,000 MT. “These market requirements for GI and PPGI sheets did not take into account the foreseen surge in demand due to the reconstruction efforts in areas devastated by the natural and man-made calamities in late-2013. This is why PASI has been dissuading the government from imposing safeguard duties on GI and PPGI sheets—the impact in the prices of these roofing materials would be too much of a burden for Filipinos,” Garcia explained.

The steel mould's chemical composition along with the manufacturing techniques used during its production, will determine its ability to perform well in a given service environment. State-of-the-art technologies such as specialized, remelting techniques, thermal diffusion treatments and high forging ratios all play a significant role in influencing the characteristics of mold steels.

The Limitations of "Off-the-Shelf" Mold SteelsAnother concern is the precipitation and accumulation of primary carbides in the ingot core. This cannot be avoided in the conventional mold steel manufacturing process. After the ingot goes through the forging and rolling process, these carbides also will exhibit a banded structure. These regions will greatly reduce the transverse toughness properties and as the level of banding increases, the impact toughness of the mold steel will suffer.