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The Nitty-Gritty of Structural Steel Used in Construction

27 October 2020 by Connor Peters

Many buildings rely on steel to form the basis of their structure. The structural steel supports most elements of the building, including pillars and beams. Notably, steel offers lots of other advantages apart from the aspect of strength. The ability to use prefabricated components means that you can assemble your structural steel speedily on site. It doesn't have to be a wet process that starts and ends on the site. The fabrication of structural steels happens in a regulated environment.

Indeed, your construction project's success depends on the efficiency of the fabrication process used when fabricating your structural steel. Here is what the best fabricators do:

1. Surface Cleaning and Decontamination

Surface cleaning and decontamination are an essential process when fabricating structural steel. It is the secret ingredient needed to keep the steel from corrosion after it encounters wet concrete during construction. The process is also essential for ensuring that any additional paint and protective coatings adhere well to the steel for optimal durability.

The cleaning and decontamination should not happen by hand. Methods like wire brushing will not suffice in this case. The best fabricators use blast cleaning. Here, abrasive particles run over the surface of the steel at high speed. Slag and shot grits are also brought into the process to roughen the surface of the steel. Ideally, the rough surface favours paint adherence and improve contact between the concrete and the structural steel.

2. Machining and Cutting

The next area of focus is getting your structural steel into shapes and sizes that will meet your construction needs. Cutting the steel to length is essential for the fast assembly of your steel components. Fabricators use cropping and shearing to shape and cut reinforcing steel. If your construction project requires steel plates, fabricators use heavy-duty hydraulic shears to shape the material.

Secondly, your structural steel can also be cut to size using flame burning or cutting. A pressurised mixture of combustible gases like propane and oxygen shoot through tiny holes on a cutting nozzle. The heat focuses on narrow bands that melt the steel and deliver the cut. Such non-intrusive cutting techniques are ideal for structural steel, as there are minimal chances of creating weak spots for corrosion.

3. Straightening, Rolling and Bending

Handling operations during transit and assembly can distort your structural steel. Thankfully, the fabricators can restore the material using gag presses and rolls before you can fit it on your structure. Gag presses are effective at straightening and restoring steel bars, beams and angles.

To learn more about this process, contact steel fabrication companies. 

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