HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERISTICS OF

STRUCTURAL STEELS
CORROSION, FIRE PROTECTION AND FATIGUE
CONSIDERATIONS

Dr. Shamsher Bahadur Singh, PE
Group Leader
Civil Engg. Group
BITS Pilani-333031, (Raj.)
E-mail: sbsingh@bits-pilani.ac.in
Layout of the Lecture
Historical Development of Steel
Metallurgy of steel
Production Process
Mechanical properties
Special steels
Corrosion aspects
Fire Engineering of steel structures
Fatigue considerations


Early constructions in
Steel
Indus Valley, Greeks and
Egyptians (1000 BC)
Wrought Iron as tie bars in
Haghia Sophia (6th
Century)
Galleries for house of
Commons and railings for
St.Pauls cathedral (17th
Century)
18th Century refractory
furnace - Coalbrookadale
bridge
1855 Henry Bessemer
invented the modern steel
making
Iron & Steel Tradition of
India
Our Great Epics
Iron Pillar of Mehrauli
Dwaja Stamba - a rustless
wonder for 1.5 millennia !
Rabindra Sethu!
Numerous Steel
monuments of colonial past
Second Hooghly and
Jogighopa Bridges- Steel
intensive constructions
Visionaries like Tata, Pandit
Nehru and Visweswaraya
have sown the seed for
development in Steel
Into the Lecture ...
Historical Development of Steel
Metallurgy of steel
Production Process
Mechanical properties
Special steels
Corrosion aspects
Fire Engineering of steel structures
Fatigue considerations



What do we do in these situations? And Why
should we teach the students a little bit of
metallurgy?
Bhai Sahib, I saw some pipes lying in your
back door, can I use them as purlins for your
shop floor extension shed?
A failure investigation report say ..the
bolts have matensitic structure in
microstructure analysis.
After exposure to fire the steel member a
hard ness value of 345 PHN.

The world has become cramped ? ! !
So do Engineering
disciplines
No Single conventional
Eng. discipline can exist
on its own
Structural Steel
Construction, Metallurgy
and Mechanical
Engineering disciplines
crisscross each other !
Air Crossing !
(b) Face centred
cube (fcc)
(a) Body centred
cube (bcc)
Crystal structure of Iron
Allotropy of Iron
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
Magnetic
Non-Magnetic
Heating Cooling
768
0
C
910
0
C
1400
0
C
1539
0
C
bcc
fcc
bcc
0
|
o

o
Temp
0
C
Time
Interstitial solid solution
of Carbon in Iron
Steel is alloy of Iron and Carbon !
(Point to ponder)
--Carbon
-Ferrite
More Carbon more
strength? - Yes
But what happens to
ductility?
Adding Carbon - Is it the
only way to get strength?
Is there a limit for carbon
content in structural steel?
Carbon content in
Structural steel- 0.12-.25%
Microstructures of steels
(a)100% Ferrite in extra
low carbon steel
(b)Ferrite+Pearlite
(c) 100% Pearlite in
Eutectoid steel
(d)Pearlite+Cementite in
hyper-Eutectoid steel
SOURCE: Thelning K.E., Steel and its heat
treatment, Butterworths, (1984).
d
k
0
f
y
f + =
Are there any
parameters which increases strength of
steel? Yes, Grain size
Using temperature control we can achieve small
grain size
Using Mechanical pressure during rolling we can
get smaller grain size
0.
0
200
400
600
800
Temp
0

C
Variation of microstructure as a
function of cooling
Time in Seconds
1 10 100 100
0
10
4

10
5

Eutectoid temperature
Mantensite
Mantensite+
Pearlite
Fine Pearlite
Course Pearlite
Full
annealing
Normalise
Oil
quench
Water
quench
Substitution solid solution of Manganese in Iron
-Manganese
-
Ferrite
Are there any parameters which increases strength of
steel? Yes, Additive metals
How much can we add? It Should not exceed C
eq
(0.45)
C
eq
=%C + % Mn/6 + (% Cr + % Mo + % V)/5+(% Ni + % Cu)/15

What happens then (C
eq
>0.45)? Welding becomes a problem !!
Points to Ponder about
steel!
More carbon : more strength; but
negatively affect the important property
of ductility!
Smaller the grain size greater the
strength (Production control)
Smaller additive metals also increases
the strength of steel - HSLA steels
Into the Lecture ...
Historical Development of Steel
Metallurgy of steel
Production Process
Mechanical properties
Special steels
Corrosion aspects
Fire Engineering of steel structures
Fatigue considerations




Iron ore, Limestone and
coal is fed into the BF
Liquid pig iron collects at
the bottom of BF(C-
4.0%;Mn-.5%;P-0.12%;S-
0.05%)
Hot metal is charged into
Steel making vessel.
Oxygen is blown in a
controlled manner to
reduce carbon and
impurities like silicon,
manganese, phosphorous
and sulphur . Final steel is
produced. (C-0.1-.25%;Mn-
.4-1.2%;P-0.05%;S-0.05%).
Oxygen less than 30 ppm -
fully killed steel; 150 ppm
semi-killed steel.

Source:Adams P.F., Krentz H.A. and Kulak G.L.,
Limit state design in structural design SI
Units, Canadian Institute of Steel Construction
(1979).
Ingot
slab bloom Billet
Basic shapes and their relative proportions
Primary rolls for plates
Primary rolls for structural shapes
Molten steel
Into the Lecture ...
Historical Development of Steel
Metallurgy of steel
Production Process
Mechanical properties
Special steels
Corrosion aspects
Fire Engineering of steel structures
Fatigue considerations





F
Standard tensile
test specimen
F
r
t
d
L
c

Area=S
0-

L
Tensile strength of steel
F
Deformed
regions
Moving edges of
Luders band
Luders bands in
tensile test specimen
Tensile test
specimen before
rupture
F
Area=S
-

L
F
F
f
c
y
y

c
sh
~ 10c
y

f
y

Elastic
range
Plastic
range
Strain
hardenin
g range
E
sh

Stress strain curve
for sharp yielding
structural steels
Variation
due to
Luders
bands
c
Stress strain curve for
continuously yielding
structural steels
f
c
c
y

f
y

0.2%
strain
Uniform
plastic
Non-uniform
plastic
Elastic
0.2% proof
stress
Hardness

Hardness is regarded as the resistance of a material to
indentations and scratching. This is generally
determined by forcing an indentor on to the surface.
(a) Brinell hardness Square based
diamond pyramids
of 135
O
included
angle
(b) Vickers Hardness Diamond core with
120
O
included
angle
h
1

h
2

c
Experimental
set up for
notch
toughness test
Test specimen for notch
toughness test
Temperature
Strain rate
Energy absorbed
Region of
Cleavage(brit
tle) failure
Region of
Shear
(Ductile)
failure
Transition
Temperature
Effect of temperature on notch
toughness of steel
Ductile to
brittle
transition curve
1.2
1.1
10
-5

1.0
10
-4
10
-3
10
-2
10
-1

Strain rate in
seconds
-1

)
4
10 x 2 @(
y
f
y
f

33 . 0
.
45 . 0 973 . 0
)
4
10 x 2 @(
y
f
y
f
c + =

Effect of strain rate on the yield strength of

steel
Yield strength
(Mpa)
Thickness (mm)
Type of
steel
Design-
ation
UTS
(MP
a)
<20 20-
40
>40
Elongat
ion
Gauge
Charpy V -
notch
values
Joules
(min)
Fe
410A
410 250 24
0
230 23 27
Fe
410B
410 250 24
0
230 23 27
Standard
structura
l steel
Fe
410C
410 250 24
0
230 23 27
St58HT 580 360 0.0
5
1.00 20 - High
tensile
structura
l steel
ST55-
HTW
550 360 .05 1.00 20 -
Some Mechanical properties of structural Steel
Into the Lecture ...
Historical Development of Steel
Metallurgy of steel
Production Process
Mechanical properties
Special steels
Corrosion aspects
Fire Engineering of steel structures
Fatigue considerations






Special steels
Stainless steels
Stainless Steel grades and their usage
Grade of
stainless steel
Usage
316 (18% Cr) Profiled roofing, cladding, gutters,
facades and hand railingsin
highly polluted environments
304 (18% Cr-
(% Ni)
Decorative elements in areas near
coast line. Also for kitchen and
sanitary warescoastal and less
polluted areas
430 (17% Cr) Roofing, gutters, decorative wall
tiles, hallow structural sections
non-polluted environments
409 (11% Cr) Painted roofing-- non-polluted
environments
Cold rolled steel and cold forming of
steel
Unheated slabs are rolled at ambient temperature
into thin sheets (.3mm-8mm)
Results in smooth surface and improved
mechanical properties
Cold forming of hold /cold rolled sheets
CF sheets are basically low carbon steels which
are reheated to 650
0
C to recrystalise ferrite to get
finer grain size
TMCP steels and HSLA steels
Thermo-Mechanically Controlled Process (TMCP)
steels are becoming popular in obtaining high
strength steels of yield strength of 800 MPa and
thickness even beyond 40 mm.

High Strength Low Alloy(HSLA) also are very
popular which requires very good process
control.
Chemical composition of fire resistant steel
C Mn Si S P Mo+Cr
FRS
s
0.20
%
s
1.50
%
s
0.50
%
s
0.04
0%
s
0.04
0%
s
1.00
%
Mild
Steel
s
0.23
%
s
1.50
%
s
0.40
%
s
0.05
0%
s
0.05
0%
-
Fire resistant steels
Very cost effective compared to structural steel
FRS are available in India
Very popular and cost effective - Japanese
experience
Into the Lecture ...
Historical Development of Steel
Metallurgy of steel
Production Process
Mechanical properties
Special steels
Corrosion aspects
Fire Engineering of steel structures
Fatigue considerations







Electrolyte
C
Metal Connection
Mechanism of corrosion as a
miniature battery
A
Anode
Drop of water
Metal bar
C
A
Cathode
Mechanism of Corrosion in steel
Drop of Water

A

C
Mechanism of crevice corrosion
F
C
A
F
Mechanism of stress
corrosion
The mechanism of fretting corrosion
A
C
Galvanic corrosion
Hydrogen
embritlement
Bacterial corrosion
Types of corrosion




Simple orientation of members
Methods of prevention corrosion - Simple
procedures


Detailing to enhance air
movement between
joints


Simple rule:
Eliminate the electrolyte
Avoid simultaneous
presence of water and oxygen
Is Corrosion a real Problem?
Indian designers feel that steel corrodes most in
India. Is it true?
Steel corrodes all over the world! But they are
better managed in the western countries!
Excellent protective coatings which retain their
life even up to 20 years are available!
Corrosion-where does it matter? Normal inland
there is no problem! Exposed conditions
ofcourse do need attention.
Corrosion is no more a disincentive for not using
steel in housing sector!
Into the Lecture ...
Historical Development of Steel
Metallurgy of steel
Production Process
Mechanical properties
Special steels
Corrosion aspects
Fire Engineering of steel structures
Fatigue considerations








Positive points of steel as a
construction material under fire
Damage to strength of steel due to fire is
reversible in most of the cases
Using the principle if the member is straight
after the fire - the steel is O.K many of the
members could be salvaged.
Up to about 215
0
C steel retains its strength
In the case of concrete, at 235
0
C turns pink;
590
0
C turns red and irreversible damage after
600
0
C
Steel exposed to 600
0
C could be strengthened
and reused.
Examples of fire load in various structures
Type of steel structure Kg wood / m
2
School 15
Hospital 20
Hotel 25
Office 35
Departmental store 35
Textile mill show room >200
Typical fire loads and behaviour of steel
under fire
Typical fire loads and behaviour of steel
under fire
Time (Minutes)
1000
500
0
0
C
30 60 90
Furnace
temperature
Unprotected steel
Fire protected steel
temperature
Mechanical properties of steel at elevated
temperatures
0.5
1.0
1.5
200 400 600 800 1000
Youngs modulus
ratio
Coeff. of thermal
expansion (x 10
5
)
Yield stress ratio
Temperature
0
C
High H
p
/ A
Value
Low H
p
/ A
Value
The section factor
concept
Some typical values of H
P
of
fire protected steel sections
B
D t
H
p

=2D+3B-2t
H
p
=2D+B
H
p
=2D+2B H
p

=2D+4B-2t
Fire Engineering of steel structures- very well
developed in the literature
Methods of fire protection
Spray protection

Board protection

Intumescent coatings

Concrete encasement?

Into the Lecture ...
Historical Development of Steel
Metallurgy of steel
Production Process
Mechanical properties
Special steels
Corrosion aspects
Fire Engineering of steel structures
Fatigue considerations









d
m
n
o
o
Stress
concentrations in
the presence of
notches and
holes
Hole
m n
o
o
Notch
>o
Stress
concentration
Crack growth
and fatigue
failure under
cyclic load
Number of cycles
Crack length
1
2
3
4
o
o
Crack length
Fatigue
crack
+o
-o
Applied cyclic stress
S-N diagram for fatigue life assessment
140
170
200
260
230
290
10
3
10
4
10
5
10
7

Cycles of stress for failure (N)
Stress
range
in MPa (S)
10
6

Endurance Limit
S-N
Curve
Modified Goodman diagram for fatigue resistant
design of steel structures
Schematic stress
diagram
Point of stress
concentration
Stress
concentration
at the weld toe
Fillet Weld
F
F
F
>F
Class F
detailing
according to
IS:1024 (1968)
Weldement
Direction of applied stress



THANK YOU VERY
MUCH !