New fabrication and welding guide for high strength steels

The British Constructional Steelwork Association (BCSA) has published a new guide entitled: High Strength Steels for Structural Applications: A Guide for Fabrication and Welding.

This guide supports the increasing use of high strength steels in the steel construction sector, namely steels with specified minimum yield strengths greater than 355 MPa. High strength steels are often divided into two categories from the point of view of fabrication and welding: those with specified minimum yield strengths up to and including 690 MPa and those with specified minimum yield strengths greater than 690 MPa. The latter, sometimes called ‘mega-high strength steels’, would typically only be used for very special applications and are not covered by this guide.

This new publication discusses the available product forms, steel grades, manufacturing routes, and weldability, and provides guidance on welding process selection, consumable selection and fabrication considerations including thermal cutting, forming and heat treatment.

BCSA Fabrication and Welding Manager Tom Cosgrove said: “With the increasing specification of high strength steels for buildings and bridges, this publication provides useful guidance for steelwork contractors on both the requirements and issues to consider for the welding and fabrication of high strength structural steels. This is particularly relevant with the broadened scope of the recently released 7th Edition of the National Structural Steelwork Specification, which now covers S460 grades.”

The Guide (BCSA Publication No 63/20) is available in PDF format only and can be obtained from www.steelconstruction.org (£25 for BCSA members and £50 for non-members).