BASIC CIVIL ENGINEERING

STEEL
 STEEL

• Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon with a small percentage of other metals
such as nickel, chromium, aluminium, cobalt, molybdenum, tungsten etc.
• Steel is a hard ductile and malleable solid and is probably the most solid
material after plastic and iron
• If we draw a comparison between iron and steel, we find steel in many ways
even better than iron. Steel may not be as strong as iron is but it far more
resistant and does not corrode and does not get rusted like iron does.

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 STEEL as a construction material

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 Types of Steel
• High-Carbon Steel: Steel with a more percentage of carbon in it. Most common abroad.
Gives high strength; Fe415, Fe500.

• Mild Steel: Very low content of carbon. Most common in India Gives better ductility;
Fe250.

• Medium Carbon Steel: Normal content of carbon that means that they are not as hard as
the high carbon and neither are they as ductile the Mild carbon steel.

• Stainless Steel: Stainless steel is the most resistant steel of all the types. It apart from
carbon contains 11% chromium and some amount of nickel. The stainless steel in
particular is resistant to any sort of external attack. Almost scratch proof.
 Types of Steel
• Nickel Chromium Steel: Nickel chromium steel is a special type of steel which apart
from being strong is also shock resistant

• Aluminum Steel: Aluminum steel is smooth steel with a high content of aluminum.
Because of its strong and smooth surface it is used in the making of furniture.

• Chromium Steel: Chromium steels have a high content of chromium and are resistant to
corrosion. They are very strong, tensile and elastic in nature.

Increase in carbon content increases the SHEAR STRESS and HARDNESS, at the same
time decreases the DUCTILITY and TOUGHNESS.
 Stress strain plot of MILD STEEL

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 Stress strain plot of MILD STEEL vs HYSD STEEL

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 MILD STEEL
• Also called Plain Carbon steel
• Material properties acceptable
for many applications
• Carbon content: 0.05-0.25%
• Density: 7850 kg/m3
• Young’s Modulus: 210 GPa

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 MEDIUM CARBON STEEL
• Carbon content: 0.3-0.6%
• Manganese content: 0.6%
• Ductile
• Strong
• Long wearing properties
• Used in large parts of machinery
and forging

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 HIGH CARBON STEEL
• Carbon content: 0.6- 1.7%
• Manganese content: 0.3- 0.9%
• High carbon content: Strong
shape memory

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 Why is STEEL preferred over Concrete
• High Strength and Light weight:
Weight of structure made of steel will
be small
• Uniformity: Properties of Steel do not
change as concrete, Homogenous
• Elasticity: Steel follows Hooke’s law
accurately
• Ductility: Steel can withstand
extensive deformation without failure
under high tensile stress; gives
warning prior to failure.
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 ADVANTAGES
• Speed of erection.
• Quality of construction.
• Ease of repair.
• Adaptation of prefabrication.
• Repetitive use.
• Expanding existing structures.

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DISADVANTAGES
• Sometimes RC structures are
preferred over Steel because steel
structures cannot provide necessary
strength to resist buckling.
• Maintenance cost: Corrosion- Air,
water & humidity- Painted regularly
• Expensive fireproof treatment: Almost
incombustible- but at high
temperatures- reduction in strength
• Strength gets reduced due to cyclic or
repetitive loading

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