Understanding the Structural Steel Fabrication Process
June 11, 2024 | Categorized in: Production
It can be argued that structural steel fabrication is one of the most important and critical processes on the planet right now. With the amount of steel used in buildings, vehicles, and infrastructure combined with the billions of people who rely on it, structural steel allows our society to operate and grow.
What is structural steel fabrication?
Structural steel fabrication is the process of cutting, bending, and assembling (or welding) steel materials to create structural components used in an assortment of projects. These shapes can include beams, columns, and other frameworks that form the frame of various other structures.
Historically, metal fabrication was very common with elements like copper before being replaced by alloys (mixes of metals) like bronze. These would be ways of forming the metals, primarily into money (coins), weapons, or art and statues.
Nowadays, the fabrication process for making steel is unsurprisingly much more complex. While it is still forming metal (in this case, structural steel) into the dimensions and shape that you need, we now have robotics and production lines to help us churn out more material. This could be tee splitting a steel beam, steel coil slitting, flame cutting plates, and much more.
Structural steel applications
So who uses the structural steel once it’s been fabricated? As we mentioned earlier, buildings and vehicles all use steel extensively for their projects and production. More specifically, the agriculture, construction, automotive, and oil & gas industries use structural steel for everything from car frame safety to oil storage tanks to building fabricated steel structures..
Beyond that, almost every facet of our lives involves steel somewhere; power generation, transportation, heavy equipment, infrastructure, and more all use steel for a strong, safe, and reliable foundation and network.
Structural steel fabrication process
Now that we understand what structural steel fabrication is and how crucial it is to a variety of industries around us, how does it work? Typically, the process starts with project managers engineers designing the structure with specific dimensions and properties of the steel shapes needed. Then these designs will go to structural steel fabricators with specialized equipment for cutting, bending, or welding according to the specifications.
While it will depend on the situation, desired steel shape and size, company, and much more, we’ve outlined the basic steps of the fabrication process below.
1. Cutting structural steel
The first major part of the steel fabrication process is done to start getting the steel closer to its final shape and size. By cutting off large amounts of excess material with tools such as laser cutters, plasma torches, water jets, etc. it reduces the amount of work needed later in the process to refine the metal’s form. Because of the potential danger of working around these tools, the manufacturing facilities also need considerable amounts of safety measures and precautions.
2. Bending structural steel
The next step after cutting is bending so the steel can be shaped closer to what the desired final product is. This could be a very quick process or it could take much longer if repeated bends are required. While some manufacturers prefer the traditional and manual way with a hammer, this isn’t practical with steel shapes that demand several bends or where time is a serious constraint. Instead, using a machine such as a cornice brake or rollers is much more efficient and likely.
3. Assembling or welding structural steel
The final major step in the structural steel fabrication process is assembling the various components together for the final product. This is almost always done on-site and can be done by welding, using adhesive, or riveting depending on the project. The end result is hopefully the final product that the customer expected and the fabrication process is complete.
Structural steel advantages
Structural steel offers several benefits in terms of fabrication, making it a popular choice across so many industries. Some of its top advantages are:
- Durable: Structural steel has a high strength-to-weight ratio allowing it to provide lightweight yet strong structures, some of which can be disaster-resistant.
- Flexibility: Structural steel’s versatility allows for it to be fabricated into complex shapes which allow engineers more design freedom.
- Faster: Structural steel can be prefabricated off-site which helps to reduce construction time and project costs compared to other methods.
- Sustainable: Surprisingly, steel is the world’s most recycled material and is in fact, 100% recyclable and as a large portion of new steel production comes from recycled steel.
Structural steel fabrication cost estimation
The price of steel fabrication depends heavily on the project and the best way to get a better idea of cost as a project manager is to talk to your steel supplier. The complexity of the steel’s design can have a huge impact on the number of pieces, different shapes, type of equipment needed, and much more that can swing prices significantly.
All steel is not the same either — there are many different types of steel that can change the price depending on things like carbon content and corrosion resistance (stainless steel). Even factors like your distance from the fabricator’s plant and time to completion can impact the price of your steel.
Here to supply the structural steel you need
Since 1965, Service Steel Warehouse has created a reputation built on supplying premium quality steel and exceptional service. No matter what kind of structural steel you need, our massive inventory is always ready to ship to get your plans started quickly.
If you’re in the market for high-quality steel and need it quickly, Service Steel Warehouse can supply it. We always ensure you get steel that you can trust and that meets ASTM steel standards. Our ready-to-ship inventory of high-quality structural steel is ready for your order, so request a free quote or give us a call today!