A36 steel is a common structural

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...

alloy utilized in the United States.''Steel Construction Manual'', 8th Edition, second revised edition, American Institute of Steel Construction, 1986, Ch. 1 pp. 1–5. The A36 (UNS K02600) standard was established by the

ASTM International ASTM International, formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials, is an international standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, ...

. The standard was published in 1960 and has been updated several times since. Prior to 1960, the dominant standards for structural steel in North America were A7 (until 1967) and A9 (for buildings, until 1940).Historical Listing of Selected Structural Steels
Canadian Institute of Steel Construction, retrieved Oct. 2021. Note that SAE/AISI A7 and A9 tool steels are not the same as the obsolete ASTM A7 and A9 structural steels.

Chemical composition

Note: For shapes with a flange thickness more than 3 in (76 mm), 0.85-1.35% manganese content and 0.15-0.40% silicon content are required.

Properties

As with most steels, A36 has a density of .

Young's modulus Young's modulus E, the Young modulus, or the modulus of elasticity in tension or compression (i.e., negative tension), is a mechanical property that measures the tensile or compressive stiffness of a solid material when the force is applied ...

for A36 steel is 200 GPa. A36 steel has a

Poisson's ratio In materials science and solid mechanics, Poisson's ratio \nu ( nu) is a measure of the Poisson effect, the deformation (expansion or contraction) of a material in directions perpendicular to the specific direction of loading. The value of Po ...

of 0.32 and a

shear modulus In materials science, shear modulus or modulus of rigidity, denoted by ''G'', or sometimes ''S'' or ''μ'', is a measure of the elastic shear stiffness of a material and is defined as the ratio of shear stress to the shear strain: :G \ \stackre ...

of . A36 steel in plates, bars, and shapes with a thickness of less than has a minimum

yield strength In materials science and engineering, the yield point is the point on a stress-strain curve that indicates the limit of elastic behavior and the beginning of plastic behavior. Below the yield point, a material will deform elastically and wi ...

of and

ultimate tensile strength Ultimate tensile strength (UTS), often shortened to tensile strength (TS), ultimate strength, or F_\text within equations, is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. In brittle materials ...

of . Plates thicker than 8 in have a yield strength and the same ultimate tensile strength of . The electrical resistance of A36 is 0.142 μΩm at 20 °C. A36 bars and shapes maintain their ultimate strength up to . Afterward, the minimum strength drops off from : at ; at ; at .

Fabricated forms

A36 is produced in a wide variety of forms, including: * Plates * Structural Shapes * Bars * Girders * Angle iron * T iron

Methods of joining

A36 is readily

welded Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing fusion. Welding is distinct from lower temperature techniques such as braz ...

by all welding processes. As a result, the most common welding methods for A36 are the cheapest and easiest:

shielded metal arc welding Shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), also known as manual metal arc welding (MMA or MMAW), flux shielded arc welding or informally as stick welding, is a manual arc welding process that uses a consumable electrode covered with a flux to lay the we ...

(''SMAW'', or ''stick welding''),

gas metal arc welding Gas metal arc welding (GMAW), sometimes referred to by its subtypes metal inert gas (MIG) and metal active gas (MAG) is a welding process in which an electric arc forms between a consumable MIG wire electrode and the workpiece metal(s), which hea ...

(''GMAW'', or ''MIG welding''), and

oxyacetylene welding Principle of burn cutting Oxy-fuel welding (commonly called oxyacetylene welding, oxy welding, or gas welding in the United States) and oxy-fuel cutting are processes that use fuel gases (or liquid fuels such as gasoline or petrol, diesel, ...

. A36 steel is also commonly bolted and

rivet A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched ...

ed in structural applications. High-strength bolts have largely replaced structural steel rivets. Indeed, the latest steel construction specifications published by

AISC The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) is a not-for-profit technical institute and trade association for the use of structural steel in the construction industry of the United States. AISC publishes the Steel Construction Manual ...

(the 15th Edition) no longer covers their installation.

References

{{Reflist Steels Structural steel

Chemical composition

Properties

Fabricated forms

Methods of joining

See also

References