Material Selection and Quality Assurance

Chiew Sing-Ping
S h l off Ci
School
Civilil and
dE
Environmental
i
lE
Engineering
i
i
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Material, Design & Execution

Design
BS 5950
BS EN 1993

Material

Execution

BS ENs
EN only
l

S EN 1090
BS

Uniquely Singapore!

Design
BS 5950
BS EN 1993

Material

Execution

BS ENs
EN & N
Non-BS
BS EN
ENs BS
S EN 1090
(ASTM/JIS/AS/NZS/GB)

Material Issues ?
Steel material production standards are

substantial documents covering mechanical,

chemical, physical and other delivery conditions
One piece of steel is not necessary the same
as another although they may look the same
We are not the only ones using steel
W never buy
We
b steel
t lb
by weight
i ht
Testing a batch of steel from different parents
is meaningless
Material failure can be sudden and disastrous

Performance Requirements
q
for Structural
Applications
Strength ability to carry load
Ductility ability to sustain permanent
deformation without loss of strength
Toughness ability to absorb damage
without fracture
Weldability ability to transfer load

Grand Challenge Balance Performance !

Ductility
Toughness
Weldability

Strength

Improving the Performance of Steel

The performance of structural steel can be
g three basic mechanisms, i.e.
enhanced through
the introduction of interstitial and
substitutional atoms (micro alloying)
the generation and concentration of
dislocations at the grain boundaries (work or
g)
strain hardening)
the formation of additional grain boundaries
(heat treatment).
treatment)

M
Many
T
Types off Structural
St
t
l Steel
St l

Carbon (non-alloy) steel

Alloy (fine-grain) steel
Cold worked steel
Cold-worked
Heat-treated
Heat
treated steel

Steel Structure at Macro,, Micro and Nano

Level

Physical Metallurgy Crystal Structure

A crystal is a regular, repeating arrangement of atoms or
molecules
Can we see it?
The scanning tunneling
microscope (STM) makes it
possible to image the electron
cloud associated individual
atoms at the surface of a
material. Right is an STM
image of a platinum surface
showing the regular alignment
of atoms.

10

Linear Defects (Dislocations) - Source of

Plasticity
Dislocations are areas were the atoms are out of position in
the crystal structure. The movement of dislocations when a
stress is applied allows slip plastic deformation to occur
occur.

Discovered by Taylor, Orowan

& Polyani in 1934 with the aid
of TEM

Dislocation as seen under TEM ((transmission electron microscope))

11

Micro alloying Pure iron is soft and weak. By dissolving

carbon and other elements into molten iron,
steel with much superior engineering properties
over pure iron
i
can be
b achieved.
hi
d

12

Interstitial and Substitutional Atoms

13

Carbon Steel & Alloy Steel

Carbon steel: carbon and manganese the main
interstitial alloys, with Mn (< 1.65%), Si (< 0.6%) & Cu
( 0.4%).
(<
0 4%)
improving strength with addition of carbon and
manganese.
Alloy steel: essentially low carbon-manganese steel
alloyed with addition of strong carbide or nitride
forming elements, e.g. Nb, Ti or V.
increasing strength by grain refinement and
precipitation hardening.

14

Carbon Steel
A steel ma
may be classified as a carbon steel if (1) the
maximum content specified for alloying elements does
not exceed the following: Mn
Mn-0.60%,
0 60% Si
Si-0.60%,
0 60% Cu
Cu0.60%; (2) the specified minimum for Cu does not
exceed 0
0.4%;
4%;
Carbon steel differ from low-alloy and alloy steel in that
C and Mn are the main strengthening elements
elements. Other
alloying elements are not specified.
Increasing
I
i th
the percentage
t
off carbon
b raises
i
th
the yield
i ld
strength and hardness but reduces ductility and
adversely affects weldability.
weldability

15

High
g Strength
g Low-Alloy
y Steel
HSLA steel have moderate amount of alloying
y g elements
other than carbon. The term low-alloy is used to describe
steel for which the total of all the alloying elements does
not exceed 5% of the total composition.
These steel have been developed
p as a compromise
p
between the convenient fabrication characteristics of the
low cost mild carbon steel and the high cost of heat-treated
alloy steel.
HSLA steel have yyield stresses ranging
g g from 275 to 460
MPa, and well-defined yield points like mild carbon steel.
Theyy are used in the as-rolled or heat-treated in the
normalized conditions.

16

Work Hardening Work hardening also known as strain hardening or

g is a way
y of strengthening
g
g by
y p
plastic
cold working
deformation
Essentially generating and concentrating the
dislocations at the grain boundaries.

17

Grain Boundaries
Transition zones between crystals of different orientation hinders
deformation

(b)

(a)

18

Dislocation Pile-ups at Grain Boundaries

Dislocation pile-ups
pile ups at grain boundaries indicate these boundaries are very strong obstacles to
further dislocation motion.
19

Theory of Work Hardening

20

Examples of Cold
Cold-Worked
Worked Steel

Cold forging for rebars

Cold forging for headings

C ld fl
Cold
flat rolling
lli

C ld rollll b
Cold
bending
di
21

Heat Treatment Improving the properties through control of grain size

and introducing new grains by phase transformation

22

Heat Treatment
Although the properties of steel are greatly affected
by chemical composition,
composition various treatments out of
furnace can also affect the mechanical properties
significantly.
Most of these treatments involve changing the
temperature of steel in solid state,
state and the term heat
treatment is used generally to cover all these
different treatment processes.
processes

23

Mechanism of Phase Transformation

Microstructure
changes during
d ring
heat treatment

High strength, high

toughness, low ductility
24

Common Heat Treatment Processes

Quenching: introducing high strength,
strength fine grained
structures
Tempering:
T
i
refining
fi i the
th microstructures
i
t t
and
d partially
ti ll
relieving residual stresses
Annealing: stress relieving, a treatment opposite to
hardening
Normalizing: refining grains which have been
deformed through cold work

25

Quenching
Quenching consists of heating the metal from
anywhere to 815 to 9000C for most steel and then
suddenlyy cooling
g it in water,, brine,, oil or molten lead.
The rapid cooling causes the formation of fine grained
structures with certain material properties. In
fabricating steel, it is most commonly used to harden
steel by introducing
stee
t oduc g martensite,
a te s te, a very
e y hard
a d but b
brittle
tt e
microstructure.
During quenching,
quenching cooling rate also influences
residual stresses and distortion. Besides, the
potential formation of quench cracks is also a major
problem with rapid quenching.
26

T
Tempering
i
To refine the microstructures and partially relieve
residual stresses, quenching is normally followed by
t
tempering.
i
Tempering consists of normally reheating the steel to
370-6500C and cooling it in air.
As a result, the internal stresses are partially relieved
and the ductility as well as toughness are improved
remarkably, without great reduction in the strength.

27

Annealing
Annealing, also called stress relieving, is a treatment
opposite to hardening (quenching).
It is achieved by heating the steel to a temperature
above the transformation range
g
((higher
g
than
tempering), and after maintains the specific
temperature for a sufficient time, cooling the steel
very slowly in the furnace.
This p
process improves
p
the ductility
y of the steel and
decreases residual stresses but on the other hand,
reduces the yield strength, tensile strength and
hardness accordingly.

28

N
Normalizing
li i
Normalizing includes heating a ferrous alloy to a
suitable temperature above the transformation
temperature range and cooling in air.
It is used to refine g
grains which have been deformed
through cold work. During normalizing, small grains
are formed which lead to a tough metal with normal
strength, but it is not so ductile as steel achieved by
annealing.
Strictly speaking, normalizing is an annealing process.

29

Difference between Tempering, Normalizing

and
d Annealing
A
li
Tempering
To toughen previously hardened steel.
The steel is heated uniformly
y below lower critical temperature
p
and then cooled in air.
Annealing
To relieve stresses and increase ductility.
The steel is heated to about 23
23.9
90C above the upper critical
temperature, and then cooled in the furnace.
N
Normalizing
li i
To remove coarse grained structures in forgings or castings.
The steel is heated to 37.8-93.30C above upper critical
temperature, and then cooled in air.
30

H tT
Heat
Treated
t d St
Steell
Heat-treated steel, mainly quenched and tempered (QT)
steel differ from alloy-steel in that they have a higher
percentage
t
off alloying
ll i elements
l
t and
d th
they rely
l on h
heatt
treatment to develop high strength and improve
mechanical
h i l properties.
ti
They have very high strength (620~690 MPa) and poor
d ili compared
ductility
d to carbon
b or alloy
ll steell and
d are only
l
available in plates.
QT steels do not exhibit well-defined yield points. They
are generally weldable but special welding techniques
are usually required.

31

Examples of Heat-Treated
Heat Treated Steel

32

Thermo-Mechanical Controlled Process

(TMCP)
TMCP combines controlled rolling with accelerated cooling
for grain refinement.
The decrease in strength due to less alloy elements are
compensated
p
by
y accelerated cooling
gp
process
Improved weldability thanks to lower CEV
Absence of post heat treatment
TMCP steel cannot be normalized (or annealed)
After hot rolling the deformed structure
recrystallizes into fine grains which are
prevented from growing by precipitation of
extremely small carbides and nitrides.
Controlled Rolling

33

TMCP Steel Plate by OLAC

Facility Layout

Accelerated Water-cooling
Rougher Finisher

Hot
Leveler

Cooling
Bed

Furnace
(1) TMCP St
Steell
Hot Rolling

Fine grain

On-Line Accelerated Cooling

50m

High strength
Excellent toughness
(2) Conventional Steel
Coarse grain

50m

(1) Advanced TMCP

(2) Conventional process

Low strength
34
Poor toughness

Comparison
p
of DQT,
Q , RQT
Q and TMCP
Steel Plates

DQT: rolling=> cooling => rolling twice => quenching => tempering => cooling in air
RQT: rolling => quenching => reheating => quenching => tempering => cooling in air
g => cooling
g => rolling
g twice => accelerated cooling
g ((without tempering)
p
g)
TMCP: rolling
35

Comparison of Production Process

Temperature

As-Rolled

Controlled Rolling
(Normalized)

TMCP
Water-cooled Type

Slab reheating
Rolling

Rolling

Rolling

Normalizing
Rolling

Direct Quenched & Tempered

Off-line
Rolling heat treatment
Quenching

Rolling

Transformation
(Ar3)

Tempering

Water
Cooling

Strength: TS

400-500(MPa)

400-500(MPa)

500-590(MPa)

550-800(MPa)

Thickness: t

max. 50mm

max. 50mm

max. 100mm

max. over 100mm

Toughness

On-line heat
treated
and
low-alloy steel

Off-line heat treated

and
alloy steel

Weldability
Product Cost

Remarks

t>50mm: Decrease Strength

Countermeasure: Increase Carbon
Increase Strength
Decrease Toughness & Weldability

36

So many different Steel Products!

Hot-rolled coils

Plates

Reinforcing bars

Cold-rolled coils

Coated coils

Slitted coils

Sheet piles

Hot-rolled sections

Rail sections

Wire rods

UOE pipes

37

Spiral-welded pipes

Some Current Material Issues Boron-treated Steel

Hot-Finished Hollow Sections
TMCP, DQT & RQT Steel Plates

38

B
Boron
Hardenability
H d
bilit Enhancement
E h
t
Boron is a potent alloy for hardenability enhancement,
a small amount (3-15
(3 15 ppm) gives the same effect as
the other more expensive alloying elements (e.g.
Molybdenum) for hardenability.
hardenability
H
Heatt treated
t t d low
l
alloy
ll
steel
t l with
ith boron
b
extremely
t
l
high strength, e.g. quenched and tempered boron steel
b for
bar
f vehicles
hi l with
ith yield
i ld strength
t
th off 1300-1400MPa.
1300 1400MP

39

Influence of Welding
g in Boron-treated Steel
(HAZ)

40

Chemical Test Results

C

Mn

Cu

Al

Ti

Si

Cr

Mo

Ni

0.19

0.53

0.002

0.035

0.007

0.026

0.001

0.23

0.012

0.006

0.005

0.008 0.0014

BW

0.19

0.51

0.003

0.033

0.007

0.026

0.001

0.22

0.009

0.004

0.003

0.008 0.0014

0.21

1.6

0.6

0.04

0.04

FG

0.18

0.515
1.5

0.55

0.03

0.025

0.02

0.05

0.40

0.30

0.10

0.05

0.30

RQTS690

0.2

1.6

0.20

0.025

0.01

0.06

0.04

0.50

0.25

0.20

0.08

0.70

0.005

Welding will not change the

B: Boron steel, S275
chemical composition
BW: Boron steel after welding, S275
C: BS EN 10025-2, carbon steel, S275
FG: BS EN 10025-3, normalized fine grain low alloy steel, S275
quenched and tempered
p
steel, S690
RQT-S690: Reheated, q
41

Tensile Test Results

Obvious necking

600

+0.0%
500

400

300

+12.3%

-9.4%

200

Almost no necking
Boron steel

100

Boron steel - welding affected

0
0

10

15

20

25

42

30

35

40

Impact
p
Test Results
IImpactt
Value (J)
Average
(J)

B-W

hr

hr-w

cf

cf-w

228

228

280

245.8

255.4

265.7

228

262.9

Boron steel

Brittle carbon steel

260.6

Boron steel - welded

Cold-formed steel

43

Hot-rolled steel

Can Boron-treated
Boron treated Steel be used?
900

Boron steel
800

RQT: Extremely high strength

& low ductility

700

hot-formed
RQT-S690

600

Boron -> little influence

t mild
to
ild steel
t l

500
400

Typical mild steel:

average strength & good ductility

300
200
100
0
0

10

15

20

44

25

30

35

40

The Answer is NO!

Boron is NOT added to carbon or allo
alloy steel
steel, onl
only in
heat-treated quenched and tempered steel to enhance
hardenability.
hardenability
There is no product standards for Boron-treated carbon
or alloy
ll steel,
t l mills
ill CANNOT create
t their
th i own standards
t d d
such as ASTM A36B or A36 Modified because it is NOT
possible to be certified under BC1
BC1.
We do NOT have Boron-treated welding electrodes and
we do
d nott understand
d t d sufficiently
ffi i tl the
th behavior
b h i off B
Borontreated carbon or alloy steel (HAZ) under the influence
of welding.
welding

45

Rectangular Structural Hollow Sections

2. Form-Square Weld-Square Process

1. Electric Resistance Welding Process 3. Submerged Arc Weld Process

46

Hot-Formed vs. Cold-Formed

Cold-Formed

Hot-Formed
47

Re-Forming Stage Hot vs. Cold Formed

Hot-Formed
Hot
Formed

Cold-Formed
Cold
Formed
48

Study on Square Hollow Sections

Hot-formed & Hot-finished

Cold-formed
Cold
formed

BS EN10210: 2006
Formed hot / formed cold
and heat treated
subsequently (treated as the

BS EN10219: 2006
Formed cold by bending
and welding

same in BS/EN design codes)

Hot-formed / hot-finished: 180mm x 180mm x 12.5mm

Cold-formed:
Cold
formed: 200mm x 200mm x 12.5mm

Similar in appearance,
different in properties
49

Geometrical Differences
The cold-formed hollow section had the largest
g
corner
radii, followed by hot-finished and hot-formed hollow
sections.
Hollow
sections

bm
(mm)

tm (mm)

ro,m
(mm)

ri,m
(mm)

b/t

ro,m/tm

ri,m/tm

Cold-formed

200.53

12.76

30.00

21.75

15.72

2.35

1.71

Hot-formed

180.27

12.72

25.00

12.13

14.17

1.97

0.95

Hot-finished

180.34

12.88

26.75

14.00

14.00

2.08

1.09

50

Welding near Cold-Formed Zones

EC3 1 8: welding may be carried out within a length 5t either side of a

EC3-1-8:
cold-formed zone, provided:
g but before
- the cold-formed zones are normalized after cold-forming
welding;
- the r/t ratio satisfy the relevant values below.
BS EN1993-1-8 Table 4.2

r/t
/t

Strain due to cold- Maximum thickness

(mm)
forming (%)

>3.0

<14

24

>2.0

<20

12

Cold-formed section used in this study: r/t = 1.71, t = 12.76

- strictly speaking, no welding near the corners is permitted !!!

51

Stress (MP
Pa)

St
Stress
- Strain
St i Curves
C
600
500
400
300
200

Cold-Formed
Hot-Formed
Hot finished
Hot-finished

100
0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35
Strain (%)

52

Residual Stress in the Hollow Sections

Cold-formed
200mm 210mm

Hot-formed
180mm 180mm

53

Hot-finished
180mm 186mm

frr/fy

Residual stress in the Longitudinal Direction

Hot-finished and cold-formed:

Similar !!!

Cold-formed SHS
Hot-formed SHS

0.8

Hot-finished SHS
06
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

45

90

135

180

225

270

315

360

-0.2
-0.4

Weld seam
54

Angle ()

C
Comparison
i
off R
Results
lt
Residual stress distributions in cold-formed section
are highly inhomogeneous
inhomogeneous.
The amount of residual stress:
cold-formed
ld f
d>h
hot-finished
t fi i h d > h
hot-formed
tf
d
The hot-finished section also has very high residual
stress
t
The hot-finished section is not fully-annealed as a
hot-formed section

55

C
Concluding
l di Remarks
R
k
The cold-formed section contains the highest residual
stress with the biggest variance while the hot-formed
contains the least.
The residual stress distribution of the hot-finished
section is similar to the cold-formed section.
Treating
g hot-finished as the same as hot-formed
hollow sections in current BS5950 / EC3 steel design
codes needs to be revisited urgently.
g
y
The restrictive Table 4.2 of EC3 Part 1.8 needs to be
revised urgently.

56

How best to achieve High Strength Steel?

Cost of alloys
High CEV
More
alloys

Alloy
elements
Carbon steel
Fe + C

High strength low

alloy steel (HSLA)

High strength
Good ductility

Low alloy
mild steel
Heat
treatment

Cost of heat treatment

Low CEV

Heat-treated steel
(TMCP, QT)

Extremely high strength

Poor ductility
Plates only
Vulnerable to heat
57

Stress (Mpa)

RQT-S690 at Elevated Temperatures

900 0
900.0

25C

800.0

300C

700 0
700.0

400C
400
C
450C

Strength drops rapidly

from 300 to 700C

600.0

500C

500.0

600C

400.0

700C
800C

300.0

Ductility is improved
dramatically

200.0
100.0
0.0
00
0.0

10 0
10.0

20 0
20.0

30 0
30.0

40 0
40.0

50 0
50.0

60 0
60.0

70 0
70.0

Elongation (%)

58

Welding of High Strength QT and TMCP Steel

Loss of strength
and ductility in the
HAZ region

Strength

Ductility

59

Certified ASTM Steel Product Standards

Carbon Steel
A36 (Most common)
Hi h Strength
High
St
th Low
L
Alloy
All
A242, A572 (Co-V HSLA steel), A588 (Thicker weathering
steel), A945 (Low carbon and restricted sulphur), A992
(Rolled wide flange shape steel)
Heat Treated Carbon and Low Alloy Steel
A913 ((QT low alloy
y shape
p steel),
), A1066 (TMCP
(
plate)
p
)

60

Certified BS EN Steel Product Standards

BS EN 10025-1 General technical delivery conditions
BS EN 10025-2 Non-alloy
y structural steel
BS EN 10025-3 Normalized / normalized rolled weldable
fine grain structural steel
BS EN 10025-4 Thermo-mechanical rolled weldable fine
grain structural steel
BS EN 10025-5 Structural steel with improved
atmospheric corrosion resistance
BS EN 10025-6 Flat products of quenched and tempered
high strength structural steel

61

Material Selection & Quality Assurance

BC1: 2008 - Design
BC1
D i Guide
G id
on use of Alternative
Steel Materials to
BS5950

http://www.bca.gov.sg/Publications/others/Design_Guide_on_use_of_Structural_Steel.pdf
http://www
bca gov sg/Publications/others/Design Guide on use of Structural Steel pdf
http://www.bca.gov.sg/Publications/others/Explanatory_Notes_for_BC1-2008.pdf
62

Material Selection & Quality Assurance

BC1: 2012 - Design Guide
on use of Alternative
Structural Steel to
BS5950 and Eurocode 3

63

Conclusions
A huge variety of steel microstructures, hence different
g
g behavior and p
properties
p
can be obtained by
y
engineering
using and combining various strengthening and heat
treatment processes.
Boron-treated carbon and alloy steel should not be used
because it is not possible to be certified.
Be more careful with hot-finished rectangular hollow
sections.
Select your steel from the list of certified steel materials in
BC1: 2012.
TMCP,
TMCP DQT & RQT steel
t l plates
l t are certified
tifi d (for
(f e.g.
ASTM A1066, BS EN10025-4).
For
F quality
lit assurance, ensure your certified
tifi d steel
t l
materials can be classified as CLASS 1 under BC1: 2012.
64