A section designation is a catalogue reference, not a description. HE 200 A is 190 mm tall, HE 200 M is 220 mm, and only the B variant is the height its number claims. UPE 400 is heavier than UPN 400, the flange slope of a UPN changes partway up the range, and the tolerances for an…
A grade designation is half an order. EN 10025 is a six-part series in which part 1 governs how the steel is ordered, documented and weighed, and part 2 governs what the grade is; neither of them carries the dimensions, which come from a separate standard for each product form. The yield figure in S355…
A4 is not a stronger A2. The letter and the number after it describe two unrelated things: the steel group and the property class, and both classes are available in both groups. The part of the standard nobody quotes is part 6, which rules A4 out of swimming pools cleaned with chloride and out of…
Stainless steel and galvanised steel are not two grades of the same product. They are two different answers to rust, and they fail in different ways. Galvanised steel is carbon steel wearing a zinc coat that is slowly consumed on its behalf. Stainless steel is an alloy that carries its own protection through the full…
A corrosivity category describes the place, not the product. EN ISO 9223 sorts atmospheres into six classes from C1 to CX, and EN ISO 12944 uses that classification to decide how much protection a steel structure needs and how long that protection should last. Naming the category at the enquiry stage costs nothing. Getting it…
Two different standards govern the tolerances of an extruded aluminium profile, and which one applies is not a matter of preference: it depends on the alloy, the size of the section and the shape of its walls. Both standards also cover more than dimensions. They set limits on form, which is where most rejected deliveries…
Choosing between aluminium and steel is an engineering decision, not a headline. Steel is about three times as stiff, so it deflects and buckles less for the same section, while aluminium weighs 0.344 of what steel weighs and carries roughly twice the strength per kilogram on a yield basis. A stronger grade changes neither of…
Hot-dip and electro-galvanising both put zinc on steel, but they are not interchangeable. Hot-dip immerses steel in molten zinc and builds a metallurgically bonded coating, from about 20 micrometres per side on continuously coated sheet to between 45 and 85 micrometres on batch-galvanised fabrications. Electro-galvanising deposits pure zinc electrolytically, at roughly 2.5 to 10 micrometres…
Steel and aluminium are traded goods, so their price is built up rather than set: a base metal cost that moves with raw materials and energy, plus surcharges and premiums that reflect grade, form and region. Aluminium is quoted as the exchange price plus a regional delivered premium plus a conversion premium for the shape…
Metal weight is always the same calculation: volume multiplied by density. Carbon steel is taken at 7.85 g/cm3, austenitic stainless at 7.9 to 8.0 and aluminium at 2.70, which is why an aluminium part weighs roughly 0.344 times its steel equivalent. From that one rule come the standard shortcuts: 7.85 kg per square metre for…
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