With the introduction of the revised Australian Standard – AS/NZS 1163:2009 – for Structural Steel Hollow Sections, the local market is poised to see a raft of new higher-strength, lighter steels.
OneSteel Australian Tube Mills has announced its C350 Grade product will be superseded by its stronger Grade C450PLUS in the typical structural RHS range, which meets the new standards.
Tubular development manager of OneSteel Australian Tube Mills, Arun Syam, said OneSteel standards are important to ensure the continual improvement of marketed products. OneSteel even has a program called ‘Build with Standards’ which promised the company will do everything it can to keep at the forefront of design.
“There are many benefits to harnessing the attributes of higher-strength tubular steels for structural applications. These include lighter structures which have a flow-on effect to more effective ancillary systems such as foundations and supports or the ready ability to take significantly more structural loads,” Syam said.
The C450PLUS range extends from 65x65mm through to 400x400mm and equivalent rectangles. Sizes below this range are available as C450PLUS on request, ex rolling.
“C450PLUS has the higher-strength qualities of Grade C450L0 to AS/NZS 1163 and also possesses the elongation, formability and weldability benefits of the Grade C350. This will aid engineers, specifiers, fabricators, manufacturers, and asset owners in many industries such as building construction, manufacturing, resources, agricultural and transport – that is, any application where strength governs for imposed structural loadings,” Arun said.
“All of OneSteel’s C450PLUS tubular products also satisfy the “L0” impact testing requirement which is a very important attribute for tubular elements in dynamic loaded and low temperature environments. Worldwide research has noted the importance of the L0 rating for medium-thick walled tube for structural performance as well as providing a good indication of the quality of the steel.”