Considered indispensable in modern engineering, structural steel is a vital construction material and essential for many sectors.
Offering strength, versatility, and sitting as a cost-effective material, structural steel fabrication supports numerous projects and applications across all sectors.
However, fabrication processes require skilled structural steel fabricators who can work with initial drawings and CAD designs, support you with material choice, and carry out fabrication processes such as cutting, bending, welding, and assembly with skill and precision.
Structural steel fabrication is essential for so many reasons and the fabrication process and team you work with play a big part in its success.
Structural steel fabrication
Transforming raw materials into usable construction projects, the fabrication of structural steel involves a number of processes all designed to achieve the final product and meet the final design specifications.
Made up of carbon and iron, professional fabricators will vary the composition of these elements to meet client-specific requirements, meaning structural steel can be customised to meet project specifications perfectly.
Used in:
- Manufacturing – platforms, steel ladders, stairs, mezzanines, steel handrails.
- Construction – beams, columns, plates, and girders.
- Energy – wind turbines, pipelines, oil and gas, platforms.
- Mining – fittings, pipes, grating, rods, beams, rails.
- Shipbuilding – critical components, vessel frames.
- Aerospace – fittings and frames.
- Automotive – component parts.
Structural steel has many uses across all sectors, which we will explore in more detail below.
Benefits of application of steel
The benefits of steel to engineers, designers, architects, and fabricators do not go unnoticed.
It’s these benefits that make it one of the most widely used construction materials on the market.
- A high-quality material suitable for large structures due to its low weight, high strength ratio
- Can be fabricated quickly, supporting timescales and project plans
- Cost-effective material
- Less maintenance and repairs are required with structural steel
- Strong, stable, weather resistant
- Durable
- Flexible
- Sustainable and environmentally friendly
- Malleable and can be customised to meet specific project specifications
- Corrosion and fire resistant
- Adaptable
- Provides structural integrity
- Structural steel can be aesthetically pleasing and powder-coated to meet various design requirements.
Application of steel in construction
Commercial buildings, such as high rises, structural steel provides the core framework for these structures as they can withstand various loads, can be manufactured for buildings of all sizes, and they are resistant to wear and tear.
Ensuring structural integrity and strength and meeting essential criteria, structural steel in these instances allows you to create robust and adaptable structures, open plan layouts, and creative designs; structural steel helps to provide reliable foundations.
Residential use – providing a strong frame for the outline of the building, structural steel is reliable and long-lasting. You can also enhance a building by extending and including additional structures as required.
Parking garages – fabricated structural steel is an ideal choice for the construction of parking garages as they have low construction time, lower cost, are lightweight, and offer long-term durability.
Bridges – structural steel can bear significant loads over extended periods due to its strength-to-weight ratio, making it an ideal material for engineering highway bridges, railway bridges, and footbridges.
Stable and providing a long lifespan, it’s important that you consider material requirements, stress states, environmental conditions, and level of corrosion protection required. An experienced and professional structural steel fabricator will be able to help you with this and provide you with the most suitable options.
Industrial structures – from warehouses to manufacturing plants and processing facilities, structural steel is the bedrock of these industrial structures. Being able to provide support for heavy machinery, precision, and efficient layouts is crucial in the manufacturing of industrial structures.
Our structural steel quality assurance aims to provide our clients with a durable and reliable infrastructure, which is also adaptable so you can create spacious environments, improve productivity, and meet business objectives.
Sporting arenas and stadiums – the structural application of steel allows for it to span long distances and create vast roof structures so you can design expansive open spaces that are secure and contained.
Providing you with strength and flexibility in design and engineering, structural steel provides you with unobstructed views and open and spacious areas.
Ship building – mainly used for the construction of vessel frames, structural steel has the strength and the composition makeup to be able to withstand the harsh conditions of the sea.
Corrosion-resistant, offering structural integrity, and meeting all health and safety requirements, this stable and resilient material is suitable for all shipbuilding critical components.
Structural steel contractors
Due to the benefits of structural steel, we can understand why it plays such an important role in construction projects.
We also know that to achieve these benefits, you must work with a fabrication team that can provide you with high-quality end results.
And this is where we come in.
Morfabrication is a reliable supplier of high-quality structural steel. Our structural steel fabricators are experienced and knowledgeable in the most suitable methods and fabrication techniques, meeting all specifications, tolerances, and project requirements with precision and skill.
To find out more about applications of steel in construction or for support with your next construction project, contact 01918 162718 today.