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Frequently Asked Questions
Raw iron is the chief ingredient, but it is rarely found pure in nature. Most often it already contains carbon, but usually in too high a concentration. Some carbon needs to be removed, but not all. Because of that, the manufacturing of steel products can be an involved process. First, the raw iron ore is crushed and sorted. There are a number of different refining processes, all designed to sort out the best grades of iron, usually around 60 percent. Ore is the loaded into a blast furnace from the top and heated, while hot air is blown into the furnace from the bottom. The reaction that takes place begins to remove impurities as pure iron sinks to the bottom of the furnace. The molten iron is drawn off and is further heated to allow the inclusion of other substances, such as manganese, that deliver different properties to the finished steel product. Once the steel has been created, it is formed into a number of different configurations, depending on how it will be used. Beam, channel, angle, plate and hollow steel tube are the most common.
Structural steel can come in many different configurations depending on the requirement. The most common configurations include Universal Columns (UC’s), Universal Beams (UB’s) , Parallel Flange Channel (PFC’s), Square Hollow Sections (SHS’s), Rectangle Hollow Sections (RHS’s), Circular Hollow Sections (CHS’s), Rolled Steel Angles (RSA’s) and finally in Steel Sheets and Flat Bars. More information on all of these can be found on our Our Steel Sizes page.
A Steel Splice is a joint used to connect two pieces of steel, usually via two plates bolting the steels together. They are used where it is not possible to insert a beam / column in a length in one single piece. There is two common types of splices, a ‘Butt Splice’ and a 4 Plate Splice. Details of these can be found on our Connection Design and Calculations page.
CE Marking is government accreditation that legally must be followed to show that the manufacture has checked that these products meet the EU safety, health or environmental requirements. By placing the CE marking on a product a manufacturer is declaring their sole responsibility that of its conformity with all the legal requirements. As a company The Steel Team Limited are qualified up to Exclusion Class 3 which means we are legally qualified to work on Houses, Agricultural Buildings, Hotels, Flats / Apartments, Industrial Buildings, Educational Buildings, Retailing Premises, Offices, Parking Premises, Grandstands and Hospitals.
As a company we can supply steel in Raw Mild Steel Finish, Galvanised, Powder Coated and on special request Intumescent Fire Painted. More information of these can be found on our Connection Design and Calculations page.
The main difference between hot rolled and cold rolled steel is one of process. “Hot rolling” refers to processing done with heat. “Cold rolling” refers to processes done at or near room temperature.
At the Steel Team we stock beams and columns in grade S355 to sub-grade J0, plates and hollow sections in S275 to sub-grade JR. All materials can be supplied with test certificates on request. If there is a certain grade you are looking for that isn’t one of the above, please contact our team for assistance.
If you have a set of structural drawings you need a price for, email them to our experienced team at info@thesteelteam.com and we will get a detailed quotation sent back to you. If you need further guidance please give us a call and we can be sure to point you in the right direction.
Our 45ft hiabs have a 15 metre reach which usually goes to the first floor front scaffold, and our 90ft hiabs reach 28 metres which usually reaches the loft of a standard house.