blog 6 - Weather Climates Affect the steeel

 25-august-2020

Hello Everyone,

Ontario Steel Buildings

How does weather impact steel?

Low temperatures can adversely affect the tensile toughness of many commonly-used materials in the building

Tensile toughness is a measure of a material’s brittleness or ductility (the tendency to deform before fracturing); it is often estimated by calculating the area beneath the stress-strain curve.

Ductile materials – These materials absorbs significant amounts of impact energy before fracturing,

Brittle materials – Brittle materials, on the other hand, tend to shatter on impact.  

In general, materials with high ductility and high strength have good tensile toughness.  However, depending on the material, tensile toughness can be very sensitive to temperature changes.

Cold weather temperatures can negatively affect the safe working capacity of cranes and heavy-lifting equipment. The steel in these pieces of equipment can experience a shift from ductile to brittle if the temperature drops below a certain point.

This shift is known as the “ductile-to-brittle-transition” temperature (DBTT), the “nil-ductility transition” temperature, or the “15 ft*lb transition” temperature, and the temperature at which this shift occurs varies from material to material.

What steel can be used to reduce the impact of cold weather?

According to the standard, a type of high-tensile plate steel, has excellent low-temperature properties – although it is not recommended for structural use below -46ºC as it can become very brittle.

Due to its excellent low-temperature properties, some engineering companies are using this material to make equipment that is specifically designed for lower temperatures. The steel, which gains its characteristics from the process of quenching and tempering, possesses improved strength and flexibility when compared to other steel products.

What should be considered when working in freezing temperatures?

While we have found a way for steel to be safer in low temperatures, it’s still incredibly important that those operating cranes and heavy-lifting equipment in freezing conditions should take safety precautions.

It is common for most of them to specify a minimum operating temperature of -20°C, as it is easy and cost-effective. However, it is more than likely that many pieces of equipment will be used at lower temperatures than that.

Switching to a quenched and tempered steel can give you a crane that is able to operate in – 40°C. However, many companies are using equipment that has a -20°C rating at -30°C or colder. This means they are completely liable for doing so and cannot predict the mode of failure.

It’s important that you are aware of what temperature you can operate your equipment at.

By being aware of the dangers of operating the equipment in cold temperatures, you can ensure that your employees are safe from potential accidents

with regard,

B.Deepak srinivasan