Welded Structures: Steel Requirements

The properties for steel that is to be welded must be more carefully specified than those for steel that is to be fabricated by other joining methods. The type of construction–bridges or buildings–also affects these requirements. Both the chemical composition and the mechanical properties that are necessary to make a steel readily and efficiently weldable are reviewed. The establishment of special conditions of manufacture and physical attributes necessarily adds to the unit cost of the steel, but it is shown that the decrease in the weight of the structure more than balances this increased cost for each ton of steel. Following the acceptance of welding as an economically sound process, it is expected that welded structures will become widely used.