TWI’s Industrial Members alert
This is not a TWI related event but is likely to be of considerable value to its Industrial Members in the construction and engineering sector.
The Steel Construction Institute (SCI) is managing and co-ordinating a major European study into the structural applications of ferritic stainless steels (SAFSS) with the aim of increasing the use of load-bearing ferritic stainless steel in construction by providing practitioners with reliable performance data and design guidance.
Ferritic stainless steel is cheaper and more cost-stable than the more commonly used austenitic stainless steels. This is because it contains less nickel, but it is currently under-used due to a lack of reliable information about its structural behaviour.
The new research, which includes material and member
testing, as well as analytical and numerical studies, aims to provide
practitioners with reliable performance data and design guidance in
order for ferritic stainless steels to be specified in structures with
confidence.
In addition to the structural benefits, the project is
also investigating the thermal benefits that may be exploited through
the use of ferritic decking as part of a composite floor system where
the soffit is exposed.
For the study the SCI is working with AcerInox (Spain),
Aperam (France), Arup (UK), Institute of Metals and Technology (IMT)
(Slovenia), Outokumpu Stainless Oy (Finland), Universitat Politechnica
de Catalunya (UPC) (Spain) and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
(Finland).The research is largely sponsored by the European Union
Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) and is expected to take 3 years
to complete.
