Today, Structural Steel Services is an essential part of the construction industry. Structural Steel allows us to create various parts and materials of different shapes and sizes, which are ideal for construction. In the following section, we will learn about structural steel’s history and the origin of structural steel services.
Carbon Steel
Over 4,000 years ago, iron became the most widely used metal because of its hardness and strength (displacing copper) and was used to create weapons and tools. However, in the 13th century B.C., blacksmiths realized that iron became more robust, complex, lighter, and more resistant by tempering it in coal-fired furnaces (carbon was introduced to the metal), resulting in carbon steel. Notably, producing the most reliable and resistant carbon steel is related to the steel used in Japanese swords in the 6th century.
European urbanization and colonization
Although iron and its properties were well known throughout the Iron Age until the Middle Ages, it was due to European urbanization, colonization, and the growth of European populations in the West that the need arose to use a more versatile metal. Then, the search for a more resistant, lighter, and, above all, more economical steel to manufacture it began.
However, it was not until the end of the 1700s that metallurgical manufacturers learned to transform molten pig iron into wrought iron, which stood out for its low carbon content (through blast furnaces), which allowed oxygen and carbon to be combined and slowly eliminated.
Steel production by the Bessemer and Thomas methods
Since the 1700s, wrought iron, cast iron, and steel have been used for construction purposes; however, steel production was costly, so steel was only used for high-end parts.
It took a whole century before, in 1855, thanks to the advancement of technology used during the Industrial Revolution, when a more efficient method of producing steel with higher tensile strength was possible. This method was known as the Bessemer Method, by which Sir Henry Bessemer (using a machine known as the “Bessemer Converter”) could manufacture steel more economically and efficiently.
Fourteen years after Bessemer’s invention, it was possible to increase the quality of steel through inventor Sidney Thomas’s method, which consisted of the elimination of phosphorus in steel, which made it possible to produce cheaper steel, which meant a significant increase in steel production, making the United States the world leader in steel production, going from producing 380,000 tons per year to 60 million tons per year; this happened from the invention of the Thomas method in 1875 until 1920.
Structural Steel Service
Since then, due to the high demand for structural steel for the construction of essential works and the increase of urbanization in big cities, the structural steel service became a fundamental piece for the evolution and growth of cities. Structural Steel service has been benefiting from the advancement of technology, which has allowed companies like Aggressive Tube Bending to produce and supply stronger, lighter, more durable, and versatile structural steel parts, in addition to a wide range of sizes and shapes that meet the needs of the construction industry.
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