As fire safety and structural resilience gain importance in the design of modern buildings and industrial infrastructure, Tata Steel has developed a hot-rolled, fire-resistant E350 structural steel that can retain a substantial proportion of its strength at high temperatures.
The company on Monday said the steel can retain two-thirds of its room-temperature yield strength at 600°C for up to three hours. The ability to retain strength at elevated temperatures will slow the loss of load-bearing capacity of steel structures during a fire.
It will provide occupants and emergency responders with additional time before structural performance is significantly compromised. The new steel has been certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) under IS 15103, the Indian standard for fire-resistant structural steel.
According to Tata Steel, the product has been developed through an advanced alloy design involving an optimised combination of microalloying elements and microstructural engineering.
The design improves the steel’s strength retention under elevated-temperature conditions without compromising the performance requirements of structural applications.
Subodh Pandey, vice-president — technology, R&D, new material business and graphene at Tata Steel, said as fire safety assumes greater importance in the design of modern infrastructure, material innovation is critical to enhancing structural resilience.
“We are leveraging our expertise in advanced materials and engineering to address such evolving needs. This BIS-certified fire-resistant steel is one such innovation, designed to enhance structural safety while meeting the performance demands of modern construction,” he said.
The development comes against the backdrop of increasing adoption of steel-intensive construction, including pre-engineered buildings and structural steel systems, across industrial, commercial and infrastructure projects.
While structural steel offers advantages in terms of strength, fabrication and construction speed, its strength declines as temperatures rise sharply during a fire, making fire performance an important consideration in structural design.
Tata Steel said its new E350 grade is suitable for a range of fire-resistant structural components, including structural hollow tubes and sections used in pre-engineered buildings. Such components are widely used in industrial facilities, warehouses and other large-span structures.
The product is intended to contribute to safer and more resilient infrastructure by combining the strength requirements of structural applications with enhanced performance under fire conditions, it added.
The fire-resistant structural steel adds to Tata Steel’s portfolio of value-added and specialised steel products to address emerging requirements in construction, infrastructure and engineering through material and process innovation.