H-beams are one of the four major types of steel products (sheets, pipes, sections, and wires). According to their cross-sectional shapes, sections are categorized into simple section sections and complex section sections (special-shaped steel). The former includes square steel, round steel, flat steel, angle steel, hexagonal steel, etc., while the latter encompasses I-beams, channel steel, rail steel, window frame steel, and bent sections, etc.
Square steel – steel with a square cross-section, available in two types: hot-rolled and cold-rolled; hot-rolled square steel with side lengths of 5-250mm; cold-drawn square steel with side lengths of 3-100mm.
Round Steel – A steel with circular cross-section, available in three types: hot-rolled, forged, and cold-drawn. Hot-rolled round steel ranges from 5 to 250mm in diameter, with 5-9mm commonly used as the raw material for drawing wires, known as wire rod; due to its supply in coils, it is also called hot-rolled coil. Forged round steel is thicker and used for shaft blanks. Cold-drawn round steel has a diameter of 3-100mm, with high dimensional accuracy.
Flat Steel – steel with widths ranging from 12 to 300mm, thicknesses from 4 to 60mm, and a cross-section that is slightly beveled with a clean edge. Flat steel can be finished steel or used as billets for welded pipe production and as thin slab billets for rolling.
Angle Iron - Available in equal and unequal angle iron. The specifications of angle iron are indicated by the dimensions of the side length and thickness. The commonly produced angle iron specifications range from 2 to 20 numbers, representing the centimeter length of the side. For example, a #5 equal angle iron refers to angle iron with a side length of 5 cm (50mm). The same number of angle iron often has 2 to 7 different thicknesses.
Reinforcement bars are not profiled steel.
Classification of Steel
Similar Introduction
Ferrous metals, steel, and non-ferrous metals
Before introducing the classification of steel, let's briefly discuss the basic concepts of ferrous metals, steel, and non-ferrous metals.
1. Ferrous metals refer to iron and its alloys, such as steel, pig iron, ferrous alloys, cast iron, and so on. Both steel and pig iron are alloys based on iron, primarily adding carbon as the main element, collectively known as iron-carbon alloys.
pig iron is a product produced by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace, primarily used for steelmaking and casting.
By melting cast iron in a cupola furnace, cast iron (in liquid form) is obtained. Casting this liquid cast iron into molds results in cast iron products.
Iron alloys are composed of iron mixed with elements such as silicon, manganese, chromium, and titanium. They are one of the raw materials used in steelmaking, serving as deoxidizers and alloying element additives during the process.
2. Iron ore used in steelmaking is melted in a steelmaking furnace according to a specific process, resulting in steel. Steel products include ingots, continuous casting slabs, and various steel castings produced directly. When we typically refer to steel, it usually means steel that is rolled into various types of steel products. Steel is a type of ferrous metal, but it is not equivalent to all ferrous metals.
3. Non-ferrous metals, also known as有色金属, refer to metals and alloys other than ferrous metals, such as copper, tin, lead, zinc, aluminum, as well as brass, bronze, aluminum alloys, and bearing alloys. Additionally, in industry, metals like chromium, nickel, manganese, molybdenum, cobalt, vanadium, tungsten, and titanium are used. These metals are primarily used as alloying agents to enhance the properties of metals, with tungsten, titanium, and molybdenum often used to produce hard alloys for cutting tools. These non-ferrous metals are collectively termed industrial metals. Furthermore, precious metals such as platinum, gold, and silver, as well as rare metals, including radioactive uranium and radium, are also included.
