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Steel for agricultural engineering

An implement frame spends its life on ground that is never level. Load arrives as a jolt rather than a curve, the machine works flat out for a few weeks a year, and it stands outside for the rest of them. Whatever the structure has to survive, it has to survive in series, because the same frame will be built again next month.

We supply hollow sections and tubes for trailers, implements and machinery structures in agricultural engineering, together with the laser processing, cutting and bending that turn a length of steel into a part ready for the welding jig.
Monumentaler Traktorreifen in der Stahlhalle

What agricultural equipment asks of a section

Field machinery is loaded in shocks, built in repeat quantities and exposed to substances that most steel structures never meet. Three requirements decide most material selections.

Load that arrives as a shock

Furrows, stones, headland turns and transport on farm tracks put alternating and impact loads into the same welded joints, season after season. Hot finished hollow sections are formed at normalising temperature, which gives them a uniform grain structure and hardness across the whole cross section and stable mechanical properties in the corner and weld seam areas. They also behave well at low temperatures, which matters for machinery that works from the first frost onwards.

Stiffness where the structure reaches out

Working widths have grown, and a boom, a tool bar or a folding frame carries its load a long way from the point where it is supported. A closed section resists torsion far better than an open one, and very small corner radii give hot finished sections a larger material cross section, so the structural values rise at the same outside dimension rather than at a larger envelope. Since every kilogram in the frame is a kilogram pressing on the soil, the question is rarely the strongest section but the stiffest one inside the weight that is allowed.

A surface exposed all year

Fertiliser, slurry, silage effluent, crop protection chemicals and wet soil act on the structure, and the machine is usually parked outdoors between seasons. A closed section has less area to protect than an open one and no re-entrant corners that hold dirt. Hot finished sections carry no work hardening in the corner areas, a known cause of cracking, so they can be welded and hot dip galvanised without special precautions, with galvanising itself following EN ISO 1461. The filling and venting openings a galvanised hollow section needs can be cut in on the laser in the same operation as the connection geometry.

The range we supply

Hollow sections and tubes in structural and high-strength grades, available in rectangular, square, round, oval and semi-oval profiles. Cold formed sections to EN 10219 suit standard frame and guard construction, while hot finished sections to EN 10210 meet higher demands for impact loads, low temperatures and wall thicknesses.

The hot finished S355J2H programme covers a wide dimension range, with manufacturing lengths of 12 metres and cutting to size.

Special grades and non-standard dimensions are available on request.

Our steel trading products

Hot Formed Hollow Sections

Hot Formed Hollow Sections

Cold Formed Hollow Sections

Cold Formed Hollow Sections

Seamless Tubes

Seamless Tubes

Precision tubes

Precision tubes

Hollow sections to EN 10210 and EN 10219

Square

15 x 15 mm to 500 x 500 mm; EN 10210 hot finished up to 400 x 400 mm with wall thicknesses up to 20 mm, EN 10219 cold formed up to 300 x 300 mm with wall thicknesses up to 12.5 mm

Rectangular

15 x 10 mm to 600 x 400 mm; EN 10210 hot finished up to 500 x 300 mm with wall thicknesses up to 20 mm, EN 10219 cold formed up to 400 x 200 mm with wall thicknesses up to 12.5 mm

Shaped tubes

EN 10219 up to 120/80 and 100/100, wall thicknesses up to 5 mm, length 6,000 mm

Grades

S235JRH, S275J2H, S355J2H, S355NH, S420NH, S460NH, stainless steel and various special grades

Sub grade designations

JR at room temperature, J0 at 0 °C, J2 and K2 at -20 °C, N for normalized fine grain steels, L for specified impact properties at -50 °C

Stock programme

Hot finished in S355J2H and S355NH; cold formed in S235JRH, S275J2H and S355J2H

Stock range and delivery programme

Stock range and delivery programme vary between markets. Your local ALUKÖNIGSTAHL team will confirm what is available for your project. The programme covers hollow sections, tubes and rolled steel. Bridge equipment such as bearings, expansion joints and drainage is not part of it.

Services we offer

Agricultural equipment is built in series more often than in single pieces, and the cost of a frame is decided by the fiftieth one, not the first. What matters is whether each part goes into the jig the same way, without measuring, marking and reworking.

3D tube laser cutting

Connection geometries, copes, bolt hole patterns, openings for hydraulic and electrical lines, mounting positions for tine holders and bearing brackets, and the filling and venting openings needed before galvanising are cut into the section in one operation, to the same geometry on every part. That removes steps from your own production, gives optimised weld edges for better weld quality, and adds positioning aids that cut out measuring and marking before the frame is welded.

Bending

Cold bending, hot bending, rolling and press bending through our bending partners. This is the route to curved guards, hoops, tank cradles and frame members that would otherwise be segmented and welded together from straight pieces. Send the section, the radius and the tolerance and we will come back on what is feasible for that combination.

Sawing and cutting to length

Fixed length cuts as well as single and double mitre cuts. Members arrive in the lengths your assembly needs, which simplifies handling and avoids costly offcuts in your own workshop.

Sandblasting

Removal of rust, scale, soiling and paint residues, so that the surface is prepared for the coating or galvanising step that follows.

Laser processing envelope

Hollow sections and open sections are processed continuously. The finished part lengths cover tool bars for large working widths in one piece, without a splice.

Laser work is carried out in line with EN ISO 9001, EN 1090-2 and EN ISO 9013.

The machine stays yours. Conformity assessment of the finished machine, type approval of a trailer or of interchangeable towed equipment where you apply for it under Regulation (EU) No 167/2013, and the welding certification your production works to, for example to ISO 3834, are yours to hold. What we supply is the material and the preparatory operations agreed with it.

Sizing

Enveloping circle diameter up to 610 mm
Hollow sections and oval tubes up to 500 x 300 mm and 400 x 400 mm
Open sections up to 500 x 300 mm
Material thickness, steel up to 22 mm
Finished part length up to 14,000 mm
Weight up to 290 kg/m
File formats STEP, IGES and IFC for 3D model imports, plus DWG, DXF and PDF

For an enquiry, send a STEP file together with a PDF, DWG or DXF drawing. For simple parts a PDF is sufficient. Prefabrication services are available in selected markets.

Where these sections are used

Typical applications for hollow sections and tubes in agricultural machinery and equipment construction. If your structure is not among them, the fastest route is a conversation with our steel team.

Trailer and tanker frames

Longitudinal members, cross members and drawbar structures for tipping trailers, loader wagons and slurry tankers, mostly galvanised and produced in repeat quantities.

Implement frames and tool bars

Carrier frames for cultivators, harrows, seed drills and mowers, where tine and bearing mountings are repeated along the same member.

Booms and folding structures

Sprayer booms and folding frames that reach far out from their support, unfold and fold thousands of times and are loaded in torsion on uneven ground.

Loader arms and attachments

Frames for front loaders, pallet forks, bale handling and grabs, loaded in impact rather than steadily and often working in confined yards.

Feeding and conveying equipment

Supporting structures for feed mixers, augers, elevators and conveyors, in continuous operation during the season and in contact with abrasive material.

Livestock housing and yard equipment

Gates, feed barriers, penning and yard fittings, usually galvanised, in an atmosphere loaded with ammonia and moisture.

Questions we are asked regularly

Get in touch with us

Send us the frame drawing, the parts list or a model and our steel team will come back with the section, the grade and the prefabrication steps that fit your production and your quantities. On request we will assess the potential of 3D laser processing directly at your site.

Request a quoteTalk to the steel team