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Steel for metal construction

A balustrade, a gate or an entrance canopy is looked at from close up, every day, by people who never read the structural calculation. The section has to carry its load, and it also has to look right at the joint, take its coating without rework and still be on the bench on Thursday, because the site is waiting.

We supply hollow sections, shaped tubes and tubes for metal construction, from the light dimensions of gate and balustrade work through to the sections that carry a canopy or a facade substructure, together with the cutting, laser processing and bending that keep work out of your own shop.
Cinematische Stahlkonstruktion in der Fabrik

What metal construction asks of a section

Compared with a hall frame or a machine base, work in metal construction is smaller in each individual piece, more varied across the order, and usually visible when it is finished. Three requirements decide most material selections.

The section stays in view

In metal construction the section is rarely covered up. Straight side faces and a consistent corner geometry make a mitre close cleanly and a welded joint easy to dress, and narrow face widths keep a post or a canopy member slender at the same load. This is why closed sections dominate work where the finished piece is looked at rather than only calculated.

Many dimensions, few pieces of each

A metal construction order is typically a short list of many different sizes rather than a long run of one. What decides the job is whether the dimensions are held in stock, whether small quantities can be taken from them, and whether the material arrives cut to the lengths your bench needs. Hollow sections are stocked at a manufacturing length of 12,000 mm, shaped tubes at 6,000 mm.

A surface that goes outside

Balustrades, gates, fences and canopies stand in the weather from the day they are installed. A closed section has less area to protect than an open one and no re-entrant corners that hold dirt. Hot dip galvanising follows EN ISO 1461 and coating systems EN ISO 12944, and 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, shaped tubes and tubes in structural grades, available in square, rectangular, round, oval and semi-oval profiles. Cold formed sections to EN 10219 suit standard metal construction, including frames, canopies, facades, gates and fencing.

Lightweight shaped tubes offer thin walls and small dimensions, while hot finished sections to EN 10210 meet higher demands for wall thickness, low temperatures and buckling resistance.

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

Most metal construction shops are short of bench time rather than short of skill. Material that arrives cut to length, mitred, bent and blasted goes straight into the jig, and the work that would otherwise fill a morning stays out of the shop.

3D tube laser cutting

Connection geometries, copes, bolt hole patterns, openings for infill and glass fittings, cut outs for locks and hinges, and the filling and venting openings needed before galvanising are cut into the section in one operation, to the same geometry on every piece. 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 at assembly.

Bending

Cold bending, hot bending, rolling and press bending through our bending partners. This is the route to curved handrails, arched canopy members, radiused gate frames and stair stringers 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. Posts, rails and frame members arrive in the lengths your assembly needs, which simplifies handling in the shop and avoids costly offcuts from a 12 metre length that was ordered for three pieces.

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. For metal construction the relevant limit is usually the small end rather than the large one, since a balustrade post and a gate frame sit well inside the envelope.

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

What we supply is material and the preparatory operations agreed with it. CE marking of the fabricated component to EN 1090-1, the factory production control behind it and the structural design of the finished balustrade, gate or canopy stay with you.

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 metal construction applications for hollow sections, shaped tubes and tubes. If your component is not among them, the fastest route is a conversation with our steel team.

Balustrades, railings and handrails

Posts, top rails and infill frames, indoors and outdoors, where the horizontal load on the barrier and the look of the joint have to be settled in the same detail.

Gates, doors and portal structures

Frames for swing and sliding gates, industrial doors and entrance portals, with cut outs for locks, hinges and drive components.

Canopies and entrance structures

Supporting members for canopies, entrance roofs and covered walkways, often with a bent member and an exposed section that has to look deliberate.

Stairs, walkways and access steelwork

Stringers, landing frames, handrail members and grating supports, usually galvanised and repeated across a building.

Facade substructures and glass roof framing

Supporting structures behind and beneath the building envelope, where the visible face width and the fixing points decide the section.

Fences, grilles and light frame structures

Fencing, protective grilles, greenhouses and light frames, built in repeat quantities from thin walled shaped tubes.

Metal fabricators who also build the envelope

Many of the shops that buy steel sections from us also fabricate windows, doors and facades from the aluminium and steel systems we distribute. If that describes your business, the same local team can cover both sides, and the system pages set out what is available in your market.

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