In part one of this two-part blog, we went over some of the simple terms and dimensions that come with various areas of structural steel. This is a wide category that spans many large building capacities, and if you’re buying in this realm, you need to know the proper terminology.

At Wasatch Steel, our steel services include helping you in all such areas. Let’s go over a few more sub-categories of structural steel, laying out their basic terms, dimensions and measuring requirements.

Structural Angle

Structural angle refers to a steel bar complete with an L-shaped cross section, forming a 90-degree right angle. It’s one of the most common types of metal used in fabrication and repairs due to its high strength. It may come with equal sized legs or unequal ones, and measurements for structural angle are based on these legs (also called flanges) – both their length and their thickness. North American dimensions will be expressed in inches while millimeters will be used elsewhere.

HSS Rectangular and Square Tube

HSS stands for hollow structural steel, which has become one of the most vital materials in the construction industry around the globe. It’s huge in the fabrication of enclosures, automobiles and other structures, and comes in three prominent shapes: Round, square and rectangular. Benefits of HSS tube include uniform strength, high strength-to-weight ratios, increased formability, high resistance to torsional loading but low resistance to air or water flow, and an ease in fitting matting parts together. It’s particularly noted for its uses in compression column applications.

For square and rectangular tube, outer dimensions and wall thickness are the important considerations. These will be measured by inches or millimeters, depending on where you are in the world.

HSS Round Tube

Round tube is measured in many of the same ways as square and rectangular tube – using the outside size measurements and tube wall thickness.

For more on structural steel, or to learn about any of our steel services, speak to the pros at Wasatch Steel today.