Structural Stainless Steel—By the Letter

Do you need an ‘S’ beam? How about a ‘T’ shape or ‘L’ angle? When it comes to stainless steel angle, beam, channel, and tee, it’s hard not to get caught up in what can seem like an alphabet soup of products.

Instead, focus on two critical factors when finding the right grade for your project: strength and corrosion resistance.

Strength: Your structural must be able to bear the weight of an object. Take common grades like 304 and 316, which contain nickel. Nickel content helps to increase strength and hardness without sacrificing ductility and toughness.

Corrosion resistance: It’s a good idea to ensure you work with grades that offer high levels of corrosion resistance.

But aren’t all grades of stainless steel corrosion resistant? Technically that answer is yes, but the higher levels of chromium contained within a grade, the higher the level of corrosion resistance. 316 also contains molybdenum, which adds additional corrosion resistance to this grade.

Stainless steel structural typically come in four different shapes:

Stainless Steel Angle

What they are: Hot rolled or laser fused and come in a variety of stock sizes.

Commonly used grades: 304/304L and 316/316L stainless angles are weldable and machinable with appropriate techniques.

Characteristics: Corrosion resistant, excellent weldability, and good formability.

Stainless Steel Beam

By the letter: Stainless steel beams will come in either S or W configurations. These products can be extruded hot rolled or laser fused, while offering greater strength levels and corrosion resistance.

Commonly used grades: 304

Characteristics: Corrosion resistant, excellent weldability, and good formability.

Stainless Steel Channel

By the letter: Structural applications that require very high levels of strength and corrosion resistance use stainless channels, which come in ‘U’ or ‘C’ shapes.

Commonly used grades: 304

Characteristics: Corrosion resistant, excellent weldability, and good formability.

Stainless Steel Tee

By the letter: Stainless tees come in a variety of flange and stem sizes, and are classified in the ‘S’, ‘I’, ‘W’, or ‘H’ shapes.

Commonly used grades: 304

Characteristics: Corrosion resistant, excellent weldability, and good formability.

Looking for a steel supplier in Texas that can help you find the right stainless steel angle, beam, channel, and tee?

Contact SteelNow today and let us find the metal so you don’t have to.