Finishers to Steel Fabrications

Location: Peterborough

What is Steel Finishing?

It goes without saying that any steel product needs to be finalised to a high standard. Every piece of structural steel needs to be finished properly, as well as manufactured to the expected European standards and regulations. Ensuring each steel beam is fabricated with consistency, high attention to detail, precision and accuracy are all vital parts of the steel fabrication process. Therefore, it’s only fair to say that when structural steel beams have been fabricated successfully, the finishing touches are added with the same level of diligence and thoroughness.

If steel finishing hasn’t been carried out correctly, it will undermine the hard structural steel fabrication work you have done. In addition to this, a lack of care in steel finishing could subject your steelwork to corrosion and damage further down the line. This could ultimately mean that your products’ lifespan could be significantly reduced.

Steel Finishing Process

In the steel fabrication stages, it’s common that any type of steel (from parallel flange channels to equal angle steel or hollow section steel) are subject to burning, cutting, welding and much more that can’t simply be summarised in one blog post. There is a good chance that the heavy machinery will leave any beam, column or bar with scrapes, marks and grazes that pose a risk to succumbing to rusting and corrosion. Certainly if the steel is going to be exposed to high levels of moisture or atmospheric pollution, there is greater risk to deterioration.

Rusting is highly detrimental to the longevity and durability of steel, so for long-term projects where steel will be needed to withstand the test of time, it is essential to find a solution to prevent rust from forming.

There are two main methods of steel finishing, which we have outlined below. Both are methods of applying a decorative and protective coating to finished fabricated steel, which in turn help the steel to resist corrosion and improve its structural integrity.

Additionally, some steel fabrication companies incorporate abrasive blasting (otherwise known as sandblasting or shot blasting) as part of their fabrication process. This is the method of propelling a stream of abrasive materials onto a rough surface, to smoothen it, shape it or remove certain contaminants. Deburring also often takes place at this stage, which is the process of removing sharp edges (burrs) and leaving smooth edges. These processes ensure that steel finishing is easier and appears more consistent than if the steel has not received this treatment.

Primed Steel

Priming is the process of applying coats onto a piece of steel. The technique of priming steel involves using a paint that is high in zinc phosphate, an active corrosion-resistant material. The compound in the paint reacts in water, and prevents anodes forming on the surface of the steel. Knowing how many primer coats should be applied depends on the steel, as well as where it will be installed and whether this will be exposed to oxygen and water regularly.

One of the advantages of using primer paint on steel is its environmental friendliness. Steel primer finishing techniques have been continually developed since their inception to improve durability while retaining a solid level of environmental protection. It is now a legal requirement for paint products to minimise the amounts of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) released.

Galvanised Steel

Galvanising steel is the process of coating the material with zinc, which is achieved by dipping the steel in molten zinc. Once the zinc has cooled, it reacts with the steel to form zinc carbonate, which protects the steel in two distinct ways:

• Protecting the base metal from direct contact with the atmosphere
• The zinc will corrode in preference to the steel it is protecting, due to its greater electronegativity

One advantage of using galvanised steel is how long it lasts. The corrosion of zinc is very slow, which gives it an extended lifespan while protecting the base metal underneath the coat.