Experimental Study of Cold-Formed Ferritic Stainless Steel Hollow Sections

Stainless steel is gaining increasing use in construction because of its durability, favorable mechanical properties, and aesthetic appearance, with the austenitic grades being the most commonly used. Austenitic stainless steels have a high nickel content (8–11%), resulting in high initial material cost and significant price fluctuations; this, despite its desirable properties, represents a considerable disadvantage in terms of material selection. Ferritic stainless steels, having no or very low nickel content, may offer a more viable alternative for structural applications, reducing both the level and variability of the initial material cost while maintaining adequate corrosion resistance. There is currently limited information available on the structural performance of this type of stainless steel. Therefore, to overcome this limitation, a series of material, cross section, and member tests have been performed, covering both the standard EN 1.4003 grade (similar to the chromium weldable structural steel 3Cr12) and the EN 1.4509 grade (441), which has improved weldability and corrosion resistance. In total, 20 tensile coupon tests, 16 compressive coupon tests, eight stub column tests, 15 flexural buckling tests, and eight in-plane bending tests were carried out. Precise measurements of the geometric properties of the test specimens, including the local and global geometric imperfections, were also made. The experimental results are used to assess the applicability of the current European (EN 1993-1-4) and North American (SEI/ASCE-8) provisions to ferritic stainless steel structural components. In addition, the relative structural performance of ferritic stainless steel to that of more commonly used stainless steel grades is also presented, showing ferritic stainless steel to be an attractive choice for structural applications.