Fire Safety Journal, 13 (1988) 27 - 37
High Temperature Properties of Hot-rolled, Structural Steels for Use in Fire
Engineering Design Studies
B. R. K I R B Y and R. R. P R E S T O N
British Steel Corporation, Swinden Laboratories, Moorgate, Rotherham $60 3AR, South Yorkshire (U.K.)
SUMMARY
A n extensive programme of small-scale
tensile tests has been carried o u t under both
steady-state and transient heating conditions
to provide elevated temperature data on the
behaviour o f hot.rolled, structural steels
for use in fire engineering design studies.
It has been demonstrated that predictions
on the behaviour o f structural steels at small
strains from data derived under steady-state
conditions are optimistic and information
should preferably be used from transient
tests. However, when temperatures and
stresses corresponding to strains approaching
'runaway' or the 'limit o f deflection' are
compared, then there is negligible difference
between the m i n i m u m properties derived
from either type o f test. Tables o f data are
provided in a form suitable for use in fire
engineering calculations.
1. INTRODUCTION
There are many instances where structural
steelwork is exposed to high temperatures,
either by design or accident, and this causes
significant changes in the strength of the
material. Steels have been used for m a n y
years in the construction of boilers and there
is a substantial body of test data available
which characterize these materials used
under steady-state heating conditions [1].
However, in terms of relating the properties
of steels, particularly those used in the
manufacture of hot-rolled sections, to sim-
ilar stress and thermal histories experienced
by members in fire, the published data are
limited.
When a fire occurs in a building, the
steelwork could be heated to temperatures
in excess of 700 °C and a structural member
0379-7112/88/$3.50
27
would be in danger of collapse if the applied
stress on it equalled, or exceeded, the elevated
temperature flow stress of the steel. The
Building Regulations therefore require that
the load-bearing structural members can be
shown to possess specific levels of fire resis-
tance time as measured in the ISO834 stan-
dard test. Testing the behaviour of steel
elements, sub-assemblies and frameworks in
a fire is extremely expensive and any one
test only provides limited data. Therefore,
great emphasis is now being placed upon
the development of computer-aided models
capable of predicting the distortion in a
framework as the temperature rises. However,
the accuracy and confidence given to these
models is strongly dependent on the funda-
mental data used and, in relation to the fire
engineering design of structural steelwork,
an accurate knowledge of the elevated tem-
perature properties of steel is essential.
The purpose of the present paper is to
summarize the results of an extensive pro-
gramme of testing undertaken to more fully
evaluate the behaviour of structural sl;eels
under simulated fire conditions of tran.,'.ient
heating. These data are suitable for use in
fire engineering models and, in addition, a
comparison is made of some of the data with
information derived from the more tradi-
tional steady-state, hot tensile tests.
2. TESTING METHODS
It is important to distinguish between the
two main methods used f o r testing the
variation in the flow stress of a steel sample
as a function of temperature.
2.1. Tests under transient heating conditions
In many structures, or machines, it is
c o m m o n for a loaded steel component to
© Elsevier Sequoia/Printed in The Netherlands
28
be subjected to a change in temperature and
it is important to know how the resulting
deformation of the material will develop.
For this reason, tensile tests under transient
heating conditions have been devised [2- 7]
in which the load on a steel specimen is
maintained constant while its temperature
is increased at a given rate. The changes in
gauge length are constantly recorded by
means of high temperature extensometers.
In the present series of tests, two steel
qualities were evaluated conforming to
BS4360: Grades 43A and 50B respectively.
These represent approximately 94% of all
the structural steel sections currently sold
by the British Steel Corporation and have
ambient temperature properties similar to
those defined in Euronorm 25-72: Grades
Fe430 and Fe510 respectively.
Samples were prepared by machining
round test pieces from coupons removed
from the standard position, i.e., one-third
of the distance from the edge of the flange
Fig. 1. Photograph of the equipment used for ten-
sile tests conducted under transient heating condi-
tions.
to its mid-point. The specimen shape con-
formed to the requirements of BS18 in
which a gauge length of 40 mm was adopted.
Testing was carried out in a servo-hydraulic
machine fitted with a three-zone, split fur-
nace, Fig. 1. This was programmed to pro-
vide constant specimen heating rates of 2.5,
5, 10 and 20 °C/min which simulated the
average heating rates of fully loaded, steel
sections surviving approximately 4, 2, 1 and
1/2 h in the ISO834 standard fire resistance
test.
During the tests, the prescribed load was
transmitted to the specimens by means of
Nimonic pull rods passing through the ends
of the furnace and hydraulically gripped in
the machine. Specimen strain was monitored
by Nimonic extensometers fixed by pressure
screws at each end of the gauge length. These
provided measurements of changes in elastic
and plastic strain, eel ~and epl, as a result of
the applied loads, in addition to the strain,
eth , arising from thermal expansion. In
order to eliminate the latter from the results,
separate tests were carried out under zero
applied load when eel = epl = 0. Most tests
were terminated when the specimen attained
a strain of 5%, this being regarded as the
upper limit for practical use of the flow
stress data.
2.2. Tests under steady-state heating condi-
tions
In this type of test the unloaded sample
is brought into thermal equilibrium at a
certain temperature and it is then strained
at a uniform rate while the resulting loads
experienced by it are recorded as a function
of extension. Similar tests are then repeated
at other temperatures to build up a family
of load/extension curves from which the
required strengtli/temperature data can be
extracted. Most of the existing data [1]
were obtained by this method.
In the present programme of work, de-
tailed stress/strain data were derived for the
Grade 43A and Grade 50B steels over the
temperature range 20 - 800 °C. These data
were augmented by additional results from
hot tensile tests, to BS3688, carried out on
samples from several notch-tough qualities
of structural steel sections.
The total programme included 240 indi-
viduai tests.

3. R E S U L T S A N D D I S C U S S I O N
3.1. Tests under transient heating conditions
A series of strain (eel + ep,)/temperature
curves was obtained for each steel and heating
rate. Typical curves, using a heating rate of
10 °C/min, are shown up to 2% strain for
Grades 43A and 50B steel in Figs. 2 and 3
respectively. The principal features comprise
a small initial elastic extension, when the
load was applied at room temperature, fol-
lowed by a very gradual increase in length
as the temperature was increased.
At the highest stress levels employed,
all the steels exhibited pronounced yielding
when the elevated temperature flow stress
fell to a value equal to the applied stress on
the specimen. However, the magnitude of
the yield strain was not consistent from
one steel type to another, and this was
attributed to differences in microstructure
arising from the various mill production
processes that are used to roll the current
Heating
Rate
= 10°C/min
I Applied = 250, 200, 150,
1.6 Stress 100,250 , 25
N/mm
1.2
=-
250 N/mm 2
~ 0.8
0.4
00 200
Temperature, °C
Fig. 2. Tensile curves for a Grade 4 3 A steel derived f r o m t r a n s i e n t tests.
29
range of section sizes. In contrast, at low
applied stresses, no distinct yielding was
observed since the relevant temperatures
would be too high for effective dislocation
locking and pinning by interstitial atoms.
In these tests, a substantial part of the ob-
served strain would be due to the reduction
of Young's Modulus at elevated tempera-
tures.
For the purpose of fire engineering design,
data derived from the transient tests can be
presented in two forms:
(a) as a series of derived stress/strain
curves at elevated temperatures;
(b) as a relationship between the ratio of
the elevated temperature proof stress to the
yield stress at 20 °C (ax) and temperature,
where x can be represented by plastic strains
of 0.2, 1.0, 2.0 or 5.0%.
Considering each approach in turn:
It can be seen from the test curves that,
depending upon the magnitude of the applied
stress, certain levels of strain are attained
II
25 N/mm 2
400 600 800
3O

2.0
Heating = 10°C/min
Rate

Applied = 350, 300, 250

Stress 200, 150, I00
50, 25, N/mm z
1.6

1.2

~" 350 N

r/? jJ
0.8

o.4

25 N/mm 2

Oo 200 400 600 800

Temperature, °C
Fig. 3. Tensile cu~es for a Grade 50B steel derived from transient tests.

at specific temperatures. Therefore, by curves of p r o o f stress ratio, ax, pl ot t ed as

selecting discrete temperatures a set of
stress/strain curves can be derived for each
grade of steel. In the case of a heating rate
of 10 °C/min {equivalent to a 1-h standard
fire resistance test), these data are presented
in Tables l ( a ) and l ( b ) for the samples of
BS4360: Grades 43A and 50B steel respec-
tively.
It is possible to use the data at very low
strains in Tables l ( a ) and l ( b ) , to calculate
effective Young's or tangent moduli. When
compared with other published information,
these values appear to be conservative. This
is almost certainly due to the test m e t h o d
and it could be argued that the moduli
derived from the present tests are more
relevant when considering the behaviour of
hot-rolled, cold-straightened, structural steel
sections in a fire.
The alternative m e t h o d of presenting
the data is illustrated in Fig. 4 as a series of
a function of temperature. These again were
derived for a heating rate of 10 °C/min and
have been corrected to record only the
plastic strain, cpl. Use of the dimensionless
ratio, a x , allowed a single, best-fit line to
be drawn for bot h Grade 43A and 50B
steels.
Measurements made during standard fire
resistance tests on steel beams in t he U.K.
have indicated t h a t a local strain of approx-
imately 2 - 3 % is attained at the centre of
the tensile flange when the deflection reaches
the limiting value of 1/30 {span). Strains
of the order of 1% may also be experienced
in column sections towards the latter stages
of a fire test. Inspection of Figs. 2 and 3
indicates that once a strain of about 1% is
exceeded, a 'runaw ay' situation is entered
and while strains of this order in the centre
of a beam or in a column would n o t cause
collapse, imminent failure could be e x p e c t e d
Z ~ ~ O O o o 0 0 0 0 0 o O o O ~ O 0 0 0 0 0 ~ O 0 0 0
. . . . . 0 , o , o . . . . . o o , o o o o o o o o o o o o o
0

.m

o o o ~ o o o o o o o o o o ~ w o ~ ~ o

~ •

°.

o°
q~

0 C
~D

~r
~D

II

o
32

o~ 0

II

0~
o

o
-~J U')

o ~a

0
"0 E 0
E'~

'0
o
0

o ° ° . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~

0
u

E
Z

o . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . .~
C~

"0

cO

O~
0:

0~
~0

0 o. -o . . . . . . . . . . . . . .~ .

° ° . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
0 0 0 o o o o ~ o 0 0 o 0 0 o o 0 o o 0 0 o o o o ~ ~ Z
 i 33
1.o \ %
ao.2
M \ \ 1 oo
I %%%~%\ a2.0
0.8 " a5.0

.,~ -~ 0 6

au.~ \ \%'.

"%,,,
NE

~ 0

I I 1 I I I I I I I
0
200 400 600 800 1000
Temperature, °C
Fig. 4. a0.2, al.0, a2:0 and as.0 versus t e m p e r a t u r e for B S 4 3 6 0 : Grades 4 3 A and 5 0 B structural steels d e t e r m i n e d
from tensile tests c o n d u c t e d under transient heating c o n d i t i o n s .

with a relatively small further rise in tem- Similar analyses of the results obtained
perature. For these reasons, the use of the for other heating rates, namely, 2.5, 5 and
a l.0 factor is advocated to derive flow stress 20°C/min, demonstrated a small heating
data for use in fire engineering calculations rate dependence upon the limiting tem-
as this parameter reflects the behaviour of perature for steel. This has been observed
steel sections in fire, near their limit of struc- by other workers [3, 4, 8] and by taking
tural stability. into account their data, adjustments can be

600
UTS.... -.."'"
~ . ~ ........ "'. "'..
, /:/" ~. ""...
".... , J l ' 5 . o~ Ps '\',.
.- / I'-', ",,".
"'--" I ~..... k."'.
400 /2.~s ~ ~ \'...
/ / -\ ~ .,'...
z -.L.._/'1_O% PS ~ \',:'.
- ~ -. \ ~ (Bs..9)
~ ~N~" Maximum design stress
~200 0.2%. PS ~ ~'.k
%''. in tension, 165 Nlmm 2

I I I I I I I I
O0 200 400 600 800
Temperature, °C
Fig. 5. Elevated t e m p e r a t u r e strength properties o f a t y p i c a l B S 4 3 6 0 : Grade 4 3 A structural steel derived f r o m
steady-state tests.
34

made to the temperature at which 1% strain 3.2. Tests under steady-state heating condi-
is attained relative to a heating rate of 10 °C/ tions
min, by using the following factors: Figures 5 and 6 illustrate data for Grades
43A and 50B structural steel derived from
20 °C/min +15 °C
steady-state tensile tests conducted over the
5 °C/min - - 1 5 °C temperature range 20 - 800 °C. In addition,
2.5 °C/min - - 2 5 °C Figs. 7 - 1 0 show the extent of scatter in

600

.
""'.....
- UTS ...........
.... .
--.__~:'~'--''- ...
• 5.0~ PS " ~ ."'.

Z o.~, PS
0.2~ ,s~~k~: k \.'..
(Bs449)
Maximum design stres@
in tension, 230 N/mm
w
200
4m
in

0 I I I I I I I !
0 200 /400 600 8O0
Temperature, °C
Fig. 6. Elevated t e m p e r a t u r e strength properties of a typical BS4360: Grade 50B structural steel derived f r o m
steady-state tests.

¢q
300

f "~
"X

x\
\

X
\ Steady state tests
~ X X
200 ~-
~.'-. '& ~ (Bs449)
~ ~'~,'.x X% M a x i m u m design stres~
~.~ ~ %\ in tension, 165 N/ram~
0

~. 100 Minimum line ~ §\

c~ from transient ~k~ ~'X
~ -x~

|
0 T ~ I I I I I I O
400 600 800 1000
Temperature, °C
Fig. 7. Relationship b e t w e e n t e m p e r a t u r e and 0.2% p r o o f stress for BS4360 : Grade 43 structural steels.
 35

4oo

X %%
%
\
\
c~ \
\
300 -~ \ / Steady state tests
Z

x ', \ Maximum design stress

\ \ in tension~ 230 N/mr,2
oo 200 ~%%k x\\

c4
d

IO0 Minimum line fro/on ~"X~t~v%.

transient tests ~X~ ,

~<'.I "~-..
-~--._~___~
~_~. , , , , , ,

o ~ - o4 0 600 800 1000

Temperature, °C
Fig. 8. Relationship between temperature and 0.2% proof stress for BS4360 : Grade 50 structural steels.

30o ×~ \\\
c~
x x \\
"<.~ ~\ ~teo~y state tests

\ (BS 449 )
o -- %~ ---~ - - Maximum design stres~
~ ~ in tension, 165 N/ms z

• 1oo Minimum l i n e
transient tests
~rom~
~" %
.,%
o ~ I I I I I I I
0 400 600 800 1000
Temperature, °C
Fig. 9. Relationship between temperature and 1.0% proof stressfor BS4360 : Grade 43 structuralsteels.
36

4oo
X\
\
Xx \ \
~k \\ Steady state tests

~.3oo
\
\
C~
\ (BS449)
Maximum d e s i g n stress
\ i n t e n s i o n , 2 3 0 N/mm 2
\
o200
p..,
g-

M i n i m u m line f r o m >
t r a n s i e n t tests \k.
100
\

C ~ I I I I I I I
400 600 800 1000
T e m p e r a t u r e , °C
Fig. 10. R e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n t e m p e r a t u r e a n d 1.0% p r o o f stress for B S 4 3 6 0 : G r a d e 50 s t r u c t u r a l steels.

the 0.2 and 1.0% proof stress parameters superimposed on Figs. 7 - 1 0 . Comparison
between 400 - 1000 °C, for a wide range of of the effect of temperature on the 0.2%
Grade 43 and Grade 50 steels with signifi- proof stress, Figs. 7 and 8, shows that the
cantly different ambient temperature yield minimum values obtained from transient
stress values. The results clearly demonstrate tests are significantly below the lower limit
that, under steady-state conditions, the of the scatter band of results obtained under
maximum permitted design stresses in ten- steady-state conditions. However, when a
sion, according to BS449, (165 and 230 N/ similar comparison is made for the 1.0 proof
mm 2 for Grades 43A and 50B respectively) stress, Figs. 9 and 10, there is good agree-
would not exceed the 0.2% proof stress of ment between the two modes of testing.
the steels until temperatures in excess of Therefore, while the stress/strain curves
500 °C were reached. However, as stated derived from transient and steady-state tests
earlier, these tests were carried out at con- are dissimilar at low strains, when the strain
stant temperature and, therefore, w i t h o u t approaches values corresponding to the
reference to similar steels assessed under limits of deflection or instability in a stan-
transient conditions, they could possibly dard fire resistance test, then the data derived
give rise to misleading answers when used from either type of test can be used to
in a fire engineering analysis. predict limiting temperatures.

3.3. Comparison o f data

Curves for transient test data derived from 4. C O N C L U S I O N S
Fig. 4, in which minimum yield stress values
of 255 and 355 for steel Grades 43A and An extensive testing programme has been
50B respectively are assumed, have been carried out on BS4360: Grades 43A and 50B

steels t o p r o v i d e e l e v a t e d t e m p e r a t u r e d a t a
f o r s t r u c t u r a l fire engineering design applica-
tions. T h e d a t a are also o f use w h e n p l a n n i n g
the h o t f o r m i n g o p e r a t i o n s f o r large f a b r i c a -
tions.
F r o m t h e tests c o n d u c t e d u n d e r t r a n s i e n t
h e a t i n g c o n d i t i o n s , a series o f stress/strain
curves have b e e n d e r i v e d f o r t h e t e m p e r a t u r e
r a n g e 20 - 9 0 0 °C. T h e results o f t h e s e tests
w e r e also a n a l y s e d to d e m o n s t r a t e t h e in-
f l u e n c e o f t e m p e r a t u r e o n t h e p r o o f stress
ratio, ax, f o r plastic strains o f 0.2, 1.0, 2.0
a n d 5.0%. A c o m b i n a t i o n o f the p r e s e n t
results a n d p u b l i s h e d d a t a has a l l o w e d rules
t o be f o r m u l a t e d so t h a t a d j u s t m e n t s can
be m a d e f o r d i f f e r e n t h e a t i n g rates.
C o m p a r i s o n o f t h e results derived f r o m
t h e t w o m o d e s o f t e s t i n g d e s c r i b e d earlier
d e m o n s t r a t e t h a t p r e d i c t i o n s using d a t a f r o m
s t e a d y - s t a t e tests o n t h e b e h a v i o u r o f struc-
t u r a l s t e e l w o r k in fires are o p t i m i s t i c , w h e n
o n l y small strains are involved. H o w e v e r ,
w h e n c o n s i d e r i n g strains a p p r o a c h i n g ' r u n -
a w a y ' values, t h e r e is s o m e j u s t i f i c a t i o n in
using d a t a f r o m e i t h e r source o f t e s t p r o -
c e d u r e t o p r e d i c t t h e b e h a v i o u r o f steel
e l e m e n t s in fire.
37
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
T h e a u t h o r s wish to t h a n k D r R. B a k e r ,
Director of Research and Development,
British Steel C o r p o r a t i o n , f o r p e r m i s s i o n
t o p u b l i s h this p a p e r .
REFERENCES
1 J. Glen, J. West o f Scotland Iron and Steel Ins-
titute, 65 (5) (1958) 41 - 191.
2 J. Ruge and O. Winkelmann, Materialpruf, 19 (8)
(1977) 295 - 299.
3 J. Ruge and O. W i n k e l m a n n , Brandvershatten yon
Bauteilen, Sonderforschungsbereich 148, Arbeits-
bericht 80, 1978, Part II, Braunschweig, June,
1980, pp. 147 - 192.
4 W. Y. Copier, Report No. BI-72-73/05.3.11.640,
Institute TNO for Building Materials and Building
Structures, Delft, October, 1972.
5 L. Twilt, Proc. CIB/RILEM Symposium on Ma-
terial Properties, Delft, 10/14 May, 1982.
6 J. Witteveen and L. Twilt, On the behaviour of
steel columns at elevated temperatures, Proc.
Colloquium on Column Strength, International
Association for Bridge and Structural Engineer-
ing, Paris, 1972.
7 D. H. Skinner and A. G. Stevens, Report MRL
6/8, Broken Hill Proprietary Co. Ltd. (BHP),
Melbourne Research Laboratories, May, 1972.
8 D. H. Skinner, BHP Tech. Bull., (2) (November)
(1972) 22 - 37.