Upcoming Grade in Pakistan’s Steel Industry for the First Time

Traditionally, till now in Pakistan’s steel industry there are various grades according to standards such as ASTM (American Standard for Testing and Materials), BSI (British Standard Institute), and ACI (American Concrete Institute), etc. that are being used all across the country with different specifications and functions. Nevertheless, now things are changing due to tough competition in the market. Every steel company in the market is trying to beat its competitor with better functional reasons creating a differentiation factor of why their product should be bought.

As mentioned, there are various grades by the name of grades 40, 60, etc. that have captured the steel market. But now a new grade is being launched that is called grade 80 by the Steel company named FF Steel (Frontier Foundry (Pvt) Ltd.) for the first time. The implementation of launching grade 80 steel bars in the year 2021 will follow the standards and quality of ACI - 318 and ASTM – 615 along with meeting the upcoming demand of constructing vertical buildings, high-rise buildings, bridges, dams, and other various mega projects. ?

Grade 80’s main differentiation factor is to be conventional steel bars compared to other grades lower than 80. The company’s idea behind this was to make such a grade that can not only meet the required strength for building mega projects but also viable economical vise. Talking of economic viability, one of the major characteristics of grade 80 has not only the strength to go vertically but also uses less volume of steel while under construction.

This is a huge plus point for this particular product. It is stated that the major element in construction is steel which takes about 40% of the project’s total cost. In comparison between grades 60 and 80, it is stated by the company that grade 80 is 33% stronger than grade 60. The consumption is 13% lesser than in grade 60 and it saves 10% cost than in grade 60.

The below explains the comparison between grades 60 and 80 where we can have a clear understanding of how grade 80 is economically viable. Looking at the values used in tons e.g., 67.3, 237.5, 128.9 is less compared to grade 60 which suggests that grade 80 uses fewer tons of steel in all mentioned items.

The steel industry in Pakistan is constantly improving due to companies putting their efforts to meet better-required standards. The introduction of grade 80 is designed to have the ability to lessen the risk of damages from a natural catastrophe by having higher strength, better formability, corrosion restraint, durability, seismic resilience, and being economically viable. This product has tremendous strength to endure earthquakes in other words it has seismic resilience to tackle earthquakes in seismic zones. If we talk about its functional features then the minimum yield strength is 80,000 psi (the ability to endure pressure to a point where the steel is permanently deformed). Whereas, the ultimate strength is 100,000 psi (the point where the maximum stress is endured before the steel breaks).?