Our stainless structurals are produced by two methods: hot rolling and LaserCon™ Laser Fusion .

Hot rolling is the traditional and most economical method: a hot billet is rolled to size in the same way carbon steel shapes are rolled. Some stainless shapes though can not be hot rolled due to surface defects induced by roll pass designs or because the requested volume is not big enough to justify a mill set-up.   Customers with requirements for larger sections were until recently forced to use conventional welded or press-brake formed shapes with all their corrosion and warpage problems.  New technology now allows these sections to be manufactured by laser fusion, where high tech lasers monolithically join sections of material to form a homogeneous structure.

LaserCon™ laser fused profiles differ only slightly from those of conventional American Standard structurals. The overall dimensions and characteristics are the same as those listed in the American Society of Steel Construction manual, but the corners are square instead of having tapered fillets and flanges like some hot rolled sections.

LaserCon™ laser fused sections differ from stitch-welded or conventional fillet-welded products in that they are full penetration fused, they do not have a large heat affected zone, they do not warp and, unlike welded or press-brake formed shapes, they carry no appreciable residual internal stress. Normally, sections that are fillet-welded have a wide heat affected zone adjacent to the weld area. This may cause carbides to precipitate out of solution, providing areas in which corrosion attacks.

Not so with LaserCon™ laser fusion: there is a very tiny, controlled area of heat input with a small, barely noticeable seam at the juncture of the components.

By combining the supply source of these two methods of manufacture, Stainless Structurals LLC. can offer almost any American Standard Structural Section.

In addition to the products shown above, we offer a complete range of cold finished flats, plus special sections that are produced to your specifications and drawings. Special sections can be produced in quantities as small as 1000# per item, with a lead time of approximately eight weeks.

Additional information on special profiles is available at the website of our partner.