Carbon Steel A36
The structural steel. Bought as plate, bar and shapes for welded and bolted frames rather than for machined parts, and priced accordingly.
Properties
- Family
- Metals
- Category
- steel
- Density
- 7.85 g/cm³ · 7850 kg/m³
Densityhow carbon steel a36 compares
Alloy propertiesA36 · As-rolled — plate, shapes and bar up to 200 mm thick
- Grade
- A36 · UNS K02600
- Governing standard
- ASTM A36/A36M
- Yield strength
- 250 MPa
- Tensile strength
- 400–550 MPa
- Modulus of elasticity
- 200 GPa
Tensile strength is a range because A36 is one of the few structural steel specifications with an upper limit as well as a minimum — the 550 MPa ceiling is what keeps the carbon equivalent, and therefore weldability, under control. The standard sets no hardness requirement. Plate thicker than 200 mm has a lower minimum yield of 220 MPa.
Minimum values specified by ASTM A36/A36M.
Applicationswhere carbon steel a36 is normally specified
Machining & corrosiontrade experience, not measured values
- Machining
- Not its job. A36 is bought in as plate and shapes and cut, drilled and welded into a structure; it is gummy and tear-prone when turned.
- Corrosion
- None unprotected — it rusts outdoors at roughly 0.05 mm a year in a rural atmosphere and far faster at the coast. Every A36 structure is a coating specification.
- Welding
- Excellent, and that is most of the reason the upper tensile limit exists. No preheat is needed in normal thicknesses.
Like the workability notes on the wood pages, these lines are not measurements. They carry no units and no single source, and the ratings they mention are relative — a machinability figure is quoted against a bench-mark alloy, not against an absolute scale. Read them as the consensus of the trade, not as a specification.
Practical notes
- Carries an upper tensile limit as well as a minimum, to keep it weldable
- Not a heat-treatable grade — for more strength specify a different steel, not a heat treatment
- Needs paint or another coating outdoors; unprotected it goes on rusting
Tools used on itmatched on the metals family, not on this page
All toolsWhich tools work a material is a property of the family (Metals), not of the individual species — so this list is the same on every metals page, and changes when the tool data changes rather than when this paragraph does.