A36 steel is a standard steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

 alloy which is a common structural steel used in the United States.

The A36 standard was established by the standards organization ASTM International

ASTM International

ASTM International, known until 2001 as the American Society for Testing and Materials , is an international standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services...

.

Properties

As with most steels, A36 has a density of 0.28 lbm/in3. A36 steel in plates, bars, and shapes with a thickness of less than 8 in (203 mm) has a minimum yield strength of 36000 psi (248.2 MPa) and ultimate tensile strength

Tensile strength

Ultimate tensile strength , often shortened to tensile strength or ultimate strength, is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before necking, which is when the specimen's cross-section starts to significantly contract...

 of 58000–80000 psi (399.9–551.6 MPa). Young's modulus

Young's modulus

Young's modulus is a measure of the stiffness of an elastic material and is a quantity used to characterize materials. It is defined as the ratio of the uniaxial stress over the uniaxial strain in the range of stress in which Hooke's Law holds. In solid mechanics, the slope of the stress-strain...

 for A36 steel is 29 psi (200 GPa). Plates thicker than 8 in have a 32000 psi (220.6 MPa) yield strength and the same ultimate tensile strength. A36 steel has a Poisson's ratio of 0.260, a compressive strength equal to the tensile strength and a shear modulus of 79.3 GPa.
A36 is a standard carbon steel, without advanced alloying.

Fabricated forms

A36 is produced in a wide variety of forms, including:

• Plate
• Structural Shapes
• Bar
• Sheet

For more information, see Structural steel

Structural steel

Structural steel is steel construction material, a profile, formed with a specific shape or cross section and certain standards of chemical composition and mechanical properties...

.

Methods of joining

A36 is readily welded

Welding

Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...

 by nearly all welding processes. The most commonly used for A36 are the cheapest and easiest—shielded metal arc welding

Shielded metal arc welding

Shielded metal arc welding , also known as manual metal arc welding, flux shielded arc welding or informally as stick welding, is a manual arc welding process that uses a consumable electrode coated in flux to lay the weld...

 (SMAW, or stick welding), gas metal arc welding

Gas metal arc welding

Gas metal arc welding , sometimes referred to by its subtypes metal inert gas welding or metal active gas welding, is a semi-automatic or automatic arc welding process in which a continuous and consumable wire electrode and a shielding gas are fed through a welding gun...

 (MIG welding), and oxyacetylene welding

Oxy-fuel welding and cutting

Oxy-fuel welding and oxy-fuel cutting are processes that use fuel gases and oxygen to weld and cut metals, respectively. French engineers Edmond Fouché and Charles Picard became the first to develop oxygen-acetylene welding in 1903...

.

A36 steel is also commonly bolted

Screw

A screw, or bolt, is a type of fastener characterized by a helical ridge, known as an external thread or just thread, wrapped around a cylinder. Some screw threads are designed to mate with a complementary thread, known as an internal thread, often in the form of a nut or an object that has the...

 and rivet

Rivet

A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the buck-tail. On installation the rivet is placed in a punched or pre-drilled hole, and the tail is upset, or bucked A rivet...

ed in structural applications.