High-Performance Steels in Europe

Since the first application of steel in steel structures in the 19th century the develop­ment of steel construction has been closely linked to the development in material properties and production methods. Significant achievements concerning strength, economy, design versatility, fabrication and erection techniques and service perform­ance would not have been possible without the substantial improvements of steel. Es­pecially with the application of "new" production processes for carbon steels such as the thermo-mechanical rolling and the quenching and tempering process, steel with a high construction strength but guaranteeing also good fabrication properties such as weldability was introduced into the construction market.