Cold Rormed Steel: The Advanced Solution for Sustainable Growth

Recently, NS BlueScope Vietnam has organized the seminar: "Cold formed steel – The solution for sustainable Growth" to introduce businesses the trend of using cold formed steel in construction. The seminar attracted the attention of numerous construction businesses and more than 57,000 views on Ton Colorbond Fanpage.

The seminar discussed about applications of cold formed steel, challenges and opportunities for cold formed steel design in Vietnam, steel in the circular economy model as well as Australian standards for cold formed steel.

Cold formed steel, also known as thinwall steel or cold forming steel, with the thickness of less than 04 mm, is cold-worked to increase its resistance and yield strain up to 30%. Cold formed steel is often used in construction, transportation, car manufacturing, household goods, etc.

According to Prof. Dr. Doan Dinh Kien, former lecturer at National University of Civil Engineering, the advantages of cold formed steel in construction include saving steel, reducing structural weight from 30% to 50%, industrialized manufacturing, quick transportation and installation thanks to being lighter and applicable for a diversity of architecture & structure because it is easy to add to building structure as well as to maintain and repair...

Regarding the applications of cold formed steel, Assoc. Prof. PhD. Nguyen Van Hiep - Former Deputy Director of HCMC Department of Construction stated: As for civil construction projects that requires fast construction, sharpness and sophistication in architecture, cold formed steel is a time-saving solution. The cold-formed steel roof can be shaped with many architectural designs. For example, BlueScope Lysaght’s Smartruss solution or Lysaght roofing sheets meet the requirements of architectural design, harmonizing with curved and complex structures to manifest architect's ideas to the fullest.

Cold formed steel is applied to Lysaght Smartruss, Lysaght Roofing & Walling…

However, a challenge for cold formed steel shared by the speakers at the seminar is that there are currently no standards for design calculation and acceptance for this material in Vietnam. Engineers and architects are to rely on manufacturers’ parameters as a guidance for their design.

Besides, cold formed steel is 100% recyclable and is considered a sustainable material. According to Ms. Bui Phuong Mai – Vice President of NS BlueScope Vietnam Supply Chain, in terms of time, steel products can be divided into three types: One has a long life cycle, such as bridges that last more than 100 years. - accounting for 50%, the second has the average life cycle of 40% and the third is the products used in daily life such as package, accounting for about 10%.

The rate of steel recycling in the world is also high. Mr. Truong Anh Hai - Deputy Director of HSE NS BlueScope Vietnam said: Each year the world recycles more than 600 million tons of steel. Each ton of recycled steel will help reduce 1.7 tons of CO2. Thus, using recycled steel will help to protect more natural resources than that of steel production or mineral exploitation.

NS BlueScope Vietnam Lysaght is known as a pioneer in introducing the thin-walled steel technology and Klip Lok wave to Vietnam since 1993 through Lysaght's steel solutions. Currently, Lysaght is providing such solutions of cold formed steel as Ranbuild solutions, Bondek steel floors for factories/warehouses, Probuild pre-engineered steel buildings; Smartruss lightweight galvanized steel truss system for roofs; Agrished solution for high-tech agriculture with, corrugated iron of roofing & walling solution for roof and wall.

Currently, many typical projects in Vietnam are using cold formed steel from NS BlueScope Vietnam such as the tallest building in Vietnam - Landmark 81 with Bondek II or high-tech farms of top businesses in livestock industry like CP…

Many typical projects in Vietnam such as Landmark 81 building or CP's high-tech livestock farms are using NS BlueScope Lysaght Vietnam's cold formed steel

Following this seminar, NS BlueScope Vietnam organizes a series of online courses to spread useful knowledge about cold-formed steel to final-year students in construction, engineering, architects and design consultants. The course is taught by Dr. Pham Cao Hung, a senior lecturer in cold-formed steel structural engineering from University of Sydney, Australia.

B.H (Vietnam Business Forum)