Cold formed steel sections are the name or term given to end products that has been rolled or pressed from sheet metal (or coils) into the desired shape. Steel sheets are deformed using rolling, stamping or pressing to deform the sheet or coil of steel to the end product. 

 

The rolling, pressing or stamping of cold formed steel occurs at room temperature. End products include items such as structural tubing, lip channels, purlins, open channels as well as cold formed open profiles and closed profiles. 

 

When steel is formed by press-braking or cold-roll forming, there is a change in the mechanical properties of the material by virtue of the cold working of the metal. When a steel section is cold-formed from a flat sheet or strips the yield strength, and to a lesser extent the ultimate strength, is increased as a result of this cold working, particularly in the bends of the section. Cold-formed steel sections tend to be more sensitive to local buckling effects than typical hot rolled sections.

 

Cold formed steel sections can be easily distinguished from hot formed sections. A hot formed section oftencold_formed_open_channel.jpg has thick webs and flanges, whilst cold formed steel is in comparison thin and slender. An example of a cold formed steel open channel can be seen on the left while the red coloured picture on the right shows dimensions for a hot formed steel channel. Sections can be visualized as series of plates connected at the corners. When the steel plates endure compression buckling it is likely to occur in the plane of the plate. In the section, compressive forces develop as a result of direct compression in columns and struts or flexural compression in beams.