Standardization News

Subcommittee A05.13 on Structural Shapes and Hardware Specifications is currently working on proposed new standards that would be used by engineers and architects who design with steel fabrications. These proposed standards will be used to evaluate the costs of steel construction over the lifetime of a project and to compare different corrosion protection systems on their impact to this lifetime cost. One such proposed standard is WK27436, Practice for Life-Cycle Cost Analysis of Corrosion Protection Systems on Iron and Steel Products.

"We want a more formal methodology of calculating life-cycle cost and a recognized authority like ASTM to approve the calculations," says Thomas Langill, technical director, American Galvanizers Association, and chairman of both Committee A05 and Subcommittee A05.13. "By having an ASTM specification, we can encourage specifiers of steel projects to include the new specification as a requirement of quotation."

Langill says that, once WK27436 has been approved, it will be used to accurately calculate the cost of any project comparing steel to concrete or galvanized steel to painted steel as the construction material. WK27436 will provide "a clear picture of the actual material cost beyond the simplistic initial cost basis," according to Langill. He also notes that customers will learn the value of using the method, once it is approved, to determine the costs of a maintenance-free corrosion protection system. All interested parties are invited to participate in the standards developing activities of A05.13, which is under the jurisdiction of ASTM International Committee A05 on Metallic-Coated Iron and Steel Products. In addition to WK27436, A05.13 is currently developing WK20069, Specification for Tin Coating (Hot-Dip) on Iron and Steel Software, and WK28445, Specification for Zinc-Aluminum (Hot-Dip) Coatings on Iron and Steel Products.

CONTACT Technical Information: Thomas Langill, American Galvanizers Association • Centennial, Colo. • Phone: 720-554-0900, ext. 14 • E-mail: tlangill@galvanizeit.org O ASTM Staff: Rick Lake • Phone: 610-832-9689 • E-mail: rlake@astm.org O Upcoming Meeting: Nov. 14-16 • November Committee Week • San Antonio, Texas