FAQ's

As you can see, your choice of metal may largely hinge on how visible your project will be. A pipe buried underground doesn’t need to be pretty; a front door to a commercial building does. Your budget, desired appearance, and functional requirements will determine which material you need for your project.

If you need material for a rough-and-tumble application, you may need to spring for a high-end metal. Situations in which a highly durable metal is ideal include exposure to:

• Salt water or deicing salt
• Hot, humid areas with infrequent rainfall
• High pollution levels

Aluminum doesn’t hold up well around salt and will corrode over time, making it ill-equipped for coastal applications. On the other end of the spectrum, brass fixtures are great options for all environments.

If you are looking for more function than beauty, it may be appropriate to use one of the less expensive but highly durable galvanized steels.

If you need longer term protection or a brighter, more polished look, stainless steel may be your choice.

If your project is highly aesthetic or has a need for the rich red metal hue, one of the copper-based alloys may be the best material for you.

Depending on your project, there may be more factors in choosing your ideal metal.

For example, what about weight? Aluminum is lightweight and is easily transportable. Steel, meanwhile, is much heavier. If portability matters to you, then make sure you’re buying a lighter metal.

It’s easy to see why you must examine every angle before deciding on the best metals for exterior projects. Do your research, get the manufacturer involved, and make a well-informed decision that will have a long-lasting positive impact.

Furniture is made of different materials such as wood, plastic and metal. This is all dependent on what the purpose of the furniture is and which area of the house it will be used in.

Advantages of Steel :

• Metal is easy to clean and doesn't house any pests or mites because of the hard and cold surface. It's also easy to replace parts that might go missing such as a bolt or nut.
• Metal lasts a long time because of its unnatural component. The material is hard and tough so chips don't occur easily. The closest you will come to a chip will be a scratch that can easily be painted over.
• This type of furniture doesn't take up as much space as wooden furniture would. It also assists with saving the environment. By using steel or something alike, you decrease the amount of trees that get cut down.
• Metal furniture will never get destroyed by your pets. Many steel or metal objects in the household are either scratch resistant, can be polished easily to hide the scratch or have a protective coat which has been applied to protect it from rust and chipping
• Steel furniture is better than other materials because it is fireproof and waterproof.
• Extremely strong, shiny, and nice stainless furniture.
• Offers great style with natural colour and the best thing is its maintenance which is very easy.
• Much thinner than other material like wood, plastic. This type of furniture is space redeeming items.

Resale Value is Preserved Over Time
Because steel equipment is so durable, and can be maintained in tip-top condition for a long time, it tends to hold substantial resale value

Stainless steel is resistant to corrosion, whether rust-based or otherwise. As such, stainless steel is perfectly suitable for a wide range of environments - it’s worth noting, however, that despite being corrosion-resistant, there are still certain chemical environments that may pose a problem for stainless steel equipment.

Stays Clean for Longer
Unlike other popular materials, such as wood, grooved plastic, and various metal alloys (like aluminum), stainless steel retains a smooth and even surface quite easily. So long as you properly maintain the steel, there will be very few dips, crevices, and grooves that form in the steel. This makes it much easier to keep the steel clean, as there is less opportunity for dirt, oil, and dust capture - further, bacteria will not have an opportunity to grow and thrive in these hidden areas.

Which is the Preferable Grade of Stainless steel:

SS 304 Stainless Steel :
is the most commonly used of the 300 series. Its alloy metals - 18% chromium and 8% nickel - give it extreme durability both physically and aesthetically.
- Is the primary grade that is the most cost effective for most situations. But for coastal environments it is recommended that

SS 316 grade Stainless Steel: contains the same amount of chromium as 304, but with a higher percentage of nickel plus 2-3% molybdenum. Molybdenum increases the metal’s resistance to salt, making it perfect for the most corrosive environments. Typically, this is the metal used in marine applications.
It is slightly more expensive but contains a higher nickel content that helps to prevent surface discolouration

430 stainless steel: is typically used for mild exterior conditions, or indoors where the weather gets tracked in (in a metal door frame casing, for instance). Similarly, escalators in shopping malls use 430 stainless to protect against slush and salt carried in by shoppers. It has a lower percentage of chromium (17%) and a higher percentage of carbon (0.12%), which makes it the cheapest and most popular option. However, it’s obviously not as effective as its 300-series counterparts for exterior use.
Stainless steel is much more affordable than copper, brass, or bronze. And, depending on how and where you use it, it can last well over a hundred years.

Which surface finish can available in Stainless Steel?
1. The most common is as a ‘brushed’‘satin’ polish finish.
2. The next level of finish is a ‘mirror’ polish which is buffed to a finer finish that gives the material a reflective surface.
3. Electropolishing is an additional electrochemical treatment that is also available. This process removes the very fine imperfections on the surface of the material which brightens and improves the corrosion resistance of the material.
4. Glass bead blasting is another mechanical treatment to remove the top surface of Stainless Steel material to give you a uniform grey finish. This process is usually coupled with Electropolishing to clean the blasted surface.

Cost effective :
Carbon steel's main alloying constituent is carbon. Low carbon steel is the most common and cost effective form.

While working on a low budget, mild carbon steel proves to be the best. It is an ideal material that keeps project cost as low as possible. While mild steel is relatively cheaper than other metals you will have to consider the fact that you may have to treat it to prevent it from corrosion.

It contains around 0.05–0.320% carbon and is malleable and ductile. Medium carbon steel contains between 0.30–0.59% carbon and balances ductility and strength with good wear resistance. High-carbon steel has 0.6–0.99% carbon content and is exceptionally strong, while ultra high carbon steel contains 1.0–2.0% carbon and can be tempered to great hardness.

Weight :
Compared to high carbon steel mild carbon steel is lighter. The proportion of carbon is the main influencing factor for the weight

Galvanized steel is the least corrosion-resistant metal on this list. Galvanized steel is more about function than beauty, so it’s not your best choice if looks matter for your project. Despite that, it is most commonly used because it offers at least 50 years of strong, affordable performance (25 or more in saltwater environments).

Galvanized steel is carbon steel that is coated in liquid zinc. The zinc becomes the sacrificial anode and will corrode before the steel underneath, even if some of the steel is exposed (a phenomenon called preferential corrosion).

One benefit of galvanized steel is the ability to adjust the amount of protection by specifying the amount of zinc deposited on the surface of the steel during its production. The more zinc you put on, the better protection you will get.

Galvanized steel is by far the most affordable on this list, which is why it remains so widely used outdoors. Some of the most common galvanized items we produce are components used to mount solar panels to commercial building roofs.

So, galvanized steel is best for projects that only need short-term corrosion resistance, or architecture that requires planned, consistent renovations.

One step above galvanized steel is aluminum. Common outdoor aluminum products include light fixtures and door and window frames.

Does aluminum rust? Nope -- it creates its own protective coating through a process called self-passivation. As aluminum oxidizes, it creates a protective layer around itself like a snail drawing into its shell. Any paint on it will fade quite a bit.

Manufacturers can force this process via anodizing, which immediately strengthens the metal and leaves it with a polished finish.

Aluminum moulding trim for exterior use is most often shaped through extrusion, though we roll form plenty of it. It is often used on the exterior framing of storefront doors and windows.

Depending on who you talk to, aluminum will last anywhere from 10s to 100s of years before decomposing. (We lean toward the former.) Remember that aluminum outdoor products are designed to be sellable at an economical price -- in many cases they're simply not going to last a long time outdoors.

Aluminum is an effective option for exterior architectural components, but it's not the top choice on our list!

These red metals are much more rare and luxurious than aluminum or stainless steel. They’re also incredibly durable; once they’ve oxidized, they’re completely immune to the elements. Brass and bronze are alloys of copper, so they all turn somewhat green with oxidation. Some designers are even adding patina to bronze, copper, and brass intentionally to get that stately look immediately!

Copper is a raw element, and the softest of these three metals. Zinc is added to copper to make brass, and tin with copper creates bronze. The addition of other metals makes brass and bronze harder, sturdier, and more resistant to oxidation. Some sources say copper trim can survive perfectly for over a thousand years.

These metals will be most desirable to architects who require a rich aesthetic.

Requests for red metals often come for luxury hotels, banks, historical buildings, and restorations. It is definitely a high-end material... pound for pound, it is easily double or triple the cost of stainless steel.

However, if you want your architecture to stand the test of time and make an impact, copper, brass, and bronze are all highly corrosion resistant, weather resistant, and durable. With these metals’ prices in mind, you’ll need to ask yourself: “Is my project worth the cost of the highest-quality materials?”

Powder coating of furniture frames is the best way to get a consistent, smooth and cost effective colour finish. furniture frames are sand blasted and given a phosphate treatment to best clean the steel surface and improve the coating bond to the steel surface.

Use the large AkzoNobel powder coat colour range as its standard colour range, which can be viewed on our web page