Description

Weathered Finish Steel, often referred to by the generalized trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as corten steel, is a group of steel alloys, which were developed to eliminate the need for painting, and form a stable rust-like appearance if exposed to the weather for several years. Weathering refers to the chemical composition of these steels, allowing them to exhibit increased resistance to atmospheric corrosion compared to other steels. This is because the steel forms a protective layer on its surface under the influence of the weather. The corrosion-retarding effect of the protective layer is produced by the distribution and concentration of alloying elements in it. The layer protecting the surface develops and regenerates continuously when subjected to the influence of the weather. In other words, the steel is allowed to rust in order to form the protective coating; all these Climate products are delivered before turning into the final patina. It is very widely used in marine transportation, in the construction of intermodal containers as well as visible sheet piling along recently widened sections of London’s M25 motorway. The first use of weathering steel for architectural applications was the John Deere World Headquarters in Moline, Illinois. The use of weathering steel was seen as a cost-cutting move in comparison with the contemporary railcar standard of stainless steel. Weathering steel was used to build the exterior of Barclays Center, made up of 12,000 pre-weathered steel panels engineered by ASI Limited & Shop Construction. The New York Times says of the material, “While it can look suspiciously unfinished to the casual observer, it has many fans in the world of art and architecture.”