The most common steel norms and certificates

International standards

Standards respected around the world are international standards issued by two standards organizations based in Geneva:

• ISO (International Standards Organization) - issues general standards,
• IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) - issues standards for electrical engineering.

ISO standards are valid worldwide and thus are not usually part of the national standards system. ISO standards are documents that standardize particular areas of the operation of enterprises, companies and organizations, as well as the quality of production.

European EN standards

European standardization is organized similarly to global standardization, but has three committees. The first two are based in Brussels, the third in France.

• CEN (Comité Européen de Normalisation) - issues general standards, called European Standards (EN). Standards for iron and steel are issued by the European Commission for Iron and Steel Standardization (ECISS) and relevant technical committees (TCs) and subcommittees (SCs).
• CENELEC (Comité Européen de Normalisation Électrotechnique) - issues electrotechnical standards,
• ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) - issues standards for telecommunications.

Very often, European EN standards are used in individual countries and replace previously used national standards. They have replaced older national systems such as DIN (Germany), BS (UK), AFNOR (France), UNI (Italy).

European steel / steel products standards

Steel standards cover a wide range of standards that specify mechanical and chemical properties, as well as production and quality control processes. Some of the most widely used standards include:

• EN 10025: Specifies requirements for structural steels, including their strength, chemical composition and other key parameters.
• EN 1993 (Eurocode 3): Applies to the design of steel structures, including the dimensioning of steel members and the design of connections.
• PN-EN 1090: Regulates the manufacturing and assembly process of steel structures, requiring a certificate of conformity and CE marking for products.
• PN-EN ISO 3834: Specifies requirements for the quality of welding of steel structures, including weld inspection and welding techniques.

Another group of standards are those created by Institutes and Societies, such as in the USA (AISI, ASTM, ASME, API, SAE).

American standards ASTM

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) is an organization that creates a wide range of standards for products, products, systems and services in the US. These standards are recognized worldwide in various industries and improve the quality of manufactured products and equipment.

ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) standards - apply to a wide range of materials, including metals, plastics, textiles and others, such as ASTM B265: Titanium and titanium alloy strips, sheets/plates and plates. Earlier AISI standards were issued by the American Iron and Steel Institute, but were not updated and were replaced by ASTM standards.

Technical standards are part of legislation, valid for a particular branch of industrial products in each country.

Polish Standards PN

PN is a set of national standards, created by experts and approved by the Polish Committee for Standardization. Currently, European standards are introduced into the Polish standards, which leads to the unification of the guidelines contained and is given the designation PN-EN. This action is important for the free movement of goods in the European market.

Material approvals of steel

Steel approvals are classified according to EN 10204, which defines the types of metal product inspection documents. There are four types of metal product inspection documents, which confirm the compliance of metal products with order specifications. The first are type 2.1 and 2.2 documents, which are based on a simplified internal inspection according to the manufacturer's internal procedures, and the second are type 3.1 and 3.2 documents, which require a more complex acceptance inspection, and independent inspectors are responsible for carrying it out.

Here are the main types of attestations:
Inspection documents based on internal control:

2.1. declaration of conformity with the order: The manufacturer declares that the product conforms to the order, but does not provide test results from internal inspection.
2.2. Attestation: The manufacturer declares that the product conforms to the order and provides test results from the general internal inspection.

Inspection documents based on acceptance inspection:

3.1 Certificate of acceptance: The manufacturer declares the conformity of the product with the order and provides the test results from the acceptance inspection, confirmed by the manufacturer's authorized inspection representative.
3.2 Acceptance Certificate: The manufacturer shall provide the test results from the acceptance inspection, confirmed by the authorized inspection representative of the manufacturer and the inspection representative of the ordering party or the inspection inspector specified in the official regulations.

NOTE!
Inspection documents that confirm the compliance of a material or product with the order placed play a key role. The ordering party should pay special attention to include the relevant inspection document in the order, and then require documents confirming the approvals carried out during acceptance.

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