Analytical formulation for actual mechanical properties of stainless steel structural members

One of the fastest growing market segments for stainless steel is its use for cold-formed profiled structural members. It is wellknown that the forming process is likely to significantly enhance the mechanical properties of the profile by strainhardening. This leads to increased resistance compared to a resistance assessment based on nominal properties, even if this effect is partly counterbalanced by the introduction of residual stresses. It is thus necessary to be able to accurately determine its actual mechanical properties. For this purpose, experimental data and theoretical investigations aiming at determining the material behaviour of coldformed stainless steel profiles including the effects of the forming process are reported in this paper.