Yield Strength of ASTM A36 Steel
| Value | 248,000,000 Pa |
| Status | Conventional / typical value |
| Source | ASTM A36 / AISC Steel Construction Manual, 15th ed. |
| Categories | Material PropertiesEngineering & Trade |
| microbar | 2,480,000,000 μbar |
| barye | 2,480,000,000 Ba |
| millitorr | 1,860,153,000 mTorr |
| pascal | 248,000,000 Pa |
| millimeter of water column | 25,288,962 mmH₂O |
| pound per square foot | 5,179,587.7 lb/ft² |
| centimeter of water column | 2,528,896.2 cmH₂O |
| hectopascal | 2,480,000 hPa |
| millibar | 2,480,000 mbar |
| torr | 1,860,153 Torr |
| millimeter of mercury | 1,860,152.7 mmHg |
| inch of water column | 995,628.44 in w.g. |
| kilopascal | 248,000 kPa |
| foot of water column | 82,969.036 ft H₂O |
| inch of mercury | 73,234.359 inHg |
| pound per square inch | 35,969.359 psi |
| meter of water column | 25,288.962 m H₂O |
| decibar | 24,800 dbar |
| kilogram-force per square centimeter | 2,528.8962 kgf/cm² |
| bar | 2,480 bar |
| atmosphere | 2,447.5697 atm |
| megapascal | 248 MPa |
| kip per square inch | 35.969359 ksi |
| gigapascal | 0.248 GPa |
| million pounds per square inch | 0.035969359 Mpsi |
Learning zone
A36 is defined by its specified minimum yield: the mill certifies that the steel will not yield below 36 ksi (248 MPa), with tensile strength between 58 and 80 ksi. This is a guaranteed lower bound, not a typical value. Actual A36 plate commonly tests 45–55 ksi, and that overstrength is deliberately conservative for member design but dangerous for capacity design — if you need a fuse element to yield before something else fails, designing to the specified minimum underestimates how hard the fuse will pull, which is why seismic provisions apply expected-strength factors (Ry) above the nominal value.
A36 is now mostly a plate and angle steel. Since the late 1990s, wide-flange shapes in North America are ordered to ASTM A992 with a 50 ksi minimum yield and a capped yield-to-tensile ratio, so a beam you assume is 36 ksi is very likely 50. Check the mill certificate before back-calculating the capacity of an existing structure — assuming A36 in a 1975 building is usually right, assuming it in a 2015 one is usually wrong.