Guides
Channel vs joist vs beam
Channel is the C shaped section, joist and beam are two words for the I shaped one, and at the same 300 mm depth SAIL publishes MC 300x90 at 36.30 kg per metre against MB 300x140 at 46.02.
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Jay Shree Infra works the heavy rack out of one godown in Saharsa, in SAIL, in Shyam Metalics and under the MC label, and that one rack gets ordered in three different words. A channel is open on one side and takes three numbers, the depth, the flange and the web, which is what MC 100x50x5 says. A beam is a series and a depth, and inside the ISMB list that is the whole name. Joist is the word the mistri and the counter use for that same I shape, and we stock it against a depth alone, with no series beside it. Everything standing beside them is on the structural steel page.
One standard covers all three. The Bureau of Indian Standards titles IS 808:2021 Hot Rolled Steel Beam, Column, Channel and Angle Sections, Dimensions and Properties, records it as the fourth revision, and shows no amendment issued against it. Four sections are named there and joist is not one of them: beam is a designation under IS 808, and joist stays the word the counter and the mistri use for the same I shape.
Depth for depth
What 300 buys in each of the two shapes
The five nominal depths SAIL rolls as both a medium channel and a medium beam, with the mass it publishes against each.
Scroll the table sideways to see every column
| Nominal depth | Channel | Channel weightkg per metre | Beam | Beam weightkg per metre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 mm | MC 100x50 | 9.56 | MB 100x50 | 8.95 |
| 150 mm | MC 150x75 | 16.80 | MB 150x75 | 14.96 |
| 200 mm | MC 200x75 | 22.30 | MB 200x100 | 24.17 |
| 250 mm | MC 250x82 | 34.20 | MB 250x125 | 37.30 |
| 300 mm | MC 300x90 | 36.30 | MB 300x140 | 46.02 |
Both weight columns come off SAIL's own conventional structurals list, the plant rolled one, and they are nominal section masses. That list carries eight channels and five beams, and these five depths are the only ones that fall in both, which is the new pairing this table lines up. Joist sits outside it: SAIL's listing sets twelve nominal depths against joist and publishes no mass against any of them, so joist gets bought by depth and the weight gets confirmed on the call.
Run a finger down the two weight columns and they cross over. At 100 and at 150 the channel is the heavier of the pair, by 0.61 kg and by 1.84 kg in every metre. At 200 the beam goes ahead by 1.87, at 250 by 3.10, and at 300 by 9.72. Over a 12 metre length that last gap comes to about 117 kg, which is a different vehicle and a different bill.
The flange is where the two lists part company, and SAIL prints the flange inside the name. Its channel flange runs 50, 75, 75, 82 and 90 mm as the depth climbs from 100 to 300. Its beam flange runs 50, 75, 100, 125 and 140 over those same five depths. At 100 and 150 the two flanges match, and on the published masses the channel is still the heavier section of the two. Above that the beam flange pulls away and the weight goes with it.
So a section named as 300 has told us its depth and nothing else, not which shape carries more steel. The beam masses and the channel masses each stand on their own page; the crossover above is what a depth alone cannot tell you.
Why joist and beam land on the same rack
Beam and joist name the same I shape two different ways. Ask for a beam and you get ISMB, from ISMB 100 to ISMB 600. Ask for joist and the size that comes back is a nominal depth, 100 mm to 600 mm, with no series against it; the exact section designation still has to be fixed before anything moves. In the market itself, ISLB, ISJB and ISMB sections all get called joist.
SAIL's tables never print the word joist. Its tapered flange sections are printed as ISMB, and its parallel flange ones as NPB and WPB. So beam is a name lifted off a rolled list, joist is the counter's name for a shape, and both can end up meaning one piece of steel. Where your paper carries letters, bring them. Where it carries a number by itself, we start from the span. What we keep against the bare word, size for size, is on the joist page.
Length
Which of these ten the 12 metre line reaches
The plant and the mill SAIL prints against each of the ten sections in the table above.
Scroll the table sideways to see every column
| Section | Plant | Mill |
|---|---|---|
| MB 100x50 | DSP | MSM |
| MB 150x75 | DSP | MSM |
| MB 200x100 | DSP | SM |
| MB 250x125 | DSP | MSM |
| MB 300x140 | DSP | MSM |
| MC 100x50 | DSP/BSP | MSM |
| MC 150x75 | DSP | MSM/SM |
| MC 200x75 | DSP | MSM/SM |
| MC 250x82 | ISP | USM |
| MC 300x90 | ISP/DSP | USM/MSM |
SAIL states that sections from its Medium Structural Mill and its Universal Section Mill are normally supplied in 12 metre lengths, and that other lengths can be supplied by mutual agreement. Its own abbreviations: DSP is Durgapur Steel Plant, BSP is Bhilai Steel Plant, ISP is the IISCO Steel Plant at Burnpur; MSM is the Medium Structural Mill, USM the Universal Section Mill, SM the Section Mill at Durgapur.
Read that sentence against the Mill column and the coverage turns out to be section by section. MB 200x100 is rolled on the Section Mill, so the 12 metre line does not reach it, and it is the only medium beam on the list sitting there. Three of the five channels carry two mills in one cell, which leaves the length depending on which of the two a particular piece came off.
None of this is a stock statement. Not every size is in every brand on a given day, so the section, the length and the count get settled together on the call.
Past 400 mm the choice narrows to one shape
SAIL publishes what it can supply beyond its own rolled sections through its External Processing Agencies, and the two ranges stop in different places: channel from MC 75x40 to MC 400x100, beam from MB 100 mm to MB 600 mm. We stock the same way. Twelve channel designations end at MC 400x100x8.8, at 50.10 kg per metre. The twelve joist depths and the twelve ISMB sizes both run to 600.
So a deep member is a question about the I shape and the C shape never enters it. The plant rolled beam list is shorter again and stops at MB 300x140, which is why anything past 300 is worth asking about twice, once for the size and once for what stands behind the steel.
At this counter
Two mix ups a section order runs into here
Channel is the word that goes wrong most often, and beams have nothing to do with it. Gate channel, the section a collapsible gate is built from, is published by HMB at 20x10 mm, which is a light rack item and well under a kilogram in every metre. The lightest section on the heavy rack is MC 75x40 at 7.14. Say gate channel, or say the MC designation, and the channel page carries the rest of that list.
The second is a bare number. MC 250x82 and MB 250x125 are both 250, and inside the ISMB series a depth is a whole name while a channel wants all three of its numbers. A drawing usually has the letters on it. A slip from the mistri often has the depth alone, and then it is the span, and whatever the frame puts on it, that we go by.
The part a shop cannot settle
IS 808:2021 fixes dimensions and properties. It measures sections and stops there, and span and load sit right outside it. Which shape a job takes, and which section inside that shape, belongs to the structural drawing and to whoever stamped it. The shop does no such arithmetic at the counter and should not be asked to.
Weight is the part we can answer straight off. Multiply a published mass per metre by the length and one piece has a weight against it. That sum is opened up for a diameter on the sariya weight chart and it runs the same way for a section. What a delivered load actually weighs comes off a weighbridge, and the rate comes off the phone. Kilo, piece and metric tonne are the three bases in use on this rack, and which one applies gets fixed at the start of the call.
Sources
The papers these figures were read off
Four documents, each served by whoever wrote it: two from the mill these masses were read off, one from the standards body, and one from the maker who publishes the gate channel size.
- SAIL's structurals brochure, holding the conventional structurals table with the masses, the plant and mill columns and the External Processing Agency rangesSAIL
- SAIL's structural sections page, the source behind the joist and beam figuresSAIL
- BIS's own record for IS 808:2021, giving the title, the revision and whether any amendment has been issuedBureau of Indian Standards
- HMB's published iGrill list, where the gate channel size sitsHMB Group
Questions
Teen shabd, teen sawal
Mistri ne sirf 300 wala bola hai, kaun sa uthana hai?
300 is a depth, and on this rack that one number names three different things. Inside the ISMB series it is a finished section, ISMB 300. On the channel side it is one number of three, so MC 300x90 still wants its flange and its web said out. Against joist, 300 mm is the depth alone, no series with it. Read us whatever letters the paper has, and where it has none, the span and what has to sit on it.
Ek hi 300 par channel aur beam ka wajan itna alag kyun?
Because they are two sections that share a depth and carry different flanges. SAIL publishes MC 300x90 at 36.30 kg per metre and MB 300x140 at 46.02, a gap of 9.72 kg in every metre and about 117 kg over a 12 metre length. Further down the same list it runs the other way: at 100 mm depth the channel is the heavier one, 9.56 against 8.95.
Beam ki jagah channel laga dein to chalega?
That line belongs to the engineer and never to the shop. IS 808:2021 measures sections and goes no further, so span and load are decided on the drawing and not off a catalogue. Ring with the section your drawing names and we will say what is standing against it.
Sabse gehra channel kaun sa milta hai?
SAIL's published channel range ends at MC 400x100, and we carry it through to MC 400x100x8.8, at 50.10 kg per metre. The I shape carries on past it: SAIL lists MB 100 mm to MB 600 mm through its External Processing Agencies, and we stock joist and beam both to 600. So past 400 mm of depth the question stops being channel against beam.
IS 808 me joist ka naam kyun nahi milta?
Because the title names four sections and joist is absent from all four. BIS titles it Hot Rolled Steel Beam, Column, Channel and Angle Sections, Dimensions and Properties, records it as the fourth revision, and shows no amendment issued against it. Joist is the market's word: it gets hung on ISLB, ISJB and ISMB sections alike.
Before you order
Say these when you order a section
Which word is on your paper: channel, joist, beam or ISMB?
That word settles the shape. Where the paper says joist and stops there, we work off the depth and the span to pick the exact section.
On a channel, what are the depth, the flange and the web?
MC 250x82 and MC 300x90 are two sections and two bills. A depth by itself is half a channel order and a whole beam one.
Is this section coming in at 12 metres, and off which mill?
SAIL's 12 metre line covers its Medium Structural Mill and its Universal Section Mill. MB 200x100 is rolled on the Section Mill, so the question is worth asking rather than assuming.
Does a test certificate have to travel with the load?
Say it before the load is made up. Material billed as MC does not carry a mill name with it, so what can be sent has to be checked first.
What can the last stretch of road take?
A full length picks the vehicle before the tonnage does. Name the village, describe the last turn into it, and the cartage gets quoted on that same call at the market rate.
Contact
Bring the word your paper uses
Channel, joist, beam or ISMB, whichever of the four the drawing or the mistri's slip carries is the one that closes this in a single call. Where the paper has letters, read them out with the digits. Where it has only a depth, give us the span and what has to sit on it. One call on +91 6202 967 218 settles the designation, the length that section is coming in at, and whether a test certificate can travel with it.
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