Are 3rd Party Tests mandatory for every steel lot ?

“Are you sending the steel samples to 3rd Party lab for all lots ? “ questioned my Consultant-friend to the Contractor.

Afterwards, I asked my friend, “ is it compulsory to test every lot by 3rd party ? “ and he said that is given in IS:1786.

And When I asked my other friends, who are regarded as “Experts”, some told that it is given in MORTH specifications and some told that it is according to IRC: SP 57 or IRC: SP 112 etc.

Then, It came to my mind that there is so much confusion about this and an article can be written.

That’s how , this thing was started.

First , let’s see IS:1786.

It is written in Clause No. 11.1 as “ 2 tests and 3 tests per cast for casts / heats less than and greater than 100 tonnes respectively “.

Ok. Good. But, this frequency is for Manufacturer, not for us users.

Next, Let’s check the MORTH specifications. In Clause No. 1009.3.1, it is given as “ the manufacturer’s certificate alone shall not be considered as sufficient and the steel shall be got tested by the Engineer in the NABL accredited labs only as a third party check.”

Ok.

But, this is for the steel, not supplied by Original Producers. And in case of secondary suppliers ( who are manufacturing from billets procured from the Original producers ) also, it is only said that testing should be done in NABL labs. It is not said that this NABL lab testing should be done for every lot.

So, MORTH also not said about the “ 3rd Party NABL lab Test for every lot “.

At this point, we can ask “ what is this LOT after all ? Where this word is mentioned anywhere in the codes for steel reinforcement ? “

It is nowhere mentioned in the relevant specifications about this word “ LOT “. Word HEAT is there, as well as CAST, but no LOT.

In IRC: SP 57, it is mentioned as test “for every delivery “ . But , now this code itself has become irrelevant and IRC : SP 112 is being the one to refer. And this IRC : SP 112 does not say anything about this “per lot- 3rd party test “

As a Conclusion, we can assume that the 3rd party for every lot ( whatever that may be ) is not specified and can be conducted only as an occasional check.

Thank you for being with me all this while.