November 2025: New Standards Advance Metallurgical Construction and Testing

November 2025 brings significant updates in international standards for the metallurgy sector, aimed at improving material performance, construction safety, and advanced testing capabilities. Two newly published standards—EN 18035:2025 and ISO 14577-6:2025—deliver crucial requirements for construction materials and instrumented testing at elevated temperatures. For industry professionals, engineers, quality managers, and compliance officers, adopting these standards means elevating the reliability and safety of metallurgical applications worldwide.

Overview

Metallurgy plays a foundational role in modern industry, underpinning sectors from construction and infrastructure to advanced manufacturing. International standards for metallurgy are essential—they set minimum requirements for materials and testing methods to ensure reliability, safety, and interoperability on a global scale. In this article, you'll learn how the latest standards published in November 2025 impact construction applications and materials testing, what new requirements have been introduced, and how your organization can benefit from early adoption and compliance.

Detailed Standards Coverage

EN 18035:2025 – Prestressing Steels: Waxed and Sheathed Strands for Construction Applications

Full Standard Title: Prestressing steels – Waxed and sheathed strands for construction applications

This European standard establishes comprehensive requirements for high-strength steel strands—either uncoated or zinc/zinc alloy coated—further encapsulated with wax and a protective sheath. These products are critical for post-tensioned concrete structures and other demanding construction environments where long-term durability, corrosion protection, and mechanical performance are mandatory.

Scope and Key Requirements

• Defines geometric properties, mechanical characteristics (tensile strength, elasticity), and durability criteria for waxed and sheathed steel strands.
• Establishes strict material requirements for wax and sheath, including limits on aggressive elements, congealing and melting points, and oxidative stability.
• Requires high-density polyethylene (HDPE) for the sheath, with detailed specifications on density, tensile strength, elongation, thermal stability, carbon black content, and UV stability.
• Mandates rigorous tests for watertightness, impact resistance, adherence retention under thermal variation, and corrosion protection.
• Specifies documentation, labelling, delivery, and conformity assessment procedures to ensure traceability and compliance.

Who Should Comply?

• Manufacturers, suppliers, and construction firms using prestressed concrete elements.
• Quality managers overseeing structural steel procurement.
• Engineers designing bridges, buildings, or infrastructure where prestressing is applied.

Practical Implications

• Enhanced durability of concrete structures through improved anti-corrosive protection and mechanical reliability.
• Streamlined acceptance testing and delivery documentation for greater supply chain transparency.
• Clearer criteria for product classification, designation, labelling, and traceability.
• Alignment with best practices across the EU, ensuring competitive access to national public works and major projects.

Notable Changes

As a new standard, EN 18035:2025 consolidates and elevates requirements found in previous national and European documents. Manufacturers must ensure full compliance to meet future project specifications and regulatory mandates.

Key highlights:

• Advanced requirements for wax and sheath materials to maximize corrosion resistance
• Stringent geometric and mechanical property definitions for strands
• Prescribed conformity and acceptance testing procedures for improved quality assurance

Access the full standard:View EN 18035:2025 on iTeh Standards

ISO 14577-6:2025 – Instrumented Indentation Test at Elevated Temperature for Metallic Materials

Full Standard Title: Metallic materials – Instrumented indentation test for hardness and materials parameters – Part 6: Instrumented indentation test at elevated temperature

This new part of the ISO 14577 series introduces precise methodologies for performing instrumented indentation (hardness) tests on metallic materials at temperatures above ambient. This is essential for industries where materials are expected to perform under thermal stress such as aerospace, automotive, energy, and power generation.

Scope and Key Requirements

• Specifies methods for controlling and measuring indentation at controlled, elevated temperatures, using both a heated test piece and indenter.
• Outlines requirements for test machines: independent heating, feedback control, traceable calibration, accurate temperature measurement and control, and result uncertainty estimation.
• Requires strict environmental controls: testing can be done in air, inert gas, reducing environments, or vacuum—all to prevent surface and indenter degradation at high temperatures.
• Provides procedures for assigning the actual contact temperature to the test result, minimizing uncertainty.
• Details comprehensive calibration, verification, and reporting methods to ensure global comparability of results.

Who Should Comply?

• Laboratories and research institutions developing or testing high-temperature alloys.
• Industrial quality and R&D facilities evaluating welds, coatings, reactor and turbine components, or surface-treated metals.
• Certification and accreditation bodies performing or assessing advanced hardness measurements.

Practical Implications

• Enables more accurate simulation of in-service conditions for high-temperature components.
• Supports innovation and qualification of new heat-resistant metallic materials.
• Reduces risk of failure in critical sectors by giving more reliable data on material behavior above ambient temperature.
• Assists in global supply chain integration by ensuring consistent measurement practices.

Notable Changes from Previous Practice

ISO 14577-6:2025 establishes, for the first time, a harmonized method for precise, instrumented indentation testing at elevated temperatures—filling a previous gap in international standards. It requires traceable calibration and direct temperature assignment at the indentation contact, a significant technological advancement.

Key highlights:

• Precise control and calibration for high-temperature instrumented hardness tests
• Detailed environmental and machine requirements for elevated temperature testing
• Robust methods for uncertainty estimation and reporting

Access the full standard:View ISO 14577-6:2025 on iTeh Standards

Industry Impact & Compliance

The publication of EN 18035:2025 and ISO 14577-6:2025 introduces new frameworks for construction material reliability and advanced metallurgical testing. Immediate impacts include:

• Construction sector: Designers and builders will benefit from increased post-tensioned structure durability and consistent supply chain documentation, reducing risk of failure.
• Manufacturing and R&D: Labs and manufacturers can now standardize elevated temperature hardness testing—enabling accurate performance assessments under real-world heat loads.

Compliance Considerations

• Manufacturers must update product specifications and quality control protocols to align with the new standard requirements.
• Accredited laboratories conducting hardness testing must assess, calibrate, and upgrade instrumentation for compliance with ISO 14577-6:2025, ensuring traceability and environmental controls.
• Procurement and supply chain managers should revise vendor qualification processes to reflect the new requirements for strand product designation, testing documentation, and labelling under EN 18035:2025.

Timeline

• In the EU, national adoption and withdrawal of conflicting standards is required by May 2026 (for EN 18035).
• Early compliance will provide a competitive advantage in public and private projects and reduce expediting or rectification costs.

Benefits of Adoption

• Improved structural reliability and safety
• Enhanced competitiveness in international markets
• Greater consistency and transparency in materials testing and delivery
• Reduced risk of compliance penalties and project delays

Risks of Non-Compliance

• Disqualification from major infrastructure projects
• Increased liability and repair costs from material failures
• Reputational damage due to non-standard performance or documentation

Technical Insights

Common Technical Requirements Across Standards

Both standards emphasize:

• The importance of traceability, from extraction of raw materials to the delivery and testing of finished products.
• Robust calibration and verification of testing equipment—whether measuring the force/extension of steel strands or the temperature and compliance of indentation machines.
• Standardization of environmental controls: humidity, temperature, and contamination are all controlled to guarantee uniform performance.
• Rigorous acceptance and sampling protocols—helping organizations proactively manage quality.

Implementation Best Practices

1. Review and update procurement specifications to directly reference the new standards.
2. Calibrate instrumentation and retrain staff, especially for elevated temperature hardness testing or new strand requirements.
3. Establish clear supplier qualification criteria aligned with EN 18035:2025—including documentation, labeling, and third-party certification as required.
4. Audit laboratory compliance with ISO/IEC 17025 and the latest ISO 14577 series.
5. Communicate changes to clients and end-users to foster confidence and minimize transition risks.

Testing and Certification Considerations

• For EN 18035:2025, acceptance testing involves evaluating wax and sheath characteristics, strand geometry, and sample mechanical and corrosion performance using defined European/international methods.
• For ISO 14577-6:2025, laboratories must ensure independent and precisely controlled heating of both the indenter and test piece, and must regularly validate machine calibration at temperature using traceable reference materials.
• Certification to these standards supports market access, public tender eligibility, and reduced insurance costs.

Conclusion / Next Steps

The November 2025 publication of EN 18035:2025 and ISO 14577-6:2025 marks a major leap toward robust, harmonized practices in the metallurgy industry. Organizations that adopt these standards position themselves at the forefront of quality, safety, and innovation.

Key takeaways:

• Enhanced requirements for waxed and sheathed prestressing steel strands will directly improve construction quality and longevity.
• New tools for precise elevated-temperature hardness testing will support advanced material development and performance validation.
• Early compliance streamlines procurement, improves competitiveness, and supports global market access.

Recommendations:

• Audit current processes and identify gaps relative to the new standards
• Train technical and procurement teams on updated requirements
• Update technical library subscriptions with the latest standards editions
• Engage in peer exchanges and technical forums to benchmark best practice

For a comprehensive review and authoritative resources, access the full texts on iTeh Standards and ensure your organization is prepared for the next evolution in metallurgy standards compliance.