Rebar

Rebar - What is it made out of and how is it used? 

Most people have heard the term “rebar”, but you may not know exactly what it means, and why it is used. It is actually a term that is short for “reinforcing bar”, and it is most often used to support concrete or other structures and improve their strength.

What is Rebar Made Of?

Rebar is made of steel and other metal supplies. You can buy steel at a place like Wasatch Steel, where different grades and sizes of rebar are available. Rebar is easy to distinguish by the ribbing all along the surface of the bar that will help connect it to the adjacent concrete so it cannot be easily pulled out. Since steel and concrete have very similar expansion properties, this metal is ideal to accompany concrete for reinforcement because it won’t cause problems when the temperature changes inside or outside of a structure built with concrete and reinforced with rebar.

Some of the most common rebar is created using tempered steel, which means it will likely rust. If it’s not properly protected within a concrete structure, the rust could eventually compromise the integrity of the rebar and cause the building or structure to become unstable. This can be particularly problematic in areas where there is a high humidity or salt content (such as in bridges over salt water, in areas with high snow fall that use salt to melt snow and ice on the roads, or in coastal areas). In those cases, there are corrosion-resistant rebar varieties including epoxy-coated, galvanized, or stainless steel that can be used to prevent rusting and structural compromise.

 

Rebar Sizing and Grading

Rebar is sized using a number system that ranges from #2 to #18J (where the J stands for Jumbo). The number corresponds to a measurement in diameter, measured in one-eighth increments. In other words, if you have a #3, it would be a 3/8-inch diameter. Most rebar that is size #14 or larger is used for particularly heavy-duty applications or large structures.

Rebar is also graded to differentiate the different varieties of yield strength, tensile strength, chemical composition, and elongation. The most typical grades available at Wasatch Steel are 40, 60, and 75 ksi. For reference, 1 ksi is equal to 1000 psi.

Common Rebar Uses

While rebar has long been used for construction purposes (in fact, probably for hundreds of years, even before it was termed “rebar”), it is most often used today to provide support for concrete. While concrete has a very high level of compression strength, it does not have much tensile strength, meaning that under very strong tension it will tend to crack or break. In order to help balance concrete and use it for a variety of construction purposes, rebar is used to reinforce and increase tensile strength.

While concrete is an important building product, it is not one that can be used on its own. When subjected to high-tension loads, concrete will often crack or break, necessitating the use of reinforcement that can withstand high-tension loads. With the wide variety of steel supplies and rebar available from Wasatch Steel, you can get all your construction needs for any project, large or small.