Thread: Superior Structural Material?

Looking to find out if this stuff is as good as it's reputed to be- so much advertising is hype, you know?

Anyway, steel rebar is going to be the kiss of death for virtually every road, bridge, and runway in the nation eventually- maybe next time we will have learned to build them to LAST.

Sudaglass Fiber Technology

Apparently stronger than fibreglass, which can outperform steel where you need tensile - as in concrete reinforcing. But the price?

However rusted rebar is not all bad. The rust fills pores in concrete, which only adds to its strength, and effectively welds the steel to the concrete. If you examine rubble of a demolished building you will see the rebar and wire slipped clean out under stress - obviously slippage is impossible with rust-bonded reinforcing.

What's to stop a strong yet silky-smooth basalt fibre rod from slipping?

Ductility of this material is in doubt.
The link you gave says "No permanent deformation when bent", I don't think it's quite a good point to any structure application, since you can't tell from a direct view if the material is going to fail. That's a very dangerous thing.
A little search on sciencedirect, I found this material is mainly a reinforce material, and not studied so much till now. So it may have its special fields. However, it will never replace such perfect material called steel.

Originally Posted by Pong

Apparently stronger than fibreglass, which can outperform steel where you need tensile - as in concrete reinforcing. But the price?

However rusted rebar is not all bad. The rust fills pores in concrete, which only adds to its strength, and effectively welds the steel to the concrete. If you examine rubble of a demolished building you will see the rebar and wire slipped clean out under stress - obviously slippage is impossible with rust-bonded reinforcing.

What's to stop a strong yet silky-smooth basalt fibre rod from slipping?

I have been informed that steel expands fourfold when it rusts, this is not a problem?

Life-span Prediction of Reinforced Concrete Corrosive Expansion Based on Double-G Fracture Criterion--

Originally Posted by wangwy13

Ductility of this material is in doubt.
The link you gave says "No permanent deformation when bent", I don't think it's quite a good point to any structure application, since you can't tell from a direct view if the material is going to fail. That's a very dangerous thing.
A little search on sciencedirect, I found this material is mainly a reinforce material, and not studied so much till now. So it may have its special fields. However, it will never replace such perfect material called steel.

If a material is encased in concrete it is difficult to inspect regardless of its composition. Unlike steel, the basalt seems impervious to corrosion. If the standards of quality are consistent and accurate the design safety factor should be adequate to ensure satisfactory performance, or am I missing something?

Originally Posted by Arthur Angler

I have been informed that steel expands fourfold when it rusts, this is not a problem?

Doesn't appear to be (?). If you live near a rocky coast, you may find discarded steel bonded to rocks, by rust that penetrates ~1cm depending on porosity. You may also see exposed steel leftovers from formwork, their rust permeating the concrete. So it's not like a hard shell of oxide wedging the concrete apart.

The link was a prediction. I dunno if they accounted for rust merely filling voids.

How could we isolate the effects of rust-expansion, from water damage to the concrete itself? I've got some ideas but I'm going off topic.

Originally Posted by Pong

Apparently stronger than fibreglass, which can outperform steel where you need tensile - as in concrete reinforcing. But the price?

However rusted rebar is not all bad. The rust fills pores in concrete, which only adds to its strength, and effectively welds the steel to the concrete. If you examine rubble of a demolished building you will see the rebar and wire slipped clean out under stress - obviously slippage is impossible with rust-bonded reinforcing.

What's to stop a strong yet silky-smooth basalt fibre rod from slipping?

Well, they are able to bond Teflon to metal cooking pans- so maybe some kind of etching of the rods? I notice roving is also available, looks like a versatile material. Thanks for your comments.

Originally Posted by Arthur Angler

Originally Posted by wangwy13

Ductility of this material is in doubt.The link you gave says "No permanent deformation when bent", I don't think it's quite a good point to any structure application, since you can't tell from a direct view if the material is going to fail. That's a very dangerous thing.A little search on sciencedirect, I found this material is mainly a reinforce material, and not studied so much till now. So it may have its special fields. However, it will never replace such perfect material called steel.

If a material is encased in concrete it is difficult to inspect regardless of its composition. Unlike steel, the basalt seems impervious to corrosion. If the standards of quality are consistent and accurate the design safety factor should be adequate to ensure satisfactory performance, or am I missing something?

Yes, corrosion is a very important problem, on this point steel may have disadvantages.My major point is the Sudaglass Fiber have some advantages on specific applications, but because of the balanced mechanical properties of steel, steel possibly can be used more, thus Sudaglass can't be substitute for steel.Materials like Sudaglass or simply stone have good compression strength, but their properties under tensile condition is not as good as metals, as they only have high strength but lack ductility, they can't behave plastic deformation as the saying "No permanent deformation when bent". Base on this, I think it may be good reinforce material for roads, when it come to applications need to sustain tension forces like bridges, steel is still needed for the safety concern.