A material consisting of iron and concrete (in a simple way, reinforced concrete) has been actively used in construction for several decades. Relatively recently, manufacturers decided to please us with an innovation, which has become a polymer-composite reinforcement (for convenience, we will briefly call it PCA). People call it fiberglass reinforcement.
The new material has become a great competitor to steel reinforcement and has gained popularity among developers. But how good is PKA and can it replace steel? Let's try to understand these issues.
Personally, I have had occasion to repeatedly encounter such fittings. To be honest, when concreting a septic tank, I used a PKA. Composite has several advantages: firstly, it is cheaper than steel, and secondly, it is much easier to work with it.
- Composite armature weighs less than steel, it is quite possible to transport it by personal car.
- PKA is easy to cut, from the coil you can unwind as many meters of reinforcement as you want, which makes it possible to carry out structures of any length without making joints and overlaps. It turns out quite economically, because there is no waste, cuttings, etc.
Speaking of steel bars, they are sold in fixed lengths - 11.7 and 5.85 meters.
Lack of PKA in limited use. True, unscrupulous manufacturers forget to tell buyers about this.
In general, I did not find more advantages in composite reinforcement.
To reinforce the anchoring inside the concrete, I easily make a hook out of metal. In large enterprises, the protruding ends of the reinforcement are flattened. But the PCA under tension pulls in concrete, since it cannot be anchored in any way. PKA cannot be bent, flattened, welded to it. This is its biggest drawback.
Fiberglass shows higher tensile strength. But what will this give if the reinforcement in the structure will bend and slide? After all, the rod must work directly with concrete. Therefore, when working, it is imperative to take into account the value of the modulus of elasticity.
For fiberglass, this indicator is 4 times less than for steel reinforcement. It turns out that in order for the composite to correspond to steel, it is necessary that the cross-sectional area of the rod is 4 times larger. Otherwise, the rigidity of the structure will be insufficient.
Another disadvantage of PCA is the inability to withstand too high temperatures. If the reinforcement is exposed to a temperature exceeding 87 degrees for 13 minutes, then the entire structure will collapse. Under such conditions, the resins that bind the PCA particles are destroyed. In the case of steel, the rods would simply bend and the pieces of the ceiling would hang on them. And the composite will collapse, pulling the entire structure along with it.
Comparing all these facts, I concluded that the PKA can only be used in the construction of structures that do not carry a large load. For example, for the construction of sidewalks, blind areas, arrivals, etc.
In some cases, reinforcement made of composite materials is used when the use of steel is unacceptable. For example, the structure must be radio-transparent, inert to chemical influences, and such properties cannot be achieved with metal.
I would not use reinforcement made of polymer composites when building your own home, and I do not advise you either.
If you disagree with me, or want to voice your opinion, write in the comments under the article.
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