Independent Research

Salit Specialty Rebar is a leading supplier of cut and pre-assembled stainless steel rebar and mesh.

The Facts: The Independent Research To Back It Up.

Stainless Steel Rebar has been proven to be a superior corrosion-resistant reinforcing material. Below are excerpts from independent studies showing stainless steel rebar to be an excellent and cost-effective choice. Links to entire studies in .pdf format are provided.

Improving Tomorrow’s Infrastructure: Extending the Life of Concrete Structures with Solid Stainless Steel Reinforcing Bar” – by Bergmann and Schnell. – Recent advances in concrete technology have provided structural designers with materials which can easily last more than 100 years, and the life of many concrete structures today is limited by the reinforcing. Improvements in the life of the reinforcing can translate directly into extended life of the structure.

Corrosion Resistance of Alternative Reinforcing Bars: An Accelerated Test” by Wiss, Janney Elstner Associates – Stainless Steel 316 and 2205 bars were largely free of corrosion except some minor corrosion product near to cut ends. The coating applied to the cut ends may have generated crevices which are at least partially responsible for the observed corrosion. These two types of stainless bars exhibited phenomenal low corrosion rates, approximately 0.1 percent of conventional steel.

A Pilot Experimental Study on the Low Cycle Fatigue Behavior of Stainless Steel Rebars for Earthquake Engineering Applications” by Yihui Zhou, Yu-Chen Ou, George C. Lee and Jerome S. O’Connor, University at Buffalo – Enduramet 32 has the highest ductility and the best low-cycle fatigue performance among the steels investigated. In general, the three types of stainless steel (Enduramet 32, 2205 duplex and 316LN), are better than A706 G60.

The Long Term Performance of Three Ontario Bridges Constructed with Galvanized Reinforcement” by F. Pianca and H. Schell, Ontario Ministry of Transportation – …Three Ontario structures were studied, built in 1975 and 1976 using galvanized reinforcement… Findings of the evaluation indicate the long-term (30 year) performance of galvanized reinforcement, while marginally better than conventional black reinforcement, showed evidence of corrosion and resulting delamination of concrete when the chloride content of the concrete exceeded the threshold to initiate corrosion. On one structure approximately 10% of the deck had deteriorated and required rehabilitation before achieving even a twenty-year service life. Based on the structures surveyed, galvanized reinforcement in the Ontario highway environment did not provide the anticipated corrosion protection.

Effects of Galvanic Coupling between Carbon Steel and Stainless Steel Reinforcement in Concrete” by Bertolini, Gastaldi, Pedeferri and Pedeferri – The coupling of corroding carbon steel with stainless steels are generally modest, and they are negligible with respect those due to the coupling with passive carbon steel which always surround the corroding area.

Galvanic Coupling between Carbon Steel and Stainless Steel Reinforcements” by Qian, National Research Council Canada, Qu, Hokkaido University, Japan and Coates, NIckel Institute – Based on this investigation, it can be concluded that use of SS and CS reinforcing bars in the same concrete structure will not increase the corrosion risk on CS even when these bars are in direct (electrical) contact. In fact, the increase in the corrosion rate of CS due to galvanic coupling of SS with corroding CS was less than that of the combination of non-corroded CS with corroding CS. Stainless steel, with its ability to resist chloride-induced corrosion, can be used in areas vulnerable to chloride ingress. Therefore, the judicious use of stainless steel with carbon steel in the high-corrosion-risk areas of a concrete structure can be a cost-effective option for reducing corrosion and greatly extending the service life of concrete structures.