People have used steel rebar to reinforce the tensile strength of concrete since the mid-s, and with good reason. While concrete is a versatile, cost-effective building material, it needs more tensile strength to boost its durability. Engineering has advanced greatly since the 19th century, and the advent of fiber mesh and reinforcement has revolutionized concrete’s potential as a structural foundation and a way to beautify a space. In this guide, you’ll learn the difference between rebar and fiber reinforcement and discover the best option for your construction project.
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While concrete does very well with compressive or “pushing” forces, it’s less adept at enduring tension or “pulling” forces, handling only 10% to 15% of the force it could withstand under compression. This lack of tensile strength leads to cracks and even breaks in concrete slabs, foundations, walls, pavements, and columns that threaten the structure’s integrity. When concrete is paired with a material like steel rebar, wire mesh, or fiber, the reinforcement carries some of the tensile load and helps hold the concrete together.
Rebar reinforcement is a series of thick, often rigid steel rods inserted into concrete to form a composite material that performs better under tension. The bars are usually arranged in a grid pattern to distribute the force equally across the structure and are laid down before the concrete is poured. Steel is an excellent material for rebar because it expands and contracts at a similar rate to concrete when temperatures fluctuate. It also has great tensile strength.
Steel rebar is used in many construction projects, including commercial, industrial, and residential buildings, infrastructure like roads and bridges, and large structures like dams, tunnels, and processing plants. The benefits of using rebar to reinforce your concrete structure include:
Although rebar significantly supports concrete structures, it poses a handful of challenges to both construction companies and building owners. Some of the cons of using rebar as a reinforcing agent are:
Wire mesh is similar to rebar in using crosshatched steel to reinforce concrete. However, while rebar is usually thick and laid out in a grid pattern onsite, wire mesh is thinner, comes pre-welded or woven, and is laid on top of the wet concrete. Because wire mesh is not as robust as rebar, it’s often used as lighter reinforcement in places with limited space.
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While fiber reinforcement also somewhat increases the tensile strength of concrete, its primary purpose is to boost a structure’s toughness and crack resistance. Fiber concrete is made using small fragments of material mixed into the concrete and not laid down before pouring. These fibers can be made of numerous materials, including steel slivers, plastic, glass, basalt, and cellulose. They also come in two size variations — macro- and microfibers — which help reinforce the concrete at different drying stages:
Fiber reinforcement stabilizes thinner layers of concrete, such as pathways, artistic building facades, decorative elements, and ground-level concrete driveways, where rebar would not fit. Fiber is also used alongside rebar to give concrete structures the best combination of tensile strength and toughness. Some advantages of fiber concrete reinforcement are:
Using fiber to boost toughness does come with a handful of challenges. Consider these points if you plan to use fiber alone to reinforce your concrete structure:
Fiber mesh concrete reinforcement comes in prefabricated nets that are laid flat onto the wet concrete like wire mesh. Because fiber mesh is one uniform sheet, it doesn’t distribute toughness as thoroughly throughout concrete as individual fibers. It does make for easier finishing and more uniform horizontal support.
If you’re laying thinner concrete slabs to finish a surface or doing detailed facade work that bears very little weight, consider macro and micro fiber reinforcement for more freedom and less effort. If you’re building a concrete structure that needs to support a heavy load, like a multifloor building or basement, it’s highly recommended to include rebar reinforcement in the construction to boost tensile load capacity.
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