Two urgently needed inventions are better steel reinforcement for concrete
… and better wiring looms for vehicles

With steel reinforcement, it typically comes as bars with a crinkled surface that have to be tied together with steel ties on site. On any big engineering job, it’s a slow painful process to fabricate cages from bars. What is needed is to replace this process with something a hundred times faster.

With wiring looms for vehicles (incl. helicopters and planes), there are a plethora of different types of connectors and each wire connects one thing to one thing. Wiring looms are a pain to make and fix. Better for all low voltage equipment is a single wire bus looping around the vehicle with usb style (eg. 12 V) hubs along the wire into which plug & play stuff plugs in.

mollwollfumble said:

Two urgently needed inventions are better steel reinforcement for concrete
… and better wiring looms for vehicles

With steel reinforcement, it typically comes as bars with a crinkled surface that have to be tied together with steel ties on site. On any big engineering job, it’s a slow painful process to fabricate cages from bars. What is needed is to replace this process with something a hundred times faster.

With wiring looms for vehicles (incl. helicopters and planes), there are a plethora of different types of connectors and each wire connects one thing to one thing. Wiring looms are a pain to make and fix. Better for all low voltage equipment is a single wire bus looping around the vehicle with usb style (eg. 12 V) hubs along the wire into which plug & play stuff plugs in.

CAN Bus

mollwollfumble said:

Two urgently needed inventions are better steel reinforcement for concrete
… and better wiring looms for vehicles

With steel reinforcement, it typically comes as bars with a crinkled surface that have to be tied together with steel ties on site. On any big engineering job, it’s a slow painful process to fabricate cages from bars. What is needed is to replace this process with something a hundred times faster.

With wiring looms for vehicles (incl. helicopters and planes), there are a plethora of different types of connectors and each wire connects one thing to one thing. Wiring looms are a pain to make and fix. Better for all low voltage equipment is a single wire bus looping around the vehicle with usb style (eg. 12 V) hubs along the wire into which plug & play stuff plugs in.

separated circuits are also for the purpose of isolation, so a fault such as shorts or overload don’t cause other circuits to stop functioning, so to that end different wire gauges are used with appropriate fuse or breaker ratings

re vehicle wiring many things are switched, such as indicators, brakes, airconditioner compressor, headlights, and there are sender units for sensing engine temperature, oil pressure, and whatever, there are lots. There are also relays for various things

lot of the above are supplied with a negative wire also, call it a return, the body and engine chassis earth can’t be relied upon for that, and anyway there’s the possibility of causing corrosion/oxidation with DC on connection points (subject to moisture, and different metals) and between them

As for reo, why not provide anode to prevent rust like they do in cars?

Think I also read about a bacterium that could repair concrete.

roughbarked said:

As for reo, why not provide anode to prevent rust like they do in cars?

Think I also read about a bacterium that could repair concrete.

It’s called cathodic protection.

Been around for ever.

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

As for reo, why not provide anode to prevent rust like they do in cars?

Think I also read about a bacterium that could repair concrete.

It’s called cathodic protection.

Been around for ever.

that one, yeah.

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

As for reo, why not provide anode to prevent rust like they do in cars?

Think I also read about a bacterium that could repair concrete.

It’s called cathodic protection.

Been around for ever.

It’s in off peak hot water systems although there it’s called sacrificial anode.

JudgeMental said:

mollwollfumble said:

Two urgently needed inventions are better steel reinforcement for concrete
… and better wiring looms for vehicles

With steel reinforcement, it typically comes as bars with a crinkled surface that have to be tied together with steel ties on site. On any big engineering job, it’s a slow painful process to fabricate cages from bars. What is needed is to replace this process with something a hundred times faster.

With wiring looms for vehicles (incl. helicopters and planes), there are a plethora of different types of connectors and each wire connects one thing to one thing. Wiring looms are a pain to make and fix. Better for all low voltage equipment is a single wire bus looping around the vehicle with usb style (eg. 12 V) hubs along the wire into which plug & play stuff plugs in.

CAN Bus

BMW motorbikes have used this system for several years now. Single wire backbone. Plug in peripherals.

https://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/en/discover/engineering/technology-detail/comfort-ergonomics/canbus.html

Michael V said:

JudgeMental said:

mollwollfumble said:

Two urgently needed inventions are better steel reinforcement for concrete
… and better wiring looms for vehicles

With steel reinforcement, it typically comes as bars with a crinkled surface that have to be tied together with steel ties on site. On any big engineering job, it’s a slow painful process to fabricate cages from bars. What is needed is to replace this process with something a hundred times faster.

With wiring looms for vehicles (incl. helicopters and planes), there are a plethora of different types of connectors and each wire connects one thing to one thing. Wiring looms are a pain to make and fix. Better for all low voltage equipment is a single wire bus looping around the vehicle with usb style (eg. 12 V) hubs along the wire into which plug & play stuff plugs in.

CAN Bus

BMW motorbikes have used this system for several years now. Single wire backbone. Plug in peripherals.

https://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/en/discover/engineering/technology-detail/comfort-ergonomics/canbus.html

The air conditioning is powered by motion and the stereo has to be in your pocket.

transition said:

mollwollfumble said:

Two urgently needed inventions are better steel reinforcement for concrete
… and better wiring looms for vehicles

With steel reinforcement, it typically comes as bars with a crinkled surface that have to be tied together with steel ties on site. On any big engineering job, it’s a slow painful process to fabricate cages from bars. What is needed is to replace this process with something a hundred times faster.

With wiring looms for vehicles (incl. helicopters and planes), there are a plethora of different types of connectors and each wire connects one thing to one thing. Wiring looms are a pain to make and fix. Better for all low voltage equipment is a single wire bus looping around the vehicle with usb style (eg. 12 V) hubs along the wire into which plug & play stuff plugs in.

separated circuits are also for the purpose of isolation, so a fault such as shorts or overload don’t cause other circuits to stop functioning, so to that end different wire gauges are used with appropriate fuse or breaker ratings

re vehicle wiring many things are switched, such as indicators, brakes, airconditioner compressor, headlights, and there are sender units for sensing engine temperature, oil pressure, and whatever, there are lots. There are also relays for various things

lot of the above are supplied with a negative wire also, call it a return, the body and engine chassis earth can’t be relied upon for that, and anyway there’s the possibility of causing corrosion/oxidation with DC on connection points (subject to moisture, and different metals) and between them

> CAN Bus

Sort of the opposite of what I’m asking for. “CAN is a multi-master serial bus standard for connecting Electronic Control Units (ECUs)” with “as many as 70 electronic control units (ECU)” That doesn’t solve the problem of wiring loon complexity.

> separated circuits are also …

And that adds to the complexity as well, rather than reducing complexity.

I’m asking for the shortest possible wiring loom. No low voltage wire anywhere on the vehicle longer than 0.5 metres. All plug and play with identical plugs.

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

As for reo, why not provide anode to prevent rust like they do in cars?
Think I also read about a bacterium that could repair concrete.

It’s called cathodic protection.
Been around for ever.

Cathodic protection only works underwater, so no.
Concrete can be made self-repairing, but only at the expense of low initial strength, so no.

With reo, I have two ideas in mind. One is to replace reo bars with a chequer-plate-like design. For a beam, lay in enough concrete for cover at the bottom. Drop in a single chequer-plate as main steel reinforcement. fill up to level of top reinforcement (if any). Place top chequer plate over beam supports, then finish the beam. With proper design could be about 100 times faster than tying cages of bars.

Reo is already available prefabricated for foundations, as welded mesh and for slabs. A step in the right direction but not a step far enough.

The other idea is to cut the cover requirement to zero using a non-rusting steel (or other fibre reinforcement). Fibre reinforced concrete is available, but it could be better, such as for serious engineering like bridges.

mollwollfumble said:

transition said:

mollwollfumble said:

Two urgently needed inventions are better steel reinforcement for concrete
… and better wiring looms for vehicles

With steel reinforcement, it typically comes as bars with a crinkled surface that have to be tied together with steel ties on site. On any big engineering job, it’s a slow painful process to fabricate cages from bars. What is needed is to replace this process with something a hundred times faster.

With wiring looms for vehicles (incl. helicopters and planes), there are a plethora of different types of connectors and each wire connects one thing to one thing. Wiring looms are a pain to make and fix. Better for all low voltage equipment is a single wire bus looping around the vehicle with usb style (eg. 12 V) hubs along the wire into which plug & play stuff plugs in.

separated circuits are also for the purpose of isolation, so a fault such as shorts or overload don’t cause other circuits to stop functioning, so to that end different wire gauges are used with appropriate fuse or breaker ratings

re vehicle wiring many things are switched, such as indicators, brakes, airconditioner compressor, headlights, and there are sender units for sensing engine temperature, oil pressure, and whatever, there are lots. There are also relays for various things

lot of the above are supplied with a negative wire also, call it a return, the body and engine chassis earth can’t be relied upon for that, and anyway there’s the possibility of causing corrosion/oxidation with DC on connection points (subject to moisture, and different metals) and between them

> CAN Bus

Sort of the opposite of what I’m asking for. “CAN is a multi-master serial bus standard for connecting Electronic Control Units (ECUs)” with “as many as 70 electronic control units (ECU)” That doesn’t solve the problem of wiring loon complexity.

> separated circuits are also …

And that adds to the complexity as well, rather than reducing complexity.

I’m asking for the shortest possible wiring loom. No low voltage wire anywhere on the vehicle longer than 0.5 metres. All plug and play with identical plugs.

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

As for reo, why not provide anode to prevent rust like they do in cars?
Think I also read about a bacterium that could repair concrete.

It’s called cathodic protection.
Been around for ever.

Cathodic protection only works underwater, so no.
Concrete can be made self-repairing, but only at the expense of low initial strength, so no.

With reo, I have two ideas in mind. One is to replace reo bars with a chequer-plate-like design. For a beam, lay in enough concrete for cover at the bottom. Drop in a single chequer-plate as main steel reinforcement. fill up to level of top reinforcement (if any). Place top chequer plate over beam supports, then finish the beam. With proper design could be about 100 times faster than tying cages of bars.

Reo is already available prefabricated for foundations, as welded mesh and for slabs. A step in the right direction but not a step far enough.

The other idea is to cut the cover requirement to zero using a non-rusting steel (or other fibre reinforcement). Fibre reinforced concrete is available, but it could be better, such as for serious engineering like bridges.

I see a lot of construction sites and the reo is always rusty before it goes into the concrete. This may differ with pre-fab slab construction.

mollwollfumble said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

As for reo, why not provide anode to prevent rust like they do in cars?
Think I also read about a bacterium that could repair concrete.

It’s called cathodic protection.
Been around for ever.

Cathodic protection only works underwater, so no.

Where did you get that idea?
Cathodic protection is widely used above water.

mollwollfumble said:

Concrete can be made self-repairing, but only at the expense of low initial strength, so no.

Where did you get that idea?

All concrete is self repairing. It doesn’t require low initial strength

mollwollfumble said:

With reo, I have two ideas in mind. One is to replace reo bars with a chequer-plate-like design. For a beam, lay in enough concrete for cover at the bottom. Drop in a single chequer-plate as main steel reinforcement. fill up to level of top reinforcement (if any). Place top chequer plate over beam supports, then finish the beam. With proper design could be about 100 times faster than tying cages of bars.

Reo is already available prefabricated for foundations, as welded mesh and for slabs. A step in the right direction but not a step far enough.

The other idea is to cut the cover requirement to zero using a non-rusting steel (or other fibre reinforcement). Fibre reinforced concrete is available, but it could be better, such as for serious engineering like bridges.

Prefabricated reinforcement is widely used everywhere, not just foundations.

No doubt there will be more use of robotic steel fixers in the future, but like most AI things, fixing steel is actually a lot more complicated than it looks, and AIs aren’t up to it yet.

The latest Australian standard for concrete structures covers fibre reinforced concrete. It has its uses, but has limited tensile strength and ductility.

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

transition said:

It’s called cathodic protection.
Been around for ever.

Cathodic protection only works underwater, so no.
Concrete can be made self-repairing, but only at the expense of low initial strength, so no.

With reo, I have two ideas in mind. One is to replace reo bars with a chequer-plate-like design. For a beam, lay in enough concrete for cover at the bottom. Drop in a single chequer-plate as main steel reinforcement. fill up to level of top reinforcement (if any). Place top chequer plate over beam supports, then finish the beam. With proper design could be about 100 times faster than tying cages of bars.

Reo is already available prefabricated for foundations, as welded mesh and for slabs. A step in the right direction but not a step far enough.

The other idea is to cut the cover requirement to zero using a non-rusting steel (or other fibre reinforcement). Fibre reinforced concrete is available, but it could be better, such as for serious engineering like bridges.

I see a lot of construction sites and the reo is always rusty before it goes into the concrete. This may differ with pre-fab slab construction.

The rust improves the bond. It’s not a problem.

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

Cathodic protection only works underwater, so no.
Concrete can be made self-repairing, but only at the expense of low initial strength, so no.

With reo, I have two ideas in mind. One is to replace reo bars with a chequer-plate-like design. For a beam, lay in enough concrete for cover at the bottom. Drop in a single chequer-plate as main steel reinforcement. fill up to level of top reinforcement (if any). Place top chequer plate over beam supports, then finish the beam. With proper design could be about 100 times faster than tying cages of bars.

Reo is already available prefabricated for foundations, as welded mesh and for slabs. A step in the right direction but not a step far enough.

The other idea is to cut the cover requirement to zero using a non-rusting steel (or other fibre reinforcement). Fibre reinforced concrete is available, but it could be better, such as for serious engineering like bridges.

I see a lot of construction sites and the reo is always rusty before it goes into the concrete. This may differ with pre-fab slab construction.

The rust improves the bond. It’s not a problem.

So it only gets cancer when the concrete cracks away and lets the air at it?

Spray the steel with phosphoric acid before pouring the concrete ?

mollwollfumble said:

> CAN Bus

Sort of the opposite of what I’m asking for. “CAN is a multi-master serial bus standard for connecting Electronic Control Units (ECUs)” with “as many as 70 electronic control units (ECU)” That doesn’t solve the problem of wiring loon complexity.

> separated circuits are also …

And that adds to the complexity as well, rather than reducing complexity.

The CAN standard was devised to fill this need. One key advantage is that interconnection between different vehicle systems can allow a wide range of safety, economy and convenience features to be implemented using software alone – functionality which would add cost and complexity if such features were “hard wired” using traditional automotive electrics.

So they may be complex, though ECUs are very simple even the engine management one, but that simplifies the system.

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

I see a lot of construction sites and the reo is always rusty before it goes into the concrete. This may differ with pre-fab slab construction.

The rust improves the bond. It’s not a problem.

So it only gets cancer when the concrete cracks away and lets the air at it?

The alkalinity of the concrete determines rust rate, IIRC. High alkalinity passivates the steel.

wookiemeister said:

Spray the steel with phosphoric acid before pouring the concrete ?

Zinc-it.

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

Spray the steel with phosphoric acid before pouring the concrete ?

Zinc-it.

I think the Rev actually knows a bit about this subject.

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

I see a lot of construction sites and the reo is always rusty before it goes into the concrete. This may differ with pre-fab slab construction.

The rust improves the bond. It’s not a problem.

So it only gets cancer when the concrete cracks away and lets the air at it?

Concrete “cancer” can be caused by lots of things.

Active reinforcement corrosion is caused by a combination of aggressive conditions (usually high chlorides), poor quality concrete and inadequate cover.

Concrete is supposed to crack; the reinforcement can’t work without the concrete cracking, but excessive cracking may be a problem.

JudgeMental said:

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

Spray the steel with phosphoric acid before pouring the concrete ?

Zinc-it.

I think the Rev actually knows a bit about this subject.

it’s just a feeling though, nothing concrete.

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

Spray the steel with phosphoric acid before pouring the concrete ?

Zinc-it.

Galvanised steel is sometimes used for aggressive conditions. Works if done properly.

JudgeMental said:

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

Spray the steel with phosphoric acid before pouring the concrete ?

Zinc-it.

I think the Rev actually knows a bit about this subject.

Wasn’t questioning his knowledge level. Just milking for information.

JudgeMental said:

JudgeMental said:

roughbarked said:

Zinc-it.

I think the Rev actually knows a bit about this subject.

it’s just a feeling though, nothing concrete.

I dunno.

You say something sensible, and then go and spoil it :)

JudgeMental said:

JudgeMental said:

roughbarked said:

Zinc-it.

I think the Rev actually knows a bit about this subject.

it’s just a feeling though, nothing concrete.

Here he goes again. ;)

The Rev Dodgson said:

JudgeMental said:

JudgeMental said:

I think the Rev actually knows a bit about this subject.

it’s just a feeling though, nothing concrete.

I dunno.

You say something sensible, and then go and spoil it :)

I was just trying to reinforce the point, and cement my position as forum humourist.

The Rev Dodgson said:

JudgeMental said:

JudgeMental said:

I think the Rev actually knows a bit about this subject.

it’s just a feeling though, nothing concrete.

I dunno.

You say something sensible, and then go and spoil it :)

He got the words wrong.. it was supposed to be something stupid like I love you.

JudgeMental said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

JudgeMental said:

it’s just a feeling though, nothing concrete.

I dunno.

You say something sensible, and then go and spoil it :)

I was just trying to reinforce the point, and cement my position as forum humourist.

You just want the limelight.

Rule 303 said:

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

The rust improves the bond. It’s not a problem.

So it only gets cancer when the concrete cracks away and lets the air at it?

The alkalinity of the concrete determines rust rate, IIRC. High alkalinity passivates the steel.

Yep. My memory is correct. We used this trick to protect the Reo in cracked swimming pools – Hold the total alkalinity up and the Reo doesn’t rust, so the problem doesn’t get any worse (well, it might, but not because the Reo is rusting).

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

As for reo, why not provide anode to prevent rust like they do in cars?

Think I also read about a bacterium that could repair concrete.

It’s called cathodic protection.

Been around for ever.

My Dad did the cathodic protection on the Bass Strait rigs. And various wharves up the West coast of Australia. In the 1960s.

buffy said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

As for reo, why not provide anode to prevent rust like they do in cars?

Think I also read about a bacterium that could repair concrete.

It’s called cathodic protection.

Been around for ever.

My Dad did the cathodic protection on the Bass Strait rigs. And various wharves up the West coast of Australia. In the 1960s.

Not quite forever because that’s a very long time.

Tamb said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

As for reo, why not provide anode to prevent rust like they do in cars?

Think I also read about a bacterium that could repair concrete.

It’s called cathodic protection.

Been around for ever.

It’s in off peak hot water systems although there it’s called sacrificial anode.

The sacrificial anode is part of the cathodic protection.

buffy said:

Tamb said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

It’s called cathodic protection.

Been around for ever.

It’s in off peak hot water systems although there it’s called sacrificial anode.

The sacrificial anode is part of the cathodic protection.

This be correct.

buffy said:

Tamb said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

It’s called cathodic protection.

Been around for ever.

It’s in off peak hot water systems although there it’s called sacrificial anode.

The sacrificial anode is part of the cathodic protection.

Some yachts also have sacrificial anodic protection.

Tamb said:

buffy said:

Tamb said:

It’s in off peak hot water systems although there it’s called sacrificial anode.

The sacrificial anode is part of the cathodic protection.

Some yachts also have sacrificial anodic protection.

What’s that story about a metal bucket with seawater and fish bait in an aluminium “tinny”?

> The rust improves the bond. It’s not a problem.

I’m old enough to remember the original Australian research that proved that.

It is a problem. Stronger bond but lower durability, shorter lifespan, thicker cover requirement.

“Concrete cancer” is 100% due to rusty reinforcement.

mollwollfumble said:

> The rust improves the bond. It’s not a problem.

I’m old enough to remember the original Australian research that proved that.

It is a problem. Stronger bond but lower durability, shorter lifespan, thicker cover requirement.

“Concrete cancer” is 100% due to rusty reinforcement.

“Concrete cancer” as originally used is due to alkali aggregate reaction and has nothing to do with reinforcement.

Damage caused by rusting of the reinforcement is obviously due to rusting of the reinforcement, but an initial thin coat of rust does not lead to damaging rusting if the concrete is designed and constructed properly, and if it is not designed and constructed properly, not having an initial thin coat of rust will not prevent later damage.

The Rev Dodgson said:

mollwollfumble said:

> The rust improves the bond. It’s not a problem.

I’m old enough to remember the original Australian research that proved that.

It is a problem. Stronger bond but lower durability, shorter lifespan, thicker cover requirement.

“Concrete cancer” is 100% due to rusty reinforcement.

“Concrete cancer” as originally used is due to alkali aggregate reaction and has nothing to do with reinforcement.

Damage caused by rusting of the reinforcement is obviously due to rusting of the reinforcement, but an initial thin coat of rust does not lead to damaging rusting if the concrete is designed and constructed properly, and if it is not designed and constructed properly, not having an initial thin coat of rust will not prevent later damage.

Surface rust protects.

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

mollwollfumble said:

> The rust improves the bond. It’s not a problem.

I’m old enough to remember the original Australian research that proved that.

It is a problem. Stronger bond but lower durability, shorter lifespan, thicker cover requirement.

“Concrete cancer” is 100% due to rusty reinforcement.

“Concrete cancer” as originally used is due to alkali aggregate reaction and has nothing to do with reinforcement.

Damage caused by rusting of the reinforcement is obviously due to rusting of the reinforcement, but an initial thin coat of rust does not lead to damaging rusting if the concrete is designed and constructed properly, and if it is not designed and constructed properly, not having an initial thin coat of rust will not prevent later damage.

Surface rust protects.

Similar to aluminium’s surface oxidisation.

The Rev Dodgson said:

All concrete is self repairing.

Concrete is supposed to crack

Why have I only ever observed cracks appearing in concrete and not disappearing?

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

“Concrete cancer” as originally used is due to alkali aggregate reaction and has nothing to do with reinforcement.

Damage caused by rusting of the reinforcement is obviously due to rusting of the reinforcement, but an initial thin coat of rust does not lead to damaging rusting if the concrete is designed and constructed properly, and if it is not designed and constructed properly, not having an initial thin coat of rust will not prevent later damage.

Surface rust protects.

Similar to aluminium’s surface oxidisation.

Not on steel.

Not even in an alkaline environment. In an alkaline environment, rust offers no more protection on steel than no rust. And when the alkalinity reduces due to the reaction of concrete with carbon dioxide in the air then initial rust is positively harmful. Thinking back 35 years ago, Australia was the only country that liked rusty steel reinforcement. Other countries would reject steel reinforcement that was rusty.

Aluminium is another matter entirely. The oxide layer protects against pitting corrosion, which is a completely different regime of corrosion to that which attacks steel. This image illustrates why a new steel reinforcement system is needed. Far too much fiddly detail.

For concrete slabs protected from the weather, the following replaces the above. This is much better, but so far is limited to indoor use and horizontal slabs only. There needs to be variations on this that are suitable for outdoor use and beams.

The following image illustrates why a new wiring harness system is needed for cars, planes and helicopters.

mollwollfumble said:

Thinking back 35 years ago, Australia was the only country that liked rusty steel reinforcement. Other countries would reject steel reinforcement that was rusty.

I don’t know where these other countries are, but they aren’t any of the 30 or 40 countries I have worked in.

The Rev Dodgson said:

mollwollfumble said:

Thinking back 35 years ago, Australia was the only country that liked rusty steel reinforcement. Other countries would reject steel reinforcement that was rusty.

I don’t know where these other countries are, but they aren’t any of the 30 or 40 countries I have worked in.

The steel that’s used outside and develops a rusty surface coating is specifically designed to do that, it’s called Corten Steel
The surface develops a coat of rust, but the rust does not penetrate any further into the metal.

Spiny Norman said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

mollwollfumble said:

Thinking back 35 years ago, Australia was the only country that liked rusty steel reinforcement. Other countries would reject steel reinforcement that was rusty.

I don’t know where these other countries are, but they aren’t any of the 30 or 40 countries I have worked in.

The steel that’s used outside and develops a rusty surface coating is specifically designed to do that, it’s called Corten Steel
The surface develops a coat of rust, but the rust does not penetrate any further into the metal.

Or “weathering steel” outside the USA.

I worked on a bridge in the UK using weathering steel in the mid 70s. I presume it is still standing.

Weathering steel isn’t used for reinforced concrete though, afaik. I don’t know why not.

The Rev Dodgson said:

Spiny Norman said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

I don’t know where these other countries are, but they aren’t any of the 30 or 40 countries I have worked in.

The steel that’s used outside and develops a rusty surface coating is specifically designed to do that, it’s called Corten Steel
The surface develops a coat of rust, but the rust does not penetrate any further into the metal.

Or “weathering steel” outside the USA.

I worked on a bridge in the UK using weathering steel in the mid 70s. I presume it is still standing.

Weathering steel isn’t used for reinforced concrete though, afaik. I don’t know why not.

Thanks for the correction.

Spiny Norman said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Spiny Norman said:

The steel that’s used outside and develops a rusty surface coating is specifically designed to do that, it’s called Corten Steel
The surface develops a coat of rust, but the rust does not penetrate any further into the metal.

Or “weathering steel” outside the USA.

I worked on a bridge in the UK using weathering steel in the mid 70s. I presume it is still standing.

Weathering steel isn’t used for reinforced concrete though, afaik. I don’t know why not.

Thanks for the correction.

I thought of it as additional info, rather than correction. :)