SteelX is twisted steel mini rebar that is mixed into fresh concrete to improve its performance while also improving safety and scheduling of the project.

Safety

There are countless injuries caused by rebar and welded wire mesh every year. The more rebar we can replace with SteelX reinforced concrete the safer the job site will be.

Speed

The schedule is so critical to a profitable construction project and SteelX improves that schedule by simplifying the process and eliminating placement labor, placement errors, and inspection delays. It even opens up the opportunity to tailgate the concrete if there isn’t any rebar to drive over.

Quality

Physics dictates all other reinforcements can only stop the separation of concrete across a crack after that crack is visible and water permeable. SteelX begins to reinforce concrete at microscopic and water tight crack widths that are invisible to the naked eye.

Twisted Steel Reinforcement

SteelX 5:25 is a Twisted Steel Reinforcement/Rebar (TSR) that has a unique ability to bond with the concrete due to its twisted shape, providing a torsional anchorage that engages before the concrete fails and that creates a true composite with the concrete. Each piece of SteelX bonds to the matrix over its full length and must untwist as it pulls out of the concrete. This is significantly different from traditional steel fibers where pullout is governed by friction. Due to the superior bond of SteelX products, the material properties of the concrete are improved prior to a dominant crack forming i.e. SteelX 5:25 provides proactive reinforcement. After a dominant crack forms, SteelX 5:25 provides a stable capacity allowing engineers to design just like rebar. SteelX 5:25 products provides significant cost savings by removing mesh and rebar, reducing pavement thickness, cutting project schedules and improving site safety.

TSR geometry can be altered to modify the performance of the concrete TSR composite based on the design requirements.

Twisted Steel Rebar; not Steel Fiber

Many incorrectly assume that SteelX is just ‘another’ steel fiber. SteelX 5:25 must untwist to pull from the concrete which results in a torsion failure mechanism as apposed to bending or friction. Figure 1 shows the force diagram of SteelX 5:25 wire when being pulled from the concrete matrix.  

The torsional pullout mechanism requires considerably more force (2-5 times more) than steel fibers and remains consistent over ~80-90% of the embedded length. 
Figure 2 below compares the pullout load of SteelX 5:25 to steel fibers.

About Us – Who is ‘STEELX REBAR’?

Badger Forms is the most experienced distributor of Twisted Steel Rebar technology in the US market. Our sales and engineering team has a combined 105 years of experience specific to fiber reinforced concrete. There is at least one member of our team that has participated in every type of project from the most basic to the most sophisticated. We truly care about the success of your project and our engineers and sales staff have been standing along side engineers of record, the largest construction companies in the world, project managers of high tech secretive projects, and family owned concrete construction companies for years, no matter the time of day or the type of weather or the cost to get there. We hope you will give us the opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with you at your next project.