Concrete floor technology continues to evolve to meet the needs of building owners at a rapid pace. Members of the CFCAO are pleased to offer steel fibre reinforced concrete solutions to meet the demands of commercial and industrial floor users including exterior pavements.

Steel fibres have a proven track record. Steel fibre reinforcing has been used in Canada for decades to economically toughen concrete floors against the stresses created by applied loads and internal drying stresses. Steel fibre has been installed in countless buildings in Ontario and around the World for every type of floor user. Originally introduced to Canada in 1984 by CFCAO members, steel fibres have proven to be extremely economical, durable and versatile in addressing the varying needs of concrete floor users in a variety of applications.

Steel fibres are practical. Steel fibres are added to the concrete at the specified dosage rate in factory packaged and weighed bags. This makes both the addition and inspection a straightforward task. Fibres are added following the addition of a plasticizing admixture which reverses the mechanical slump loss created by fibre addition. All concrete containing fibres should be plasticized for this reason (do not use water). Without the need to install the steel prior to concrete placement, project schedules can also be reduced when employing steel fibre solutions.

Whether steel or synthetic, all fibres are not equal. There is no common standard configuration for steel fibres. Each manufacturer makes a particular configuration which produces it's own unique performance characteristics. Fibres come in a variety of lengths (30 mm to 60 mm), in different cross sections (round wire, crescent & slit sheet), with different anchorages (hooked end, wavy & pinched end) and dosage rates (15kgs/m3 to 45kgs/m3). A specified design with one type of fibre must not be substituted for another fibre - the floor must be redesigned for each particular fibre in order to avoid potential shortfalls in actual performance. Fibres of one type must not be substituted for a different fibre without this performance design review. It is also not appropriate to specify a dosage rate without the associated product type and manufacturer. Simply put, there can be large variations in the performance of a floor using different fibres at the same dosage rate.

Modern computer designs take the guesswork out of design. State of the art computer designs supported by large manufacturers create exacting designs that can meet almost every need. Designing concrete floor slabs has traditionally resembled a black art, in that designers use different methods and arrive at different results when calculating slab thickness, compressive strength, subgrade support and the required amount of reinforcing for a given set of loading conditions. Choosing the optimal combination of slab thickness, compressive strength and reinforcing for a given set of loading conditions can produce exceptional performance and improved value. Steel fibre designs are derived using state of the art computer analysis and modeling of real life load situations. These programs allow the modern designer to explore all the load conditions from the quality of the granular base up through the forklift wheel contact pressure to arrive at an optimal design to maximize performance and minimize future maintenance and the cost of each floor slab for each type of usage.

Steel fibres contribute to a sustainable future. Through careful evaluation of the design outputs, slab thickness can be optimized to minimize slab thickness while also maximizing performance. A reduction in slab thickness simply means that cement and other concrete constituent materials can be efficiently optimized for use on other projects.

Advantages

Will rust in corrosive environments (does not cause delaminations)

Please click HERE to request pricing. If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail.

Steel Fibre Manufacturers:

The Concrete Floor Contractors Association of Ontario 70 Leek Crescent, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, L4B 1H1 Tel: (905) 582-9825 Fax: (416) 981-3913