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concrete reinforcing bar
(rebar)

United States

In the United States, the size designations of these (usually) mild steel bars used to reinforce concrete are set by ASTM International.¹ Distributors usually stock rebar in 20- and 60-foot lengths. Besides mild steel, rebar is also made in stainless steel (cost-effective, for example, for concrete bridges where salt is spread on winter ice) and other specialty alloys.

Almost all bars are “deformed,” that is, a pattern is rolled onto them which helps the concrete get a grip on the bar. The exact patterns are not specified, but the spacing, number and height of the bumps are. Between 1947 and 1968, a separate standard (ASTM A 305) covered the deformations. Since 1968 the deformation requirements have been incorporated into the basic standard. Plain bars are also made, but are used only in special situations in which the bars are expected to slide (for example, crossing expansion joints in highway pavement).

Specifications require that the producer roll into the bar:

• A letter or symbol identifying the mill that produced the bar.
• The bar size, which is a numeral.
• A symbol indicating the type of steel. for example, used to mean the bar was rolled from a new billet. See the table below.
• If the bar is grade 60 or 75, or metric 420 or 520, a mark indicating its grade. Two styles of marking the grade are used.

Bar sizes

The size designations up through size 8 are the number of eighths of an inch in the diameter of a plain round bar having the same weight per foot as the deformed bar. So, for example, a number 5 bar would have the same mass per foot as a plain bar 5/8 inch in diameter. The metric size is the same dimension expressed to the nearest millimeter. The sizes of the large bars are based on the square rebars formerly made. Size 9 has the same weight per foot and cross sectional area as a 1-inch square bar, size 10 as a 1 1/8-inch square bar, size 11 as a 1¼-inch square bar, size 14 as a 1½-inch square bar, and size 18 as a 2-inch square bar.

Type of steel mark

Grade

Three grades are defined, with metric equivalents:

According to the standard (sec. 20.3.5), “it shall be permissible to substitute a metric size bar of Grade 280 for the corresponding inch-pound size bar of Grade 40, a metric size bar of Grade 420 for the corresponding inch-pound size bar of Grade 60, and a metric size bar of Grade 520 for the corresponding inch-pound size bar of Grade 75.” Nothing is said about substituting inch-pound size bars when the specification is metric.

The grade mark for grade 420 is either a “4” or a single longitudinal grade line. The grade mark for grade 520 is either a “5” or two longitudinal grade lines.

Hard versus Soft versus no Metrication

Various laws² require federally-funded projects to use materials with metric designations. To meet this requirement, in 1979 ASTM issued standard A 615M-79, which described a set of reinforcing bar sizes in whole number SI units. This standard was specified in some contracts, for example, for building highways.

The cost of producing and stocking two different sets of nearly identical sizes proved onerous. In April 1995, the Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute and the Steel Manufacturers Association decided to mount a campaign to replace the initial hard metric sizes with soft. In a soft conversion to metric, the original dimensions are simply restated to the nearest number of SI units. In 1996, ASTM changed A 615M to soft metric sizes. For example, a bar with the metric designation “25”, formerly 25 millimeters in diameter, became 25.4 mm in diameter, the same as a size 8 (1-inch) bar.

As a result, the metrically-sized bars became identical to the original inch-sized bars, except for the markings and a small difference in strength (the new metric standard calls for a stronger bar, see the table below).

However, the metric markings continued to be an irritant on the job site. To revert to inch markings, all mills were to stop rolling the soft metric numbers by January 2014. See the resolution at www.crsi.org/Resources/misc/CRSI-Bar-Markings-Resolution-2011.pdf

standards

1. Over the years ASTM International has issued an evolving series of specifications for rebar:
A15: Standard Specifications for Billet-Steel Bars for Concrete Reinforcement. Withdrawn 1969. First published in 1911. Revised eight times before 1950, when it was made tentative. In that state it was revised five times, then republished in 1964.
A16: Standard Specifications for Rail-Steel Bars for Concrete Reinforcement. Withdrawn 1969.
A61: Standard Specification for Deformed Rail Steel Bars for Concrete Reinforcement with 60,000 PSI Minimum Yield Strength. Withdrawn 1969.
A305: Minimum Requirements for the Deformations of Deformed Steel Bars for Concrete Reinforcement. Withdrawn 1968.
A408: Standard Specification for Special Large Size Deformed Billet-Steel Bars for Concrete Reinforcement. Withdrawn 1968.
A431: Standard Specification for High-Strength Deformed Billet-Steel Bars for Concrete Reinforcement with 75,000 PSI Minimum Yield Strength. Withdrawn 1968.
A432: Standard Specification for Deformed Billet Steel Bars for Concrete Reinforcement with 60,000 PSI Minimum Yield Strength. Withdrawn 1968.
A615/A615M-14: Standard Specification for Deformed and Plain Carbon-Steel Bars for Concrete Reinforcement. (covers grades 40 and 60/soft metric grades 420 and 520). Serves also as Standard M 31 of the American Assn. of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
A616: Standard Specification for Rail-Steel Deformed Bars for Concrete Reinforcement. (covered grades 50 and 60). Withdrawn 1999.
A617: Standard Specification for Axle-Steel Deformed Bars for Concrete Reinforcement. (covered grades 40 and 60) Withdrawn 1999.
A706/A706M-14: Standard Specification for Deformed and Plain Low-Alloy Steel Bars for Concrete Reinforcement. (grade 60 only)
A955/A955M-14: Standard Specification for Deformed and Plain Stainless-Steel Bars for Concrete Reinforcement.
A996/A996M-14: Standard Specification for Rail-Steel and Axle-Steel Deformed Bars for Concrete Reinforcement.
A1035/A1035M-14: Standard Specification for Deformed and Plain, Low-Carbon, Chromium, Steel Bars for Concrete Reinforcement.

2. Metric Conversion Act of 1975.
Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-418, section 5164).
Executive Order 12770, “Metric Usage in Federal Government Programs.”

Canada

Canada, of course, uses metric dimensions. The inch column is provided only for ease of comparison.

The Canadian rolled-in markings consist of a symbol for the mill, followed by the bar size (if the size consists of two numerals, they may or may not be placed on separate spiral layers), followed by a blank space and a grade symbol. Some mills orient the markings vertically, as in the United States, and some horizontally. The grade lines, of course, always run along the bar.

Reinforcing Steel Institute of Canada/Institut d'Acier d'Armature du Canada https://rebar.org/standards-practice-manual/

Europe

EN 10080  Metric designations of reinforcing bar have the form “K” followed by the mass in kilograms of a 1-meter length of the bar. For example, “K3” rebar weighs 3 kilograms per meter.

historical sources

1

United States Department of Commerce.
Simplified Practice Recommendation No. 26.
Steel Reinforcing Bars.
Issued by the Bureau of Standards. Original Draft, September 9, 1924.
Washington: Gov't Printing Office, 1925.

In accordance with the unanimous action of the joint conference of representatives of manufacturers, distributors, and users named on page 7 the United States Department of Commerce, through the Bureau of Standards, recommends that the areas of steel reinforcing bars conform to the following simplified list:

It is further recommended that this simplified list of areas become effective as applying to new production January 1, 1925, subject to regular annual revision by similar conference, and that every effort be made to clear current orders and existing stocks of the eliminated areas before March 1, 1925.

…

Prior to 1917 dealers in new billet reinforcing bars carried a minimum of 15 sizes in two grades of steel. Under the pressure of war conditions the variety in sizes and grades was reduced in number, with consequent relief all along the line. The War Industries Board was instrumental in the first application of simplification to the reinforcing bar industry, just as it initiated similar practice in many other industries.

However, with the exigencies of war removed, there has been a tendency to reinstate the discarded sizes, and the former confusion has returned to disconcert producers, distributors, and users. Furthermore, there are to-day very definitely three grades of reinforcing bars on the market—“structural grade,” “intermediate grade,” and “hard grade.” This means that the dealers have now more costly inventories with which to cope, and it means that they have been hampered in the matter of giving minimum quotations on public works.

The dealers are convinced that a simplified list of sizes is desirable.

…

Representatives of mills producing more than 80 per cent of the annual tonnage of the steel used for reinforcing bars attended the subsequent meeting of producers, distributors, and users. At that time it was the opinion of the conferees that “square” and “round” are merely inexact descriptive terms, and that the fundamentally important characteristic of steel reinforcing bars is the cross-sectional area. It was therefore unanimously moved that this recommendation be expressed in terms of area, and that the sizes be mentioned only for the purpose of providing equivalents for the information and guidance of those who have been accustomed to the use of that nomenclature.

After one item had been added to the list originally submitted the simplified practice recommendation was unanimously accepted.

…

Whether or not a single grade of steel for reinforcing bars would satisfy all requirements is a question that is technical in character and one which has been referred to the Association of American Steel Manufacturers and to the American Society for Testing Materials.

At some future time a recommendation covering this subject of grades will be presented for the consideration of a conference similar to the one under review. If it proves practicable to fabricate reinforcing bars of a single grade of steel only, the inventory problem of distributors will be decidedly lightened. The present recommendation reduces the number of piles of stock from 96 to 33. The establishment of a single grade of steel for this commodity will place distributors in a position to further reduce from 33 piles to 11. If dealers can concentrate upon 11 piles of stock, they will be free to use released investment to cut costs to consumers and to strengthen their own business organizations generally.

for further reading

CRSI Manual of Standard Practice. 28th ed.
Schaumburg, IL: Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute, 2009.

www.crsi.org

Pocket Guide for Field Inspection of Rebar.
Schaumburg, IL: Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute, 2008.

www.crsi.org

ACI Committee 439.
ACI 439.4R-09. Report on Steel Reinforcement—Material Properties and U.S. Availability.
in
ACI Manual of Concrete Practice, Part 5—2010.
Farmington Hills, MI: American Concrete Institute, 2010.

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Last revised: 20 June 2014.